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Worried if I did any damage today having done 150miles in that state???(or if its even necessry) what was the water temp gauge reading during the journey? if theres coolant in the system it would probably show overheating. if theres no fluid presumably it shows the air temp in the pipes, which may be less? if the head gasket has gone its possible coolant was being burnt in the cylinders. also if it wasnt the cause, possibly overheating the engine might cause the head gasket to go. if its not much then theres coolant in the system and you can relax somewhat. if you have to put a lot in, see if anything is leaking out of the system. if it does thats the first point of call, fix the leak. open the bleed valves, one under the plastic radiator cover (passenger side) and the other on the cabin bulkhead by the clutch reservior. reach underneath the bumper on the drivers side, and turn the butterfly screw in the bottom corner of the radiator and let everything drain out, helps to jack the rear of the car up too. once everything is out, keep running water through the system until what comes out is clear. close the system off and fill it with water. add a coolant system flush (available from halford etc), and run the engine up. at this point if the engine has a problem, it will probably be noticable. drain the water, close the system off and fill with toyota long life red coolant. bleed the system using the bleed valves.dantheman wrote:
No mayo so hoping engine is fine. So once I fill it with longlife i then need to bleed it again? Isn't that removing all the coolant I just put in?!- but I'm a mechanic noob.(or get a mechanic to follow it 
)... 
attach 2 pieces of (preferably clear) hose to the bleed nipples and suspend them from the open bonnet lid. open the bleed valves at the front of the car until the coolant comes to the top of the filler neck. then fill the overflow reservior. you will probably find the level of coolant in the (clear) hoses isnt very much. put the filler cap on to the first click point, and close the bleed valves. put your heating to maximum hot (you dont have to turn fan on though) and run the engine for 3 mins at 3000 rpm (or until coolant is hot). let it cool down a little and open the filler cap (or if you feel brave dont wait, but be very careful of any steam, use a towel). open bleed valves again, and top up coolant as neccessary.dantheman wrote:a little bit, but not much.
Will attempt next week once I get my friends trolley jack (and assistance)!- with pictures! exactly my sort of guide! Printable and understandable!.. Is it doing anything? At least for what I saw it's only a place where the excess coolant goes in. Am I right? then top up the expansion tank. the extra coolant goes into the expansion tank, and is sucked back into the system when the coolant cools downdantheman wrote:yes if you just want to top it up fill it from the filler cap until just before overflowing.
the expansion tank is there because when the coolant is hot it expands, so needs more space.
Cool. So I'm not low on coolant as such then. (the clear bottle right?) is empty. But there is defo coolant in the car. So should I bother with the coolant flush? I suppose it would at least give me the peace of mind that its running Toyota LongLife. theres a tube going to it from the filler cap. you can never go wrong with a coolant flush really. but if you have no reason to suspect it needs it then you dont need to do it. the coolant filler neck should always be brimmed. if its not theres air in the system. brimmed neck and empty expansion tank is ok. filled tank but not brimmed neck is not a problem, but theres air in the system. if the coolant neck is not brimmed and the expansion tank is empty, you dont have enough coolant in the system and a complete flush to reset everything isnt a bad idea.