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?

[brandon702bmx]

Alright so my last and final option now is to replace the radiator and the hoses. During the accident, the radiator warped a tad and I bent it back seeing perhaps maybe I could salvage it. So I'm assuming that the radiator being cracked from old age like Box said can cause the overflow to flow coolant out the side? Someone else who has helped me with the car "patched" the leaks that it did have apparently and it seemed to work. I don't have any active coolant drips at idle nor when the car is off. I don't see any leakage from the radiator. I've tested the thermostat (doesn't stick, opens and closes), I changed the radiator cap, I've tried removing the air pockets from the system.

I had the hood up also and my dad noticed that pressure seemed to have been being released from somewhere near the cap. I don't understand how that could be because the cap was just replaced.

I pulled the dipstick out to check for milky oil and looked at the underside of the oil cap to see if milky build up was there. Drained the coolant a few times after driving it. Coolant isn't milky. Nothing of the sort.

I notice when driving it harder or on the freeway, I shut the car off and you can hear slight boiling under the hood. It goes away rather quickly.

So my options right now are to replace the radiator and hoses as a whole and clean slate.

Or accept the fact it could be a head gasket issue.

Can a leak somewhere cause this boiling in the overflow and spillage or can only a head gasket do that?

Thoughts and suggestions? I'm new to this all so I hope you can guys can bare with me so I can come to a solution.