First the TL;DR
2015 CX5 with 98k. This fall I started doing my own oil changes and noticed my coolant reservoir was completely empty. Not knowing much at the time I filled the reservoir halfway and topped off the radiator with Xerex coolant (the “Asian vehicles” green stuff) and called it a day. I closely monitored the levels as I was worried about a coolant leak but they maintained over 2500 miles.
A couple of weekends ago I noticed the level in the reservoir had risen slightly. Opened the radiator cap and couldn’t see coolant. So I added maybe a couple of ounces or so to top it back off. Realizing I had air in my system I assume there was still air trapped somewhere (maybe the heater core…it’s finally gotten cold enough to blast the heat so maybe it opened more to let out more trapped air in the heater core?).
I bought a funnel kit to burp the system. It’s in the low 30s here and I know I need to run the engine for a while to get the thermostat to open up fully.
So here we are at my actual question:
How do I know when the thermostat is open? If ambient temps are in the 30s will it eventually open up at some point while idling? Are the radiator fans spinning up a sign the thermostat has opened?
2015 CX5 with 98k. This fall I started doing my own oil changes and noticed my coolant reservoir was completely empty. Not knowing much at the time I filled the reservoir halfway and topped off the radiator with Xerex coolant (the “Asian vehicles” green stuff) and called it a day. I closely monitored the levels as I was worried about a coolant leak but they maintained over 2500 miles.
A couple of weekends ago I noticed the level in the reservoir had risen slightly. Opened the radiator cap and couldn’t see coolant. So I added maybe a couple of ounces or so to top it back off. Realizing I had air in my system I assume there was still air trapped somewhere (maybe the heater core…it’s finally gotten cold enough to blast the heat so maybe it opened more to let out more trapped air in the heater core?).
I bought a funnel kit to burp the system. It’s in the low 30s here and I know I need to run the engine for a while to get the thermostat to open up fully.
So here we are at my actual question:
How do I know when the thermostat is open? If ambient temps are in the 30s will it eventually open up at some point while idling? Are the radiator fans spinning up a sign the thermostat has opened?