All this talk about blown engines and thermostats sticking, I thought I would ask a silly question...

This 2008 Camry XLE, In looking at the engine and checking radiator fluid level, Am I supposed to add it in the white clear plastic reservoir, or the metal cap reservoir?

I was looking at the engine just checking to see why my CEL (Check Engine light) went on,so I disconnected one the the battery cables for a few minutes, released the gas cap, which a lot of pressure was released, hooked the battery back up, and voila! no more CEL.

I also noticed the plastic coolant antifreeze container was practically empty except maybe 1/4" on the bottom with some sediment. Is this normal and while driving the temp gauge was in the middle, between HOT and COLD.

Should there always be a fair amount of coolant in the plastic reservoir or is this only a over-flow? I tried to remove the metal radiator cap, but could not.
I was going to disconnect this plastic reservoir,,there are two screws on the side, but there is also some other ones below this container. is it always wise or more practical to buy pre-mixed antifreeze from the Toyota dealer?

Thanks!

 

Add the coolant to the plastic container when engine cold. There should be Max/Min wording and lines on the container.

If the coolant was never changed since new it would be Toyota 'brand" which think is now pink but yours may be the older red fluid.

You can buy the premixed pink fluid at the dealer then just add this to the container when engine is cold.

The container should come out reasonable easy. You could flush out the old fluid, clean the container and add new.

The fluid is supposed to "lifetime" but suggest changing it sometime during the cars life. Perhaps 3 or 4 years.