Last year my cooling fan was coming on when it shouldn't. No coolant in the reservoir. Took it in, pressure tested it, put in new coolant. No issues, everything fine. I didn't check the levels after that was done. Checked today, no coolant in the overflow when cold sitting in the driveway. I have read it both ways, should be empty, should be half full. I wanted to see what other Ram owners said. I read the manual said it should be between the lines but there are no lines. Just a min and max on the dipstick. Is that when hot? Is that when cold? I thought it was suppose to be empty when cold then as it warms it fills up, as it cools it empties.
Any information is appreciated!
@DJLOVESHISHEMI , your reservoir should always have coolant in it, preferably right at the half way mark when it's dead cold. That way it can fill up as the engine heats up, and if by chance you have a leak, it'll also have a little extra to sip on, with the assumption you will notice the level dropping before the reservoir empties and resolve the situation.
Interestingly, before I learned to pay attention to my vehicles and check all the fluids, I found my reservoir empty one day. The cap hadn't been seated right and popped open, letting coolant evaporate over time (time that I never checked it, back in the day).
I ended up doing several drain & fills of the radiator with the Mopar 50/50 OAT coolant (I have a 2017), hoping to get as much of the old stuff trapped in the system re-introduced to some fresh stuff. Now I plan to drain/fill every 30,000 miles. I don't really want to flush the system with distilled water, but you could do that too if you wanted to. I also pay close attention to the level, maybe once or twice a month.
If I were you, I'd get the coolant back in good shape, and start checking your fluids more often so you can see if the level is gradually decreasing. It shouldn't, not by much, definitely not by half a reservoir tank. If that's the case, you may have a coolant leak somewhere in your system. Then you'll have to do some detective work to find out where/why. There are some good YouTube videos on solving that problem if it presents itself.
