coolant question(s)

Okay, I'm off next week and my C Four just turned over 130k miles, so figure I'd do a little pro-active maintenance on it. I just did the oil and filter change a couple of weeks ago after just a bit more than 10k miles and my Blackstone report came back just fine.

• I did the transmission fluid change at about 35k miles. I'm still going back and forth about whether I should just leave it alone or do another change now. I still read differing viewpoints and have found no compelling reasons either way. The car shifts fine.

• As for the coolant, I'm noticing that both the inverter coolant level and the engine coolant level are showing a bit below the "Low" mark on their respective reservoirs, so I'm at least going to top them off. Do you think just adding fluid is sufficient or should I attempt a drain and fill? How involved is that? And it looks like both the engine and inverter use the same Toyota Super Long Life Coolant. Is that true or am I mis-reading something?

• Finally, the brake fluid looks like it's a bit below the "Low" mark on its reservoir, too. Can I just add DOT 3 brake fluid to bring it up to where it should be or is a lower level an indication of something worthy of further investigation? Also, I checked the fluid with one of those test strips and the fluid itself looked great. I don't trust myself messing with brakes in general, but especially where it looks like some voodoo ritual or a special scan too might be needed for the Prius. I also don't know of a local independent mechanic who is Prius-knowledgeable and I'd rather not just bring it to a stealership and let them have at it.

Sorry for all the questions, but this is one of the reasons I joined this forum several years ago. Thanks.

 

So just to follow up on this, I bought a gallon of Toyota Super Long Life Coolant. I'm not going to do the whole drain and fill this time, but i do want to top off the Inverter and radiator coolant levels, which are both showing at or just below the Low marking. I also took the time to buy a new Toyota radiator cap...just because.

The Inverter coolant top-off seems simple enough. I'll just pour in enough to bring the level about halfway between Low and High.

For the radiator coolant, since I'm replacing the radiator cap anyway, should I pour the fresh coolant into the radiator itself or just pour it into the reservoir? Or both?

Thanks.

P.S. Yes, the info is right there on P. 369 of the manual. I'm just wondering if you think it's any different since I'm going to be opening the radiator anyway to replace the cap.


Engine coolant reservoir
The coolant level is satisfactory if it is between the “FULL” and “LOW” lines on the reservoir when the engine is cold.

If the level is on or below the “LOW” line, add coolant up to the “FULL” line.

Power control unit coolant reservoir
The coolant level is satisfactory if it is between the “F” and “L” lines on the reservoir when the hybrid system is cold.

If the level is on or below the “L” line, add coolant up to the “F” line.