Cooling System Assistance Options

[brandon702bmx]

I'm on here a lot lately... seems like I am becoming a nuisance more than anything.

To be fair, I've "researched" other sources to see if I can answer my question properly but none of them really seem to answer it.

Anyhow, I removed the radiator because my car was in an accident. (had to do some repairs to front end) I installed it and filled with coolant...

I've been driving the car recently and noticed that when I come to a stop, the car is leaving puddles of coolant + overheating at some times. At other times... it takes a while to get up to operating temperature. The gauge stays well below the half way mark. I'm talking about 1/4 of the gauge even while driving it for periods of time. I also forgot to mention, it fluctuates as well. It seems like it wants to go to operating temp and then goes right back down.

My research has brought me to this conclusion:
When filling radiator with coolant, jack the front of the car so that it is elevated.
Leave the radiator cap off, place a funnel in the hole and make sure it fits snug, fill to where the coolant is visible at the lowest point of the funnel.
Turn the dial to the hottest setting and put the heater on low.
Allow the car to run, reaching operating temp.
Squeeze rad hoses to assist with removing air.
Add coolant as needed until fluctuating coolant levels stop as its replacing coolant with the air in the system.
Screw cap rad cap on.

Everythings good after that? I'm sure to most this may be common sense but I was unsure of doing this.

Also a speculation since sometimes the car won't reach operating temp, the thermostat is bad and isn't allowing proper circulation since it may be getting stuck?
What should be troubleshooted first?

[Box]

If you had a blown head gasket you'd have either oil in the coolant, coolant in the oil, burning coolant, and/or having compression escape into the cooling system. Really just have to bleed it the best you can stationary and get the rest out by driving it, and that's most any car. Unless they put a bleed valve in the top of the cooling system, but I've really only seen that on a small handful of vehicles and even then it can still take driving to get it fully bled. Just make sure the reservoir stays topped off and keep an eye on things and you should be good to go.

[brandon702bmx]

If you had a blown head gasket you'd have either oil in the coolant, coolant in the oil, burning coolant, and/or having compression escape into the cooling system. Really just have to bleed it the best you can stationary and get the rest out by driving it, and that's most any car. Unless they put a bleed valve in the top of the cooling system, but I've really only seen that on a small handful of vehicles and even then it can still take driving to get it fully bled. Just make sure the reservoir stays topped off and keep an eye on things and you should be good to go.

Okay. I have a question. I drove the car once again. This time, more drops started coming from the driver side of the car. I popped the hood and I noticed that there was coolant on the underside of my hood, on my battery, and in the surrounding area. This is completely normal...?