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Transaxle lube on auto trans vehicles??

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by lester williams, Jul 3, 2015.

  1. lester williams

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    I recently changed the front and rear axle lube on my Z-71 pick-up, and got to thinking. Surprisingly, I do not know what lubes the transaxle on FWD vehicles, I guess I had assumed that the auto trans fluid does--- but I actually do not know. If a FWD vehicle has a manual trans, no ATF.... so how are vehicles transaxles lubed???? I has thought the transaxle was just part of the trans, but the same for regular geared and CVT?? Please help an old dummy out here......
     
  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Manual transmissions typically used engine oil, at least they used to. This is from our '86 Accord Owners Manual:

    image.jpg image.jpg
     
  3. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    The Prius uses Toyota's ATF WS

    Here is a demo of how the slightly simpler Gen 2 transaxle works

     
  4. lester williams

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    That was very interesting, Jimbo, but, where does the transaxle connect in there?? Is it in the trans case, and lubed with the WS ATF?? I caught part of a conversation where some were discussing '' splitting cases'' to remove a trans filter in a Ford Focus [ maybe Fusion ] vs. ''flushing'' ,, I then realized that I simply do not understand how it works. I always just thought that the ATF lubed the transaxle, it was all one piece............I have had several Corvettes and you DO NOT flush the trans in them, drain and fill as in the Prius. And yes, I realize the Corvette is RWD, but the is millions of FWD vehicles around, and just got to thinking about this....Some you drop the trans fluid pan and change the filter, some have the filter built in and cannot be changed, so they are ''flushed''. I thought I would post this here and try to get a better understanding of how this worked--- in my Prius-- as well of other vehicles. Does the WS ATF lube my transaxle???
     
  5. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    "Transaxle" conventionally means transmission and differential combined in a single housing. As Mendel says, old Honda manual transaxles (and very few others, to my knowledge) used engine oil. Some use gear oil. Some use ATF.
     
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    That '86 Honda Accord Owners Manual was an eye opener. Among lots of stuff it had instruction for:

    Oil and Filter Change
    Transmission Fluid Change (Manual and Automatic)
    Coolant Change
    AC Compressor Drive Belt Tension Check/Adjustment
    Spark Plug Inspection/Change

    This is in the Owner's Manual, not the Shop Manual.

    My Prius Owner's Manual has this:

    Capture.JPG
     
    ReDave likes this.
  7. lester williams

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    Well, it appears that what I ''sorta thought'' all along is basically correct. Some used motor oil to use the T/A, some are separated from the trans. and use gear oil, and some are integrated use the ATF ---- I guess it all depends on the way different manufacturers engineer them. Thanks for the replies, I just got to wondering about this and realized I did not know much about it......You never know if you don't ask......
     
  8. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    The Transmission part is so unique, hardly anyone discusses the differential part.
    [​IMG]