I am a "newbie" and have posted several threads and had helpful responses.
I have a 89 convertible and have had cooling system problems. I have had a new electric fan installed, the cooling system flushed and a new radiator cap installed.
The car does not overheat any more but the "add coolant" light and buzzer come on and when I add coolant to the neck of the radiator cap, it seems the coolant goes into overflow bottle as the amount of coolant in the bottle has risen all the way to the top, far above the full mark on the bottle.
It seems the coolant is going into the bottle but not back into the radiator.
Any recommendations are appreciated.
Thank you

 

The coolant which goes in the overflow is done by the engine itself. It takes and pushes back coolant when it needs to. When you fill coolant to the neck then you have to unscrew the bleeding screw on the left topsite of your radiator. When you see coolant dripping out there then your radiator is bled. The sensor on the top of the radiator is from the annoying type en will set the buzzer of quickly.

That means if you have the stock radiator.....

Marc

 

Coolant expands when heated by the engine and goes into the coolant overflow bottle. It's suppose to be siphoned back out by a vacuum that naturally developes when you shut the engine down and the system cools. It sounds like that vacuum is being lost due to a leak in the system.....somewhere. It could be a bad hose, loose hose clamp, bad caps (I know you said you changed yours), leaking frost plug, or worse case scenario, an internal coolant seal failure.
Have the system pressure tested to confirm and really look close for any sign of coolant seepage anywhere under the hood.

 

It sems that all of the coolant that I have added to the radiator neck has been sent to the overflow bottle but doesn't go back to the radiator when the engine cools down. I noticed after the engine cooled that the main raidator hose was collapsed and when I opened the radiator cap, I could hear a vacuum and the hose went back to reg. shape.
Any ideas as to why the coolant won't go back into the radiator?
Thank you

 

That's actually good news IMO. Seems like the system is holding pressure then. Even if it looks OK, you might try replacing the line to the overflow bottle. IIRC it's pretty thin-walled. Maybe there's an obstruction effectively making it a one-way valve?