Max fluid capacity

Thanks... I did not know about an exhaust heat exchanger. I don't have the car jacked up high enough to reach that exchanger.

I hope to do this drain and fill today, and I was just going to undo the upper heater hose, which I think is above the reservoir. I am actually thinking of putting one of those "old school" plastic tees with a cap in that hose. Not for putting water in, but so I can vent the cooling system near its highest point without having to remove the windshield wiper shelf again.

I will be having a round 2 of surgery, since I need my car for Uber this July 4th weekend. The heat we have had put me way behind schedule. I will have my cleaned EGR cooler I bought on eBay installed today, along with the other parts I have cleaned. I can't get the EGR apart for cleaning, so I may put the dirty EGR back in, during round 2 during a cooler week.

Round 2 is needed since I know I won't get to cleaning the Intake manifold this week. Also the Transmission fluid.

 

Luck on the surgery!

 

It's funny: there is a hose that's the return path from the exhaust heat exchanger, comes way up to a high point under the cowl, there's a tee in it already with a temperature sensor inserted:



In the earliest years of Gen 3, that tee also had an air bleed valve (you can see it in the drawing). But later it was dropped.

I've been able to open mine without removing the cowl (it has a slot as for a screwdriver, and I just used a long thin piece of metal sideways). But I think it was dropped because it turned out not to be super essential to successfully refilling the system.

If you wanted, I suppose you could probably buy the version of that tee that includes the bleed valve.

 

By earlier, would a 2013 Prius V have it?

 

I am going to chime in and say that trying to figure out the transaxle fluid capacity on the 3rd gen Prius has been a really frustrating experience. I don't understand why Toyota would build the accuracy of the measurement around "spilling" and a "constant" drip.

Here's my experience with it as I am questioning now whether I need to open it up again and top off.

• I took out a little less than 3.78L...guessing between 3.6-3.7L.
• Saneauto guy on youtube (forum won't let me post link) says 3 full bottles + the 4th up to this level which I estimated to be about 760ml for a total of (3*946)+760=3,598ml

• 
• Manual says 3.5L
• Called the dealer twice. First time they said 3.5L then then asked to speak to tech who said fill untill spill method.
  
• Car care nut says it can take between 3.5-4.5 bottles. Fill and spill.
  
• @NutzAboutBolts says " It say the transmission takes 3.6 qts, we used about 4 qts and a little extra just so we could see the transmission fluid spill out to know that its topped off."
• @highmileage posted that it takes about 3.25qts

Alright, so WHICH is it? lol

I spent an hour trying to get it to spill and it didn't, not to the extent shown in most of these videos. I went past the line above, estimating about 3.9 qts, close to 3.7L. I thought I saw it barely start to drip and plugged it but after seeing all these videos it is making me question. Do I need to open it up again and top it off? Or is there enough to just let it be? What do you recommend?

 

Is the car LEVEL????? It must be level or it won't be acurate.
it doesn't have to be perfect. If you put 4 quarts in, it's almost overfilled.
But it won't hurt it since it's only .25-.5 quarts.
If you read the owners manual/mantainence manual, or service manual, it will say 3.6qts.

You would ONLY need to "top it off" if there was a leak. Or you needed to remove the
axel(s) as fluid would leak out.

You are over thinking this.

 

Not sure why it would be so problematic. You drain, then fill, with car level, ‘til it starts coming back out, won’t take any more. That sets the level at the lip of the fill hole. Takes about 3.5 liters or quarts.

More info in my signature (on a phone turn it landscape to see signature).

this pic you’re under car, looking towards transaxle inside face. For orientation, circle to right of fill plug is drive shaft. Drain and fill plugs ID’d.

 

It just wouldn’t be fun on priuschat if we keep things simple!

 

I always put 3.49L in mine, anything more or less you’ll break down in middle of highway.