Sludge on transaxle drain plug

It sounds as if it got very hot at times? I thought it should be red as well. Will be interesting to here from others on this! Do you know if the car has run many miles with the transaxle pump out of commission? Hal

 

I got sludge when I changed mine at 5,000. Just like the picture below. Never saw any shavings. Just smooth sludge.

The picture of the sludged plug below is at a change at 33,000 miles. No shavings.
Shavings aren't good. The fluid on this car gets black within 5,000 miles. See picture below. At 47,000 I personally think your way due. Most people here change there's routinely at 30,000 miles which is a very good idea. Trans fluid changes are relatively cheap compared to what your protecting. The lifetime fluid claim is a joke.

The picture of the 3 fluids below is 5k WS in the middle...33,000 Redline D6 on the right and virgin Redline D6 on the left.

 

Situation 100% normal. The sludge is a suspension of extremely fine metal particles being held by the magnet. It's the magnetic field holding it position that gives it a "sludge" type consistency.

Attached is a picture of my drain plug when I drained mine at about 65000 miles. This is completely normal and what most people report seeing.

 

I bought the car new and changed transaxle oil at 5K miles. I also got a thin layer of fine metal particles collected on the magnet and also a few pieces of needle shaped shavings:












See the needle in the photo above.



Used oil sample in plastic bottle.

 

Must be allot of friction and heat in that transaxle to turn that oil black? Takes power to do this which surprises me. I am pleased I found out about this issue and will change this oil often. Thanks all. Hal

 

When we put newly manufactured metal gears to work it is normal to generate fine metal filings. The blackening of the oil shows that the oil is doing its job carrying the filings away as opposed to letting the filings accumulate on the gears. So it's normal and no worries.

When I did the transaxle oil change at 5K I actually thought it was probably a waste - there were not a whole lot of filings collected on the magnet and the oil was just dark red, not completely black.

 

I also find some gunk (sludge) on the magnet. The oil was close to black the first time I changed at 70k miles, and a dark red at a 120k mile change.

 

Does the drain plug for the transaxle fluid require a new seal/gasket before replacing it?

Regards.

 

It's an aluminium crush washer. Mine looked like I could have re-used it, but they're only about a dollar so you might as well put on a new one (same thing goes for the filler hole).

 

You cant always judge the condition of an oil by its color. The new oil might have a dye in it to give it the red color and that color can break down relatively quickly but the oil will still be fine.

Also it may look dark when there's a lot of it (like in a bottle) but if you look a thin film then it often looks quite good. When I drained mine it was relatively dark, but the lubricity still felt good and I'm sure it was still doing it's job properly.

 

I reached a similar conclusion because 1) the ATF fluid viscosity declines ~15% by then, 2) the Si and Fe contaminants seem to be sufficiently high so that it is worthwhile to get rid of them and 3) if you DIY the price of a transaxle ATF change is ~$40 plus an hour or less of your time.

It is good that 2009Prius got rid of that little sliver of metal.

 

I just did my first change at 21k. Same findings, dark color, fine black gunk on plug. Took a sample and sending it off to Blackstone as soon as the kit arrives. I'll post the results.

 

Yes mine seems quite normal also. No shavings at all just magnetized sludge. And not alot of that either. I sent all mine off to Wearcheck a few days ago awaiting results.

2 things I noticed between the WS & Redline is when I was shaking up the 2 bottles to see how really dirty they were because like the previous poster mentioned the fluid is not really that dark it just looks that way in the bottle I noticed the 25,000 used Redline was in much better shape than the 5,000 WS as far as how dirty it was which tells me most of the ugly wear is happening within the first 5-10,000 miles which makes perfect sense. So a 5k dump makes alot of $$$ sense to someone who plans on keeping the car for 5 plus years and wants a trouble free cvt.

The other thing was how much more slippery the Redline is compared to the WS. When you shake both bottles up the WS takes its time draining back down the sides of the bottle where the Redline slides down the wall of the bottle real fast. Big difference.

Not sure if its more slippery or the viscosity is much thinner than stock WS. Redline states the viscosity is the same so not sure. A OA will tell.

All I know is the trans is really quiet on Redline.

 

There was no washer on mine as shown and no washer on the poster's pic's of the other plug.

 

Yes there is Ed. Crush washers often crush fairly tightly onto the plug and it may seem to be an integral part of the plug itself. If you look carefully at the photo's you will see the crush washer as a separate part. Look closely at the photo's where I labeled them.

 

Attached is my R&G lab report on Type WS ATF from my 2004 Prius. It has 4 columns:

1. Virgin Type WS - Red, clean and virtually no contaminants.
2. Used WS at 61k miles - Dark and loaded with Iron/Aluminum due to break-in wear of the gears. The Silicon content is probably leaching from the sealants used in manufacturing. The Viscosity index says that the ATF is used up. If I had a new Prius, I would do the first change at 30k miles.
3. Used WS (I have stuck with the OE ATF) at 120k miles - not quite as dark and much lower Metallic particles.
4. Used ATF at 180k miles - Even cleaner than at 120k miles. There is a hint that I can wait a little longer than 60k miles from now on (but I won't).

JeffD