nikovdh

So last Saturday, I replaced the Idle Air Control Valve in my 1999 Lexus ES300, and cleaned the Throttle Body.
When you remove the Throttle Body, there are 1 or 2 hoses that leak some coolant out, although not a whole lot.
I never thought to burp the system at the time. I topped up the coolant reservoir with about how much was lost.
So it's a week later now.. the car is running great, no issues whatsoever.. but I noticed about twice now since last Saturday I've had to put a couple oz. more of coolant to reach FULL line when I looked at my reservoir (cold, haven't been driven in like 20 hours).
I'm wondering if I should be worrying or not. I have no air/coolant gushing sounds and no temperature problems.

Could not burping after some air exposure sometimes be fine (self bleeds a little?)? Could not burping after my repair have caused any damage without making any symptoms apparent to me?

Also to note is that I did stuff a little paper towel in the little hose end and IAC ports to kind of seal it / prevent slow leak of coolant during the process, but only a couple minutes after letting it slightly gush out into a plastic bag at first.

The reason I'm wondering if I should worry is because I don't have a spill-free funnel system right now for burping and I don't want to make a mess of anyone's driveway. I'm thinking it's possible I'm being overly sensitive about the need to fill in a few more oz of coolant, and might not even have any need to burp the system.

(Also curious how the Lexus servicing manuals state exactly how to bleed the air out.. if anyone has that info avail) since it seems that different manufacturers give different instructions sometimes on bleeding their specific systems.

nsghtbrwry

After throttle body/IAC service? Nah, you're good.

Honestly I find these cars very easy to bleed (I have ALLDATA and it doesn't list anything except "bleed the system" as a step in refilling coolant). I fill (yup, I use a Lisle/Miller spill-free funnel), then squeeze and massage the hoses until I see no more air bubbles coming out. Then I just drive regularly, and top up the coolant in the overflow reservoir every morning when it's cold. After a couple days, it doesn't change any more.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, don't worry about any damage. That high-mounted water outlet (where the radiator cap is) lets you dump coolant directly into the block, all the way up to the water inlet plate in the V of the engine. Water pump sits in that coolant, so circulation begins almost immediately, unlike some other engines.

I just did this on a '99 (and will be doing it again because turns out the radiator is blown, lol), and I forgot to hook up the throttle body hoses (I was cleaning the V, resealing the water inlet plate, and replacing knock sensors and the water bypass hose). Dumped in a gallon of Zerex Asian Vehicle before I heard the splashing on the asphalt...saw it pouring out, then rushed to hook up the hoses lol.