2005 Pri, small hose from ICE reservoir cap is pointing down and disconnected, dumps coolant!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by viciousthinker, Sep 20, 2025 at 8:18 AM.

  1. viciousthinker

    viciousthinker Junior Member

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    hi all... hoping someone here can help with a technical issue concerning my friends 2005 Prius, 278k... water pump and radiator were recently replaced ... when car comes to operating temp coolant starts to be dumped out of the small tube that comes from the reservoir cap; it is routed to the side of the reservoir and down, is this small hose meant to be unconnected to anything?

    it seems like once the coolant reaches any considerable temp it starts dumping out of this tube, is this normal? is it due to overfilling of coolant?
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    What you want to do here before you do any troubleshooting is uncap the radiator when you uncap radiator is they're water standing on me lnof radiator ieantcsittingvatvthe hole as it's almost ready to drop into tube to resvoir? If not you need to keep dumping cooling in and when it vanishes keep adding more until company stands in neck for 5 solid minutes . Until this happens you're going to be seeing this nonsense go on for days . Of course you verified that the radiator can flow and the thermostat is functioning
     
  3. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

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    The hose from the top of the radiator near the cap should be connected to the top of the plastic overflow tank. It sounds like you do not have the overflow tank installed in the car. If the overflow tank is missing, it needs to be purchased and installed.
     
  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    It sounds like the reservoir is present, if the OP refers to a hose from the reservoir cap?

    There should also be a hose connecting the reservoir to a nipple on the radiator filler neck, just below the radiator cap.

    The metal radiator cap is the part that should have a specific relief pressure labeled on top. It's not supposed to allow coolant out until that pressure is reached. Then some coolant may be let out, but it shouldn't be more than the overflow reservoir can hold, and it should get slurped back as the engine cools after being shut off.

    The reservoir shouldn't be filled above the FULL line, so there is some room for the coolant that expands out into it when the engine is hot.

    Does any of that help?
     
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk MMX GEN III

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