Thanks guys for your help. I already bought all new green anti-freeze and plan on draining it this week and I won't drive it until I drain it. I only drove less than 2 miles with the dex-cool mix added to it. I also bought a new thermostat and seal so I'll replace that at the same time. I heard from the AutoZone "expert" that there is a little brass screw that I use for bleeding the system. He said to open it until it starts to spray anti-freeze and then add more anti-freeze and bleed again until that screw it squirting out fluid. I don't even know what the screw looks like or where it even is! This should be a fun job because the guy said that Grand Prix 3800 engines are easy to drain but very difficult to bleed.
I just bought this car from my ex in-laws for my son. Yes I said ex in-laws. I get along with them great. I have full custody of my kids and my ex is now in jail. Since she is in jail she couldn't or can't pay her mom back for the car, so I bought it for my son. It seems to be very well taken care of especially on the outside. My ex only owned it for two weeks. The paint is so glossy and the chrome rims look like new. The rear spoiler is starting to fade though from sun damage so I'll have to fix that. The car does have 197,000 miles on it but it drives very nice. Engine seems to be perfect until the check engine light went on after having it a month with no problems but the check engine light said "thermostat fault" so that shouldn't be a big deal. It has all new brakes, new power steering pump, hood shocks, and both sides rear hubs. All of that was done by my ex father in-law before I bought it as part of the deal. I paid $2000. Hopefully I got a deal? Also, my ex father in-law mentioned that the new hood shocks were much bigger and that hood really flys up when you release it and is kind of hard to close. My problem is that I noticed it looks like the hood isn't closed on the passenger side of the car. Would too powerful of hood shocks cause this?
So, did I get a good deal? Are my hood shocks causing the hood to look like it's un-popped on the passenger side? And where is that bleeding screw at to bleed my coolant when I do the job? Any pics for doing the coolant drain and thermostat change would help me. I know how to change the thermostat but otherwise I'm lost on the coolant drain and bleed. I watched one video where it showed all the new coolant being poured into the reservoir and slowly added at intervals. But the "AutoZone expert" told me to add the coolant straight into the radiator. I was thinking if I added the coolant into the reservoir bottle would that save me from having to bleed the system? So those are all my problems. I will setup my profile and post pics soon! Thanks everyone for all your help!!
