How to check the Engine Fluids 2010-15 Toyota Prius
Created on: 2017-12-18
How to check and refill your fluids on 2011 Toyota Prius.
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step 1 :Checking the Coolant
- Wait for the engine to cool
- Twist the coolant reservoir cap off counterclockwise
- Check the coolant level, using a flashlight if necessary
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step 2 :Checking the Washer Fluid
- Pull off the washer fluid reservoir cap
- Check the reservoir has fluid above the MIN line
- Snap on the washer fluid reservoir cap
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step 3 :Checking the Oil
- Pull out the oil dipstick
- Clean off the oil dipstick
- Insert the oil dipstick
- Pull out the oil dipstick
- Check that the oil level is between the low and full marks
- Insert the oil dipstick
- Twist the oil fill cap off counterclockwise, to add oil
- Add oil as necessary
- Twist the oil cap on clockwise
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step 4 :Checking the Coolant for Hybrid System
- Wait for the engine to cool
- Twist the coolant reservoir cap off counterclockwise
- Check the coolant level
- Add coolant as necessary
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step 5 :Checking the Brake Fluid
- Twist the brake fluid reservoir cap off counterclockwise
- Check the brake fluid level, using a flashlight if necessary
- Check that the brake fluid is between the minimum and maximum lines
- Check that the brake fluid is clear or an almost yellow color
- If the brake fluid is murky or dark, drain and refill it
- Twist the brake fluid reservoir cap on clockwise
Tools needed
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Windshield Washer Fluid
Brake Fluid
Anti-Freeze
Engine Oil
Hi, I’m Mike from 1A Auto. We’ve been selling auto parts for over 30 years!
Open the hood, reach in, and pull the release that's right here. Come around to the front we'll find the safety latch, towards the driver's side, the hood prop rod is on the underside of the hood. There's two spots: spot here and a spot here, so I'm just going to go for the rear one, open the hood higher, so I don't hit my head.
There's no radiator cap so to check the level of coolant in your system, you have to go over here and look at the coolant overflow reservoir. It’s actually marked. Full is marked at the top and low is just below the seam here. And actually you can see because the reservoirs translucent and it uses the pink coolant. It's down here. It's actually a little lower than the low mark, so we'll need to add some coolant. You just want to check the owner's manual for the specified type of coolant.
You can just open this up and using a funnel, you'll add coolant of course always do this when the vehicle is cool 'cause the system is pressurized. This car was actually cool and a little bit of air just came out of here under pressure, but if this was hot and you released that you could have hot coolant spray out at you.
To check the level of your washer fluid, pull the cap up there should be a dipstick in here. You can kind of see it's over the space where it says normal. I mean you really can't like overfill washer fluid, you'll just fill it up till you can see the blue washer fluid in the top, then you know it's full. In the winter time you probably do that more often than you do in the summertime. So, this one's probably full just close that back up.
To check the oil level you want to do this after the car has been sitting for a little bit. Pull the dipstick right out, wipe it off with a paper towel, reinsert the dipstick so as you can see that would be the low mark, this little bump right here, that would be the high mark and it's perfect it's right at the high mark. So it looks like nice and clean so we don't have to add any oil to this and it's not really due for an oil change. Just put the dipstick back in. If you needed to add oil, open up the oil cap, which also has the weight that the car takes, 0W20. Unscrew that, might take two hands they can be screwed on pretty tight. You just unscrew it, put your funnel in there, add the appropriate amount of oil, then check it on the dipstick to make sure it's full and then of course don't forget to put your oil cap back on.
This is the coolant reservoir for the hybrid system. It's marked right on the front, you can see L for low if the coolant was low or F for full so it's right at the full mark it's perfect. You don't need to add any to this vehicle. If you did you can open up this cap and again do this when it's cool if the car has been sitting for a while, and then add the appropriate coolant and the correct amount. And then re-install your cap.
This is the brake fluid reservoir. You can see here this would be the low, and this would be the max. It's a little bit higher than max, that's okay. If you needed to add some there's these little tabs here and here, you could pick this up move the call out of the way and then open up the cap. It just sort of peels off. You could add your brake fluid right in here till it's full. This brake fluid looks nice and clean, it's not brown and dirty, so it's actually in really good shape and that's good. It's nice and full so we'll put the cap back on, put this cover back down, clicking into place and that's it, that's all the fluids under your hood.
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