Vehicle is a 2021 Camry SE. I popped the hood recently when the engine was cold and saw that the coolant reservoir was almost empty, there was a little coolant below the "L" line. I drove to work, about 20 mins. Engine was hot. Opened the hood to check again. It was still below "L"
I checked the dip stick, oil was clean. Car doesn't have any overheating issues. What could be the problem? Should I refill the coolant?
1. Is it possible for the radiator to pull all coolant from the coolant reservoir?
yes, that's what the reservoir is designed to do. Not the entire contents of the reservoir, but some of it. That's why there's a cold line and a hot line.
2. Does coolant contract when temperature gets colder overnight?
Not just coolant. Everything.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_expansion
Again, please keep your relevant questions together. Do not make several posts so we have to go hunting all over to try and find out what the heck you're talking about. Thanks.
there was a little coolant below the "L" line. I drove to work ... Engine was hot.
ok don't do that, unless you want to buy a new engine/car. At MINIMUM you should have topped it up with water before going anywhere.
It was still below "L"
of course it was. It will stay there until you fix it.
What could be the problem?
a leak, a bad pressure cap ... who knows.
Should I refill the coolant?
of course you should. How else is the engine going to stay cool?
Top it up with 50/50 mix and monitor it for the next couple of weeks.
So I made a post earlier about my coolant loss (the reservoir tank was close to empty) and I think I provided a false information through typo, lol. The car never overheated and I just found the issue 2 days ago, a week after an oil change. I brought the car to a Toyota dealership. They couldn't find a leak and they saw no sign of damage, and they said it was weird that I lost coolant. Oil in the engine was clean. They asked me to take it for a ride and I agreed. The mechanic came back and said he didn't see anything wrong. The temperature gauge was at where it should be. So they refilled the coolant and told me they suspected the mechanic that đi my oil change unintentionally or intentionally drained my coolant...
... So now I'm like what is going on lol. I guess I'm keeping an eye on the coolant reservoir the next week to see if anything changes.
please do not make new posts. Just add your updates to the original topic. Thanks.
So in the other post, you said you opened the hood and saw the issue, what prompted you to check under the hood?
You said the car was hot, do you mean the temperature gauge was in the red? You said it did not overheat, so did you mean it was fully warmed up?
I meant to say the car wasn't hot, but auto correct changed it to hot lol. I was cleaning the car, so I popped the hood to see if there was any fallen leaves or stuff stuck in it. And yeah, the car was fully warmed up after 20 mins driving. The temp gauge needle was at half way which it has always been since I bought the car.
In that case, I am guessing it could have been low for a while.
Fill it up to the proper level, and keep an eye on it, hopefully it is not an issue after all.
1. Is it possible for the radiator to pull all coolant from the coolant reservoir?
2. Does coolant contract when temperature gets colder overnight?
I live in a rather hot area. My vehicle has no sign of leak or overheated engine. Everything checked out fine and the mechanic said it couldn't be a blown head gasket since the car is relatively new (2021 Camry) and low mileage, and being a Toyota, he said it's extremely rare to have a blown HG at just 12,000 miles.
Its possible it just left the factory that way. It wouldn't be the first or last time a manufacturer didn't add fluids or tighten something properly.
Check under the radiator, my Mercedes 320 has a really slow coolant leak .I checked multiple times and never could never find it. I did a block test and it passed, it wasn't till I went under car and checked the bottom I was able to locate it. the exact location was at the very bottom where the fins connect to tank.
Check the transmission fluid if. You have a dipstick.. if the fluid levels are extremely high you found where the coolant went. I'm not sure if this car is affected but some cars radiators will fail internally and coolant will mix with transmission fluid.
The leak was extremely slow I didn't notice it till I changed my oil. I ldid a new thermostat and coolant system flush around 6 months ago and it only lost around 8 oz
Leaks can be very difficult to locate especially when they are extremely slow. You can grab a uv dye kit, I do believe they make it for coolant systems . Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. The forbidden milkshake doesn't always appear on the dip stick. When you change the oil you will know for sure if it's s head gasket.
I did an oil change a week ago and the mechanic I usually went to didn't notice anything wrong with the old oil. I'm keeping an eye on the reservoir to see if anything changes.
Keep us posted
Ok. So I can now confirm that there isn't a leak or a blown HG. I brought my car to both a mechanic and a Toyota dealership and they both said there was no problem. The Toyota dealership filled my coolant up on Tuesday. The coolant level in the reservoir stayed the same on Wednesday.
This morning, I checked it and saw that I lost about half an inch overnight. I came home tonight and it was back to the "F" line, which means everything was working as it should.
I called my mechanic to update him an he said it was possible that they only filled the reservoir, and not the radiator when the car was in the factory.
So lesson learned.... check the radiator of any new car. But I'm not buying any new car soon.
In my first answer I said "Its possible it just left the factory that way. It wouldn't be the first or last time a manufacturer didn't add fluids or tighten something properly" Sadly I thought of that since I've seen it happen quite a few times mostly in Ford and Hyundai. I've have seen Toyota/ Lexus and Nissan/infinity as well. I've heard from first person they had Brand new Fords with 10 miles with a qt of oil .I never came across anything like no oil but I have seen loose valve cover bolts, loose battery terminals, missing exhaust manifold studs, loose lug nuts, low break fluid and loose caps . Before 2020 I never seen anything like that happen 2020 and up I've heard or seen manufacturers completely mess up or just forget something. Let's hope it just a careless employee and not something else. Are you sure there was no over heating.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure there hasn't been any overheating. The car was built in Kentucky, so I wasn't surprised they forgot to add coolant to the radiator. I guess only buy cars made in Japan lol.
Lol. That is true.. I have a Mercedes e320 sport airmatic and I hate German cars. I have always hated them and always will. I only got mine since its was actually made in Germany and not Mexico, Canada or USA. I think the 04/05 was last year they where made in Germany. Also got a really good deal on the car couldn't pass it up
I think the problem was my car was built during the pandemic, when factories were either on lockdown or in lot of health safety restrictions, and no one was working comfortably.