Engine coolant question (joint, leaks, Toyota, Accord)

[rlrl]

I had the engine coolant flush and an oil change/engine flush done last week on 2/5 in my 92 Toyota tercel. This afternoon when i was checking the oil (I check it every week since it burns oil) i noticed the coolant in the clear reservoir was in the 'fill" area, below the full line (about 60% between the empty and full line). I simply added more coolant to the reservoir

2 years ago, the last time the coolant was changed and the water pump replaced, the reservoir coolant was bone dry but the car still worked as normal and the temp gauge did not show any significant change in temp. the mechanic determined it needed a new water pump

did this coolant flush affect the coolant level in some way?. i have maintained scheduled coolant checks throughout the life of the car

[trlhiker]

Did you check it when it was the coolant was cold, cool, warm, or hot? the temp affects the level of the coolant.

[rlrl]

was warm when i checked it

[trlhiker]

According to my 92 4Runner manual, only add if level drops below the add mark because the coolent level will vary with the coolant temp. More than likely what happened is that the system burbed, in other words, an air bubble found its way out. If it drops again then you might have a leak somewhere.
I would always check it when it is cold, that way you can be sure that you are reading it at the same temp.

[rlrl]

car after i added the coolant 2 hours ago. Can i check it later tonight when the engine returns to cold? Does the car have to have been running to check the level accurately?

[M3 Mitch]

Are you running the Toyota red-colored anti-freeze, mixed about 50-50 with distilled water?

I didn't think so, that's not generally what you get at the "stupid lube" joints.

You would be better off with the Toyota coolant, IMHO.

Leaving the coolant level on the low side can keep the system pressure on the low side, which can be a good thing if your radiator and/or heater core are on the old side.

If you are leaking fluid, most likely the grease monkey boys didn't tighten something.

[trlhiker]

you need to run it for a bit until it heats up to operating temp, then let it cool down and check it again.

[rlrl]

maybe they deliberately left it low. it was exactly between add and full so i added some to make it full. the coolant is like a greenish color. i don't think any place has ever added red coolant but then i never took the car to toyota to do a coolant flush--only lube places

[rlrl]

filled it over the full line the way i always have it normally. if after i drive it and it drops down to where it was today there is something going on? does the new coolant affect the heater core or water pump in any negative way? maybe ask them to tighten it up if there is a leak? before thewy did the flush they checked the level and it was OK and full

when the car was 9 years old 9 years ago i remember i opened the hood and the reservoir was bone dry. i simply filled the reservoir to full and it never went down again. what happened there?

[wheelsup]

Coolant either gets burned or it leaks. Can't really go anywhere else.

My wife's car has a small leak that reduced the coolant level down to almost nothing, then when I added coolant a few times it hardened in the hole and the leak stopped. Never seen anything like it, but I'll take it.

If the level keeps dropping take it in. If it hasn't be dropping before this I doubt it's burning it (bad). Probably just a small leak where they didn't tighten a clamp.