Fateful8

K, a few weeks back I hit a tree stump and cracked my radiator. I bought a used one and installed it myself. it was pretty easy and everything seemed to be ok. The only damage I could see besides the radiator was that the AC condenser was bent inwards a bit from the bottom up, bending a few of the foils but not that bad. There is no leak in the AC system and it runs great just like before.

So I put the car back together added my fluids and took it for a drive. After about an hour and a half of highway and city driving my car began to overheat all the way past the H on the gauge. I stopped, looked under the hood and noticed that my coolant in the reservoir was boiling. Someone told me I didn't bleed the system and that should fix it. So that's what i did.

that seemed to take care of the extreme overheating, but now after about and hour and a half of driving the temp on the gauge will raise about a quarter of the way up. especially when i am moving. When I am at a stop light the gauge will sometimes go back down to operating temp and if I turn off the AC completely then it immediately goes back to operating temp.

Whats going on here?
Its a 2004 automatic by the way and if you need anymore info I will be glad to give it. thanks in advance for your input!

Fateful8

BTW the first time I added fluids it I put in the recommended 2.6 gallons. However when i drained it and tried again it would only hold about 1.6 gallons. and I keep checking it to see if it will go down and it hasn't.

Also, when I bleed the system I was told to elevate the front of the car and take off the radiator cap then turn on the engine until it gets up to operating temp and when the fluid rises to the top , then replace the cap. Is this right?