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Transaxle oil change

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Legendlime, Apr 17, 2011.

  1. Legendlime

    Legendlime Junior Member

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    I decided to change my trans oil on my 07 Prius, so i stopped and bought 4 qts of WS. Under the car I pulled the wrong drain plug. I pulled the 24 mm plug in stead of the one with the recessed allen and a thin watery oil came out. I tried to refill through the reservoir but it only took about a pint. So I went and bought a hose and filled the rest through the side fill which is also a 24 mm plug. Did I hurt anything by pulling the wrong plug?
     
  2. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Did you open a coolant drain plug ? Check the coolant container levels and replace with Toyota SLLC. You may have to purge air if the enough coolant was drained.

    I do not follow where you put new WS into. Maybe you can grab a good picture and mark your tracks for further advice ?
     
  3. Paradox

    Paradox Prius Enthusiast / Moderator
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    Moved from the Gen III forums to the Gen II care, maint. and troubleshooting forum.
     
  4. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    I'm confused by your post. :confused:

    You removed the inverter/transaxle coolant drain plug, which has a 24 mm hex head. Therefore, when you refilled via the reservoir, you should have used Toyota Super Long Life Coolant. Around 3 quarts of coolant will be needed if all of the original coolant drained out. I suggest you do a search to see how to purge air out of the coolant, which involves opening a bleed valve which is visible when you remove the black plastic cover over the radiator.

    When you say that you "filled the rest through the side fill", what fluid did you use to fill? The correct fluid to use is Toyota ATF WS but very little fluid should have been needed since you did not remove the correct drain plug which has the 10 mm hex key hole.

    The correct transaxle ATF fill plug faces the radiator. If you found another fill plug on the transaxle case, it was the wrong one to use.
     
  5. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Hobbit mentions that two holes exist to fill the transaxle: one facing the radiator like you mention, and another one on top. If OP put in WS, he either overfilled the transaxle or put WS in the wrong compartment.
     
  6. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Well, there actually are more than two, IIRC. I believe that one plug can be found on the side of the transaxle facing the driver's side front wheel.

    It would be pretty tough to find the plug on top of the transaxle unless the inverter was removed first.
     
  7. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    After reading OP's post again I think (?) he is saying that he recognized his mistake of draining coolant, so he replaced coolant first into the reservoir, and then through a different hole that is plugged by a 24 mm bolt.

    If this is the correct reading, all he might need to do is purge air. However, his writing 'watery oil' draining out has me confused. Seems an odd description of SLLC.
     
  8. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    I'm also a bit confused by the OP post. I just hope he didn't put ATF in the coolant loop or even worse visa-versa.
     
  9. sorka

    sorka Active Member

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  10. sorka

    sorka Active Member

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    The coolant is nearly the same color as the ATF WS and coolant does have a kind of oily feel to it.
     
  11. Legendlime

    Legendlime Junior Member

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    OK, that's what I did then. I drained some coolant and added a pint of ATF to the coolant. Then when I tried to add ATF to the proper place It wouldn't take it because I didn't drain any. So, now I will have to change the coolant and start over with the transaxle. I only drove the car out of the garage and into the drive way, but the engine did start and run for a few minutes. Thanks, I should have done a little research before I started.
     
  12. sorka

    sorka Active Member

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    I nearly made the same mistake because the two bolts are the same, but I did research prior because even though I've worked on cars for 25 years and done just about everything you can imagine, the Prius is just different in a lot of ways. I just happened to run across this warning about the drain plug in another thread so I made sure to point it out in the video. BTW, if you use a fluid exchange pump or long funnel and go in through the side filler plug, you can't overfill the transaxle.