How to check coolant type

Maybe it's time to have the cooling system drained and pressure tested.

Until then, you could just add plain distilled water......if you get fresh coolant in before winter.

Note: It is fairly common for the bottle to "cloud" so that you can't see the level from outside.
Before you add anything, open the top and look into the mouth of the bottle with a flashlight.
There might be more in there than you think.

If it really is very low, then there is a leak than needs to be fixed.

 

If I remember correctly, Toyota recommends strongly against using straight water (even distilled) for any length of time (other than a bona fide emergency to get to a shop, flush it out, and replace it all). They rely on the "anti-freeze" these days for a lot of chemical properties besides the freezing and boiling points.

SLLC will be what's in there unless some previous owner used the wrong stuff.

Maybe just buy the right quantity to do a full fill, and drain some. Probably, what you drain out will look like SLLC, and you can complete the drain and refill with no worries. If the coin lands on edge, something else will come out, and then you might want to flush more diligently before putting SLLC back in. (But then, in that case, do you think whoever-it-was put the wrong stuff in was that diligent?)

Does Gen 2 still have a radiator cap? Gen 3 doesn't, but Gen 1 did. If so, you should be able to see some in the top of the radiator. (If you can't see any there, your situation is a bit more urgent than just having none in the overflow bottle.)

-Chap

 

Yes but...........
The assumption was that the cooling system wasn't empty, just a bit low.
And my suggestion WAS to do that only as a temporary measure.

 

Remove the upper splash shield (six pesky fasteners) and look in the cold radiator. If you don't see coolant there, definitely pressure test the system.