overflow bottle???
 

I think thats what its called... its the plastic container that is strapped to my radiator and has a hose connected to my radiator fill cap. Anyways, it has 2 markings on it, coolant levels during hot and during cold... its always empty. whats the purpose of this? when i put coolant in it... why does it vanish? i just don't get it...

Is the radiator full of coolant?

the radiator is full of coolant. The coolant level does drop slightly and gradually overtime... nothing too bad. The radiator has some of thoses green leak stains on some spots. but i was just wondering if this overflow bottle served a purpose. if the coolant i add to it spills out it must be when im driving because i don't see coolant on the ground whenever im parked somewhere.

You are losing the coolant through the leak in your radiator. You need to get that fixed. You will eventually lose pressure in the system. The overflow bottle does just what the name implies. It catches overflow from the radiator as the thermostat cycles. The coolant flows back and forth between the rad. and the bottle so it needs to be there.

Yea, I was planning on buying a new aluminum radiator before the summer and was thinking about an eletric fan. However, I don't feel that I can have the fan with my stock alternator. Thanks, for the info.... just curious, how does the coolant get back into the radiator? The only place i see a connection is that black hose at the cap.

http://www.csiperformance.com/cooling_6.html

Nice addition and cheap.

All the talk about needed a bigger/better alternator is crap. I have the stock one on my car right now with a black magic electric fan. I also had a cheapy on my old car with the stock alt.