anti freeze question

The reservoir on the driver's side is a separate system to keep the inverter cool... The one on the passenger side is the reservoir for engine coolant and radiator cap... Both reservoirs need to be kept topped off when you check your fluids. The radiator cap must only be removed when engine is cold and that's the best place to top off with coolant if you're trying to get air bubbles out of the system.

 

The one time I had to deal with that I found that if the fluid was low at the radiator cap and the overflow tank adding fluid at the former location wasn't a great way to fill up the latter, basically it didn't work at all. This came up after a 3 way valve change and running through the burping procedure with the relay and voltmeter. So the first day I added fluid in both places and the next day or two only added it to the overflow tank. (Which had been marked midway with a Sharpie to make the target point more obvious.) When the overflow tank no longer needed fluid added for a few days I checked the radiator and it was full to the top too. I think I also left the "tray" that sits over the radiator off for those days, as it was in the way, and it doesn't do that much in any case.

 

Yea... Any work you do that lowers coolant level in radiator needs to be topped off via radiator cap. The reservoir is just to make sure it stays full once you're certain its full.

 

Same system all modern cars have. The radiator cap has an emergency pressure relief valve and the coolant reservoir allows you to maintain fluid level without removing radiator cap when engine is hot and its too dangerous to remove the cap.