Where To Put Antifreeze?

[ItalianStig]

Hey guys, I dont know where to put my antifreeze in and how much of it?

There is the engine coolant (yellow lable) and the coolant reservoirs. Which 1?

[alfiejts]

How much you put in depends on what protection you want and what antifreeze you've bought.

It will say on the anti-freeze what % concentration you need for what minimum temperature.

My manual says that the 1.0 engine's cooling system is 4.5 litres and it suggests a 50% concentration of Toyota's own long life antifreeze - which means you'd want about 2litres of anti freeze.

You'll never empty all the existing coolant out, but if you disconnect the lower radiator hose, you ought to be able to drain enough of the existing coolant out to put in 2l of concentrate through the cap on the top of the radiator.

Ideally, you want to use "long life" antifreeze of the same colour as is in there now - it's either pink or blue, so you want the same to top it up, as its best not to mix.....

If you buy a proper long life antifreeze, it doesn't evaporate and you don't need to change it very often - Toyota's own maintenence schedule says don't change it until 100,000 miles...

You can but a tool to check on the concentration and protection of your existing antifreeze. With modern long-life antifreezes, if that says you're already protected to the right level, there's no need to go to the trouble of changing it...

[Hartside]

Are you changing it or topping it up? You would normally top it up into the expansion tank, which is the bottle on the front right of the engine bay as you look toward the windscreen. There's a max/min level on it and you can see it if you lean over and look back at it.

[ItalianStig]

I just want to top it up, however there is the engine coolant, which says warning etc on it, then theres just a white sort of tank that says coolant on it i think, so I take it, the engine coolant is the wrong one?

As for the brand I am not sure, i think its also concetrated thou, and the liquid in the coolant tank is pink i think!

[Hartside]

You would normally top it up into the expansion tank, which is the bottle on the front right of the engine bay as you look toward the windscreen

As above, put it into the expansion tank outlined. The plastic bottle with the flip up black lid that you can see the pink liquid in. Only fill to the max line

[alfiejts]

Hartside's right - if you're just topping up, just put it into the white bottle with the black plastic cap - and just fill to the "max line" not to the top.

I had wrongly assumed you were talking about actually replacing the antifreeze completely.

You only need to take the top off the radiator if you're doing that. Both are part of the same cooling system - the clear plastic bottle is an "expansion" bottle as the coolant expands when hot, so it catches what expands out of the radiator....

Its the white plastic bottle you check to make sure its topped up to the correct level.