Car overheating question

[dsd17]

coming home from work today, I noticed that my car was getting extremely hot (water temp gauge rose all the way to H). It never started smoking, but when I got home I noticed that the reservoir was nearly empty. I'm not sure where this all went, but I'm heading out to put some coolant in it. Now that the car has cooled for a bit, I see that the reservoir is about half full.

Question: Should I just top off the reservoir and not put any into the radiator? Should I be able to see the antifreeze/coolant in the radiator itself or only in the reservoir? I cannot see anything but the coils when I look into the radiator itself. They do not have the opening near the corner where I can see down to the bottom.

It is a '96 Honda Accord.

 

[Rogue]

Let it cool off for several hours and then take a look inside the radiator. Pour some water directly into it and look for leaks beneath the car. Could be a bad water pump, but it also could be a leak.

 

[Quixfire]

It looks like you car has a coolant leak. I would top up the radiator and reservior and start looking for the leak.