I hit a deer on Thanksgiving, resulting in having to replace the radiator, ac condenser and dual fans. We just did that. According to the manual it should take appr 16 quarts of antifreeze/water mixture b/c it also has a rear heater.

we put a used radiator assembly in 3 days ago and it did not take all of the required liguids. I let it run for about 40 minutes, then let it cool off and fill up more liquids into the radiator. I have been doing this for 3 days. Now today, the radiator is very low again, but the overflow bottle is way over MAX. today when I had it running and the engine was a normal operating temp. it starting leaking on the drivers side. after it cooled I checked and the radiator was low again, and the overflow bottle way higher. Acc to manufacturer manual the overflow bottle should not be higher than MAX and radiator full. But this is not happening.

It does not leak in the beginning and the engine also does not seem to be overheating and I heard the fans come on.

I mixed 2 gal of antifreeze with 2 gal of distilled water acc to manuf guides and I still have almost 1 gal left to be used.

Does this sound like a faulty radiator or could this be another issue where the overflow bottle is not returning the fluids into the radiator?

My son-in-law is fixing this for me b/c I am on a small pension and even the used parts were not cheap. and I still have to buy the hood and the bumper cover and the grill

thanks for your answer