ATF fluid changes ARE Required.

Changed the trans fluid today. The old stuff was darker red with a little bit of a silver sheen to it. When I finished, I thought I saw one of the headlamps wink at me.

 

Does anyone recommend a dealership in the Los Angeles/ Orange County region for the ATF flush? I've had one dealership quote me $230 and another $180 for my Prius C...

 

No flush, just drain and fill like an engine oil maintenance. DIY and save $150 - $200.

 

I get it's a simple drain, but I'd rather have someone that knows what they're doing do it for me. I'm just not willing to spend double what it should cost.

 

Inform the Service "Manager" nicely that you know this is a drain and fill...not a flush...and that most dealerships charge $99.99 or less. Service "Advisers" hear ATF and go right to flush in their minds which is more expensive and not applicable to this vehicle. Not all Advisers are the brightest, though most know their stuff. If they don't budge, walk away because they will just f-ck you from that point on as they lack integrity.

 

On that note, it "should" cost the most they can squeeze from you. This is America after all, where exploitation of the hapless is a virtue. I hope you do not mind.

 

Only if you pay the price they ask. You don't have to.

 

I think a big part of the confusion and price spread on this service goes back to Toyota. For whatever reason, they say officially a transaxle fluid change is never needed. This can't be helping their service managers, writers, and mechanics.

I'm not sure why they're so steadfast on this, that the fluid in that transaxle is good, well, forever. I would actually like to get to the root of it, understand their rational, however misguided or chauvinistic.

My best guess is it's a misguided attempt to impress owners with low maintenance, thus make more sales? That's not sold well here though, LOL.

FWIW, coming from 30 years of Honda ownership, the Prius Owners Manual is the first book I've seen that doesn't give you an oil change how-to. Seems like they have a dim view of DIY.

 

Yes, I suspect Toyota marketing and sales push aside the engineering department for profit. This isn't exclusive to Toyota, it's an industry-wide issue. Who is left holding the bag on the manufacturer's empty promises? Consumers.

In the Prius Owner's Manual, there should be instructions on oil changes and air filter replacement. Specs are incomplete,, such as total fluid capacities for engine and transmission. Toyota treats the Prius as if it were an iPod, not an automobile. Obviously, they expect everything to be dealer serviced, even the simplest maintenance tasks.

 

There is no conspiracy here. Simple explanation. It's my understanding car "lifetime" is defined as 150,000 miles. Car engineers run a sample of cars to 150,000 miles of real or maybe even simulated driving, had no tranny failures attributed to oil, did oil analysis and decided oil was good enough for the "lifetime".

 

It was 112,000 miles IIRC. You data point is the far right one. Consistent with the trend.

chart | PriusChat

 

What trend ? It looks like a plateau after 30k miles.

 

Right, your 2nd particle count did indicate abnormal wear indeed (large particles). However, it didn't fail and probably would have made it to 150,000 miles on the OEM fluid. Not much longer though. Did you sell the Prius because of it?

 

Congrats. I'm also eying Volt as my next car. Looks like by waiting I'm going to miss the tax rebate. Did you get yours?

 

We're spending about that on gas, and at higher Canadian prices, LOL. Of course, that's with very low use, right now barely 1000 km's monthly.