Quick question about overflow reservoir

[amalik]

Hey guys,

Something bothers me that I wanted to ask about.

Should the overflow for coolant be F when the truck is cold/not started, or able to expand to F after driving?

Mine is below F before driving, but a few CM away from F after driving around from the heat expansion/etc.

The part that 'bothers' me is I have topped off at F before, and I find it below F while cold a month or 2 later, I likely have a coolant leak but nothing is dropping on the floor or anything.

Makes sense I guess, I'm not too many miles away from being due for WP, maybe it has a slight leak that I can't see unless I remove timing cover -- but I just wanted to check in with everyone regarding the issue.

Thanks

 

[Stiles97]

Top up cold to "f". Potential for a leak, but also level could be changing due to natural evaporation of the water?? Has it ever dropped below the min? Doesn't initially sound to me like a leak but just noraml top off/ maint.

 

[sakoluvr]

There is a cold and a hot level on the reservoir. After filling your coolant, make sure that there is no air trapped in the system. When the coolant gets hot, it will expand and overflow into the reservoir (high level) thus not loosing coolant out of the system. When the motor cools the coolant will get sucked back into the system and it should return to the (low) cold level.

 

[amalik]

Top up cold to "f". Potential for a leak, but also level could be changing due to natural evaporation of the water?? Has it ever dropped below the min? Doesn't initially sound to me like a leak but just noraml top off/ maint.

Never below Min, just a few hairs away from F, I just assumed a leak.

There is a cold and a hot level on the reservoir. After filling your coolant, make sure that there is no air trapped in the system. When the coolant gets hot, it will expand and overflow into the reservoir (high level) thus not loosing coolant out of the system. When the motor cools the coolant will get sucked back into the system and it should return to the (low) cold level.

Your statement somewhat contradicts the previous post ^_^

 

[sakoluvr]

There is no evaporation in the closed system to speak of. I stand by my reply. There is a "cold" level and a "hot" level on the reservoir. Pretty self explanatory assuming your radiator and cooling system is full with no air trapped. If you start off with a full reservoir "cold" heat/expansion will force coolant out the top of the reservoir and you will be chasing your tail by having to keep adding coolant to the system.

 

[jkoni426]

Top up cold to "f".

This. There is no cold and hot level, it's low and full. From the fsm:

COOLANT
INSPECTION
1. CHECK ENGINE COOLANT LEVEL AT RESERVOIR TANK
The engine coolant level should be between the ”LOW” and ”FULL” lines, when the engine is cold.
If low, check for leaks and add ”TOYOTA Long Life Coolant” or equivalent up to the ”FULL” line.

 

[TheDurk]

Never below Min, just a few hairs away from F, I just assumed a leak.

You're fine. Go find something else to worry about.

 

[kolelt]

Mine after a year or two has went down bellow cold level. And I assure you that I don't have a bad headgasket or air bubles. Radiator is always to the top. I think it's just normal.

 

[amalik]

You're fine. Go find something else to worry about.

Thanks Durk

Can we solve world peace next?