swapping transaxle

Hello folks,

I'm in need of some help. I'm swapping the transaxle on my car and found a used one. I have a bad mg2 on mine. The donor transaxle seems to have a couple broken sensors, I'm not sure which ones. Can I use the sensors on my car to replace the broken sensors? I was told when asked that I can just use my orange wires.....not sure what that means.

Thanks

 

I found a very good write up a member did here on changing the transaxle, very detailed. I also have the repair manual for the 2006, which is basically the same as 2005 (which is the car year).

I won't be doing this task by myself, I have a knowledgeable mechanic to do all the wrenching work. But I just want to make sure I give him a working transmission.....or one that can easily become workable. The transaxle that has the broken sensor only has 60k miles on it from a 2007, that's why I was considering it. But like you mention, it may be too difficult to disassemble the sensors on my transaxle to swap over. My second option has 119k miles on it from a 2004. I think that's the one I'm going with, the car has 152k miles now, they should both go out at the same time in the future? Also there might be slight differences in the 2007 vs the 2005, I believe 2004 and 2005 were the same. Thanks for your help

 

The sensor is not the part that failed and took the car out of service. This is actually a wreck. I'm not sure why this would have a broken sensor, might have been damaged during the wreck.

I'm not familiar enough with these transaxles to comfortably buy this one. I'll keep looking.

 

I'm able to find a donor 2005 with 90k miles on it. I think that's the best option. The price is even less expensive at only $250. The mechanic that will install is only charging $300 for his service. I told him I would help and document everything so it'll be a learning experience.

 

I've talked to the mechanic and he seems to be very knowledgeable about the prius cars. I sent him the guide I found here that documented the step by step process in removing the transmission. I think it'll be fun to see how this works out. If it doesn't, all is not lost. It wasn't that expensive to begin with.

 

I just came back from the salvage yard where I bought my transaxle, I didn't notice this until now that it's sitting close to eye level in the back of my Prius. Is this transaxle damaged? There is a break in the metal part, I have attached a photo. It's at 12 o'clock, about 2 inches long. I'm not sure if this break is suppose to be in the design, it doesn't look like it was cut.....now I'm worried.

 

What a relief . Thanks

 

I'm having second thoughts about installing this 2005 transmission I bought. I was reading Luscious Garage post on the P0AA6 DTC and there is a TSB on this failure on 2004-2006 and some 2007 vehicles. The problem seems to have been corrected after 2007.

If I install the transmission from 2005, I should have this problem re-occur based on the Toyota TSB. I should find a transmission after 2007 to make sure I don't run into this issue again. I just wish I read this before I bought the replacement 2005 transmission.

Toyota Technical Service Bulletin T-SB-0306-08 MIL ON DTC P3009 or P0AA6, Information Codes 526 & 613

 

Quoted from Luscious Garage.

LG currently operates an overnight shift 7 days a week dedicated to hybrid taxi cabs. With this experience we can describe Gen 2 Prius transmission failure as routine, somewhere between 150-250k miles. The most common indication is trouble code P0AA6 (no other symptoms), but we have also seen broken chains, failed bearings, bad MG1s (trouble code P0A7A and P0A92), and seized planetaries altogether.

I wonder if we'll be seeing more of these as the miles get higher and higher on our personal vehicles?

I noted the hours too, seems quite low at 6 hours. Luscious Garage charges $1300+ for labor on this install. I'm getting mine put in tomorrow, I'll let you know how long it'll take (this is working without a lift)

 

Do you think the dealer will honor the TSB hours and charge 6 hours labor to do install? Just go into dealer armed with this TSB info? That would make a $400 salvage yard transmission costing slightly over $1000 total with installation at a dealer.....

 

Took the car to the mechanic that quoted me $300 to find out this guy really doesn't have the knowledge to replace a prius transaxle. Changed my mind and decided to bring it to a proper shop to do the work. Went to the local shop that does all my routine maintenance and showed him the TSB that showed the transaxle swap was a 5.9 hour job. His labor rate is $60 per hour. He told me that's impossible to swap the transaxle out at 5.9 hours, not a realistic rate. Looked up the labor rate according to his system and quoted me 8 hours to do the swap. So total would be $480 plus fluids/seals.

He has so far spent 5 hours taking it apart and is just about to remove the transaxle. This mechanic has over 25 years experience. It's really a lot of work as I watched him do most of it. I believe a more realistic time frame would be 10 hours, which the Toyota dealer quoted as the labor rate. Tomorrow the transaxle swap should be completed.........

He initially followed the write up found on priuschat in removing the transaxle without taking out the engine. After about 4 hours into the job, he said he should have followed the repair manual instead. It would have been easier removing both engine and transaxle, then separating the transaxle.