Filling your car's coolant reservoir to the FULL line with fluid does not fill your radiator! Check out our channel to save more money on your car repairs. • What's That Bubbling S...
That's where I'm stuck right now, I was staring under my hood hoping to find the cap, but I had to put it in the reservoir. And it's not going through the hose.
@@Jayyy-7 No; it's eliminating that overflow tank by making the highest point in the cooling system translucent plastic and pressurised; having at least 2 hoses leading into it at the bottom of the container; one from the top of the radiator and one from another point on the engine so the whole system "burps" itself of any air and you can see instantly how much coolant is in the whole system..... and it is where you pour in any coolant.....
just leave engine work to move out air boobles deom engine and radiator so pour more if needed, overpouring is not good bcs of bigger pressure so for some years the cap will fly away or bottle will break
Almost entirely acaccurate! But no worries dude doesn't understand what he's trying to explain either. It's not just an overflow reservoir anymore either friend and hasn't been since ...idk...the 60's maybe? Anyways it's now a pressurized coolant recovery tank and is absolutely the way to tell how much coolant is in your vehicle at a glance and for most situations will be accurate without any doubts. The hi and lo marks are more about the temperature of your engine ie has it been sitting? Cold ..Or running and warmed up with the AC going? Hot..
@@jackhacker76 Not all cars have a pressurized expansion tank, and this doenst have one. Neiter have many hondas. The ones that have a pressurized expansion tanks, uusually dont have a radiator cap.
Here's a much easier way just let natural selection run it's course if someone wants to open the cap when it's hot let em they will find out sooner or later.
Cold engine, remove cap, start engine, warmup with cap removed, wait for thermostat to open, run heater full force, then add fluid. Replace cap. This prevents air pockets from forming.
Glad for the info, but please stress the safety of opening that cap under pressure more. Seriously guys do not do it. You’ll burn yourself with a geyser of boiling coolant all over you.
In almost all modern cars, if the reservoir has at least minimum fluid in it, the radiator is full. There is no need to open the radiator cap. Adding to the reservoir directly is the proper way to add coolant. You can open the cap when everything is cool if you’d like, but it will be full with no room to add coolant.
If everything is working correctly yes. But if something goes wrong it may not perform as designed, you need to check in the radiator to confirm coolant level is sufficient.
@@Onlyinbean Sure. But always fill the reservoir to the minimum line also. If the reservoir is full but the radiator is low, you’ve got a leak between the two that needs attention.
I have a 2014 Outback. While filling the windshield wiper fluid container, earlier today, I happened to look at the coolant level. It was completely empty. I couldn't figure out why my car had not notified me that I was out of coolant. This video just explained that. What a relief!
Wrong. A low radiator fluid level will be replenished from the reservoir over a given heat cycle or two. Go drain 16 ounces out of the radiator petcock and get the car hot. Turn off the car. Fill the reservoir to the full mark. Next morning reservoir will be empty because it replenished the lost fluid.
It can only replenish because there is a leak..... so if your overflow bottle is empty...there is a leak in the coolant system. If the coolant bottle is full...there may be a leak in the hose connecting the coolant overflow to the radiator... and this is allowing air to enter... and not allowing the radiator to suck back fluid to replenish the leak. Always check the radiator level.......
@@condor5635 No; If you have completely drained and then refilled your radiator.... unless you are certain you have "burped" the whole coolant system and got all the trapped air out.... then it is possible for the cooling radiator to suck all of the coolant out of the overflow bottle....because you had air in the system to start with...which has now been replaced with coolant drawn from the overflow bottle.. However if you fill the radiator all the way up and refill the coolant overflow all the way to the full line.... drive the vehicle... park it overnight..... and find the overflow bottle empty the next morning... for day after day... then you have a leak.
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq - I didn’t say day after day I said the day after you have to fill it after a drain and fill. And that is if you burp it very well. I’ve done this many times, and I get the air out of the system as per the process but every morning the next day I always have to put some more in the reservoir. That’s all I’m saying it doesn’t mean you have a leak. Obviously if you keep doing that every day, then you have a leak.
Yes, you put the coolant in the overflow. Because, when the engine cools off , if the radiator or the cooling system is low, a vacuum is created and coolant is sucked from the overflow into the engine, next time , you fill rhe overflow again. Unless, you have a leak in your system, then you have bigger problems than low coolant.
Depends on the vehicle, some only fill up from the resivore but if you have a place in your radiator to fill up the radiator, you better go into the radiator bc on those said vehicles, the resivore is only there for over flow
My car just stopped! Just replaced my alternator so it's not that or battery 2 weeks ago and it was ok. So I look and no coolant😢 Just brought some coolant and watched your video. Praying it starts
The reservoir overflows tank on my car has the radiator cap on it and it goes to the radiator. The water pump actually empty’s into the overflow. That’s how it is on my dodge challenger.
My 2014 ford focus i have to top it off at the reservoir. Except my 2003 dodge dakota 3.9 this truck is a beast and in my book the best of the best . If you maintain it.
A Properly functioning cooling system would indicate the amount of fluid in the system by the overflow bottle. So unless the system is leaking, putting it in the overflow would get it back into the system just fine.
My Tacoma overflow bottle has a full and low line. Should the full line be reached at cold or warmed up? Is it bad if it goes over full when warmed up?
To further specify cool, make sure your vehicle hasn’t been running in the past 6 hours lol I’ve had too many friends get burnt up from opening the radiator cap when it’s not cool enough yet
The video is correct. Open the radiator cap (only when engine is cold), fill to full, then watch fill line on reservoir, fill until it's between min and full (being conservative), and you're good to go. Be sure to use the right coolant, Toyotas should be red, but check the color and documents of which coolant, the newer versions G12+ and G13 don't have much problems mixing with old versions of coolant, to be safe flush ALL old coolant out, preferably run with pure distilled water once and then flush it ALL again, refill with new, premixed coolant, check the freezing point should be around 40-50 minus C.
This man does not understand “solid” fluid systems. Many new vehicles don’t have radiator caps(or they aren’t easily accessible) the reservoir is needed bc the coolant expands as it gets hot and then contracts again when it cools. So the coolant can expand out into the reservoir then when it cools off again the coolant shrinks, because the system is closed this creates a negative pressure in the coolant system which pulls the contents of the reservoir back into the radiator until the pressure is neutral again. Notice how there is a hose connected to the bottom of the reservoir. Adding coolant to the reservoir is just fine. It will not cause an issue. Any air that happens to enter the coolant system will be “belched” out when the system gets hot again because reservoir is vented at the top.
You want to START filling it while the engine is cool, you need to start the engine and run it to help burp out any excess O2 that’s still trapped in. You can typically squeeze the upper and lower hoses to help.
My radiator cap is behind the vehicles faceplate. I would have to take the face plate completely off EVERY TIME I wanted to check my fluid. HELL NO. I use the overflow to gauge if it needs a top off or not, because its right there on top of the engine.
If you can’t see the radiator cap you most likely have a coolant reservoir that’s where you add coolant but if you can see the radiator cap always add to the radiator then the overflow to the proper level
Alone, stuck with two disabled kids, a service dog and zero support help. Your video will get me home hopefully. If not, I lose the car and I'm done, it's over. Here's hoping for the best!
It’s not an “overflow” reservoir, it’s just a coolant reservoir. The radiator cap had a spring in it that shrinks when hot. Two things can happen in this process if the radiator is too hot or too pressurized. If it’s too hot the spring will open up, and the pressure from the water pump will suck fluid out of the reservoir, or if it’s too pressurized, the spring will open allowing the excess amount of coolant to flow into the reservoir.
Note that many cars dont have a radiator cap directly on the radiator, they have two plastic containers one taping the radiator and another overflow container.
This kind of advice can lead to people removing the radiator cap while under pressure. Fill the overflow, the system will push out air when hot and pull in coolant when it cools. If your overflow is "boiling" you probably need a new radiator cap.
Okay so 1 does it really matter? And does the reservoir tell you when you need coolant? Or no because I have a thing of coolant but not sure if my car need any at all
Fill those over flow tank forgot about this guy. After you drive it getting hot and after it cool down it creates vacuum suck back cooling back to its system
A lot of modern cars don’t have this. You just fill from the overflow tank and don’t let it run dry. The engine won’t overheat fast enough for it to be a problem and as long as you don’t let the overflow tank go dry, you won’t burn out the water pump. Best way to do it is remove the fuel pump relay, have someone inside the car cranking the engine, while you add coolant to the reservoir, once the reservoir stops emptying out, you’re good to go.
Well here’s the thing I just filled up my 750li with coolant and it had bleeder valves built into the heads and you can fill the expansion tank because it’s the only access point. Proccess is fill up put car in position two turn on heater to full to turn on secondary pump and bleed that then fill more turn car on then leave cap off for an entire heating cycle after that put cap on run one more heat cycle the next day then go ahead and fill if needed then drive
The reservoir is not an overflow, it's an expansion tank. Coolant fills the reservoir when hot and is sucked back in when cools down. The overflow is a hose from that reservoir which dumps the excess of coolant, in case you add too much.
So I’m not very mechanically savvy, so I’ll explain my issue the best I can. I was recently given a Toyota 4Runner. Love the car, just don’t love how often I’m having to top off on coolant. I found a line underneath my radiator that seems to be leaking fluid (almost looks like a mixture of oil and coolant). I’m thinking it could be something as simple as a loose connection so would it hurt to try something like a hose clamp?
@@drah9955 right but if you’re filling up the radiator or especially if you need to do a pressure test you need to put it directly into the radiator, if the radiator cap seal is bad after taking it off then it was already bad in the first place
I accidentally did that with my moms pickup truck. I just realized i mixed gold with orange then had to Spend the whole night mixing coolant with half water while using a turkey baster/ extractor and an empty water jug. The Radiator will burn off a little fluid but reservoir should always be at cold fill level. Simply Turn the key to see the temp rise from the bottom of the engine.
You gotta take this cap off and put it straight in here (Sprayed with scalding coolant straight to the face) But ... oww ... only.... oww ... when ... oww... the ... oww... engine .... oww... is ... cold
It's ok to put it in the res if u are aware of how it ebbs and flows based on temp. Obviously if the amount ur adding is substantial then yea u wouldn't but it wouldn't hurt anything unless ubover filled the res and the coolant has no where to go as it heats uo and expands
There are two types of tanks. -The overflow tank, like the one shown in this video, is just a tank to catch any overflow from the radiator. If you open this tank while the car is hot, it will not erupt. The bottle will usually have a snapping cap and the radiator will have an accessible cap of its own. -The coolant reservoir tank is a direct component of the pressurized cooling system. It will always have 2 or more hoses connected to it and pressure release cap that screws on until it clicks. If the system is hot, removing the cap will cause an eruption. The radiator will not have a cap, as one is not necessary. Know your system. An overflow tank that's low on fluid, means nothing. A reservoir tank that's low, means you might have a problem.
That’s an expansion tank a sealed radiator system has a reservoir! Pipe in pipe out expansion tank 1 pipe from top off radiator and a vent to atmosphere
Check the reservoir regularly and you won't have that issue. Also if you fill through the reservoir watch and see how much it pull and fill back to the hot line.
Yall who beginners please know all cars dont have the radiator cap. So yes put the coolant in the reservoir tank. If you flush the system have prior experience.
Not every car, some cars allow coolant to be filled from only the expansion tank. It is advised if your car is running, than add coolant in the expansion tank.
That works all good unless you have a sealed system, at that point the plastic resivor is your only way to check and fill the cooing system. My truck is a sealed system.
And if you don't have that direct access cap on the radiator and only the overflow? You need a fill tool that connect to the plastic reservoir, pump the air out and then allow the coolant to be drawn in, requires multiple steps but it works.
