Transmission fluid change

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by hc167

...but I guess I will at least disable the keyless entry system.

This is not necessary if the car is IG-OFF, where no dashboard lights are on and the MFD is dark.

[edthefox5]

Originally Posted by hc167

I found this. I guess this has good instruction.

Spring maintenance

by the way. someone suggest using this.

Red Line Oil: Gear Lubricants

is this good idea to use redline or toyota oil. I know redline make good stuff but I am not sure if this oil can be used in the prius cvt.

Yes Redline does make good stuff and have been running there Full Synthetic D6 in my 07 for 4000 miles now. I changed it over at 5K. It runs really good. Its the best GL4 product on the market imho. See here:

http://www.redlineoil.com/pdf/3.pdf

[hc167]

this is long weekend and I did not have time to replace the transmission fluid until today. well, anyway, I change my spark plug today (the old plugs are not too bad but to make the car run better, I do not mind spending about $35 more). and I will replace the pcv tomorrow (I did not have the right socket until I get it today from Sears).

So I have a question. According to this

Spring maintenance

there are three plugs. One to drain, one to fill (which is in front of the car right after the radiator) and one is to check level or to fill according to toyota (which is the one right in front of the firewall.) So I saw that people usually use the front plug to fill the fluid and I did not see a lot of people mention about the plug that is used to check the fluid level. So which one should I use to fill?? Can I still fill the fluid with the plug that is used to check the level??? I wonder why nobody mention anything about it.

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by hc167

...I will replace the pcv tomorrow...
So I have a question. According to this

Spring maintenance

there are three plugs. One to drain, one to fill (which is in front of the car right after the radiator) and one is to check level or to fill according to toyota (which is the one right in front of the firewall.) So I saw that people usually use the front plug to fill the fluid and I did not see a lot of people mention about the plug that is used to check the fluid level. So which one should I use to fill?? Can I still fill the fluid with the plug that is used to check the level???

Good luck replacing the PCV valve, I am interested to hear whether you have any trouble gaining sufficient access. Do you plan to remove the cowl first?

The correct plug to use, both to check the transaxle fluid level and to refill the fluid is the front filler plug that faces the radiator. Look at Hobbit's webpage that you cited above and see the drawing that comes from the Toyota repair manual. Note that the "filler plug" is the plug used to determine correct fluid level, since the oil level is supposed to be within 5 mm from the bottom of the filler hole.

Please remove the filler plug before you remove the drain plug because this will allow the drained fluid to escape in a more orderly fashion, and because this ensures you won't have trouble adding new fluid. I hope that you have a funnel with a 3-foot-long tail to make it easy to add the new fluid.

When you remove the drain plug, pls ensure that you are removing the correct drain plug, which requires a 10 mm hex key socket to remove.

[hc167]

I do not plan to remove the cowl. I tried today and I believe I can access the pcv with the right wrench. Just unscrew the three bolts for the cowl and disconnected the wires connected to the spark plug coil. Then remove around the cowl to create enough space for you to remove the pcv value. that is all. I will try to change the fluid tomorrow. it is late for me today already. tx for your info

[hc167]

sorry, I mean "move around the cowl", not "remove". it was typo