90k service at dealer- No coolant? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

2000CamryLEV6 · 12-20-2003, 12:49 PM

I had the 90k service at toyota which was over $1200 US dollars. $500 of that was covered under my platinum warranty which included the IAC and an oil gasket. Anyways.. i noticed when i got home that the liquid in the coolant resovoir was a yellow color.. and it had been pink/red before... and that there was hardly any of it in there... and also looked to have lots of dirt/sand gunk in it.... Ive been checking it periodically.. and there is still no coolant in the resovoir... just a small amount of yellow liquid... which is well below the LOW line. But, the car does not overheat... the temp gauge has been normal ever since i left the dealer... and that was about 2 weeks ago. Before.. i do know that there was a lot of pink fluid in there... between HIGH and LOW at all times....

Any ideas?
sean

MJW1986 · 12-21-2003, 08:02 PM

I'd take it back to the dealer and talk to them. I know that fluids do change color sometimes. The dealership I work at uses a green color. The fact that it was so low isn't good either. Your best bet is to go back and ask. If they give you crap trake out your receipt ( to prove they did coolant work) and ask them to fix it. Thats all I can think of. Good luck to you!

OEMonkey · 12-22-2003, 10:15 PM

well, look at your work order(receipt), did it include a coolant change?
they obviously changed the coolant. but they shoulda replaced it with the Toyota Red Coolant(the one you originally had in there). I guess you can go back there and tell em to top it off. did you check the level when the engine was off, or was it idling?

2000CamryLEV6 · 12-23-2003, 01:29 AM

yes the coolant was drained and flushed.... everything was... the dealer i took it too is 55 miles away....

and i if theres no coolant... why would the car not overheat at all? the coolant level is non existent.. so i cant "check" it.

GEN3CAM · 12-23-2003, 08:46 AM

They could have flushed out the red stuff and replaced it with the green stuff. Your car won't overheat if just the reserve is empty. The level in your radiator has to be low enough and then it will start running hot. Call them up and ask what coolant they put in there and then fill up the reserve with that to where it is supposed to be...

2000CamryLEV6 · 12-24-2003, 09:27 PM

the color is not green.... its light yellow/orange. and looks really dirty

haa21 · 12-30-2003, 12:54 PM

Myabe they started to do a coolant fluch and never properly finished it. As long as you see a little in the reservoir then you have enough fluid to drive on as the reservoir simply holds the excess. However, it shouldn't be as low as you describe. I would definitely return to the dealer at once! If you paid to have a flush, but now you see dirt and gunk, then they didn't do a good job and they didn't fill the reservoir to the proper level. When you take it back you can mention the color, too.

csaxon · 12-30-2003, 04:03 PM

Sounds like they drained but didn't flush.

OEMonkey · 12-30-2003, 10:25 PM

Quote:

the coolant level is non existent.. so i cant "check" it.

huh?
so what did you call it when you:
1. opened up the hood.
2. searched for the coolant reservoir.
3. found the coolant reservoir.
4. found that coolant was "non existent"

???????????

I tried to help. you just had to answer my simple q from my first post.

Quote:

did you check the level when the engine was off, or was it idling?

bronzemaxell · 12-31-2003, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 2000CamryLEV6
the color is not green.... its light yellow/orange. and looks really dirty

coolants comes in different colors,
i've seen a 4 cyl gen 3 uses green color coolant, v6 gen 3 uses "gold color", and 4 cyl gen 5 uses pink.

the coolant reservior is to catch any overflow coolant fluid from the radiator while hot, and drain back to radiator when cool down.
isn't there a fluid level indicator that read Full and MIN on the coolant reservior