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Overheating is systemic to these cars when they have not been serviced correctly. If overheating, dumping coolant, etc. are problems after a coolant change or water pump replacement, follow these steps and see if that solves the problem. You willl need 50/50 mix of water and whatever coolant is used in your engine. Maybe a coupla quarts in a plastic pail and use a small glass or measuring cup, and a funnel to keep from spilling it everywhere. (Note: do NOT mix coolant types, i.e., orange with green.)
1. Wait till the engine is cold, and pull the radiator cap. Check the cap, has the seal deteriorated? If so, replace the cap.
2. Pack a whole bunch of rags around the distributor to protect it from any chance of leaking coolant on it. Poke the rags everywhere and watch out for the belt!
3. Loosen both bleed screws about 1 turn--they don't have to be real loose to bleed air.
4. With the radiator cap off, engine off and engine is COLD, fill the radiator reservoir to the top--don't overfill it. Watch for coolant coming out of the bleed screws. If solid coolant comes out, then close the screws--easy does it, just lightly snug will seat the screws. If the coolant is already to the top of the radiator neck, then skip this step.
5. Close both bleed screws.
6. Cap still off, turn on the engine and let it idle.
7. Watch the coolant level go down, as it does, fill to the top of the reservoir, just below that little overflow pipe in the radiator neck.
8. Open the bleed screw closest to the throttle body, but only a bit, and see if any air bubbles come out. Look for actual solid coolant, refill the radiator if the level goes down a bit in the radiator neck. If a slight solid stream of coolant comes out (look very closely--doesn't take much), then close the bleed screw (make sure no bubbles, just a solid stream). DO NOT loosen the bleed screw closest to the radiator and farthest from the throttle body (if you do, the coolant level in the radiator will instantly rise and coolant will go everywhere). Make sure that the coolant level is just below the overflow pipe in the radiator neck.
9. Watch that the coolant does not overflow the radiator neck as the engine heats up or there will be coolant spilled everywhere, so do this quickly. The engine should stay cold and the thermostat does not have to open.
10. As soon as you are sure that the radiator reservoir is filled to just below the overflow tube, install the cap and tighten it.
11. Turn off the engine.
12. Check the level in the plastic overflow reservoir with the installed dipstick. If needed, fill it to the HOT mark.
13. With this done, pull all the rags from around the distributor and wipe all the leaked coolant from everything.
The final step is to drive the car for a few hot and cold cycles and then fill up the overflow tank as needed till the coolant is at the COLD mark when the engine is cold.
