Should I put a used tranny in an 05 with 144k miles?

How much is it leaking and where from exactly?

Also curious what the patch job would entail?

Is the newer battery OEM or a used pack?

Could be time for a second or third opinion.

 

A used tranny for a 2 Gen Prius would not be 2000 grand, even with labor? Have a look here and recalculate. :}

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The axle seal on the driver's side is a known leaker of transaxle fluid.....hopefully that's not why you're thinking of another transaxle.

 

“It is recommended” by whom exactly?
Why was your car there?
Did you discover the “leak” or was if found by the person who gets paid to fix leaks?

There’s about a gallon of fluid in the transaxle....how much leaked out?

You have about 2000 (really - less than 1000) reasons to get some more answers........

 

tranny be no small job up in there .. engine & removal -replacement is lotta labor.. liek $1000 maybe more .... car is 16 yrs old .. how is the rest of it ? shoks , body, interior, etc. ...
the next thing that will fail is the break accumulator .. for me , doing alot of delivery jobs it came in the next 20k miles .. it sort of gets worse (as break fluid pressure gets less and less) but you dont really realize it because the motor noise is not something commonly known. ....

alotta dough for a really old car (not saying a gen 3 is any better, and from the stories i've read much worse, esp. a 2010) ...

used tranny is prob. gonna be cost of like a traction battery, maybe more .. + the really bigger labor not associated with the traction battery replacement.

--- tranny is what causes most people to dump a older, used (less expensive, non-hybrid car ) ..

\You may not need to pull the engine out, more exp. members in here can reflect, but the pirus technical manual will have you doing at least twice the labor time .. (for ex. part of their procedure for pulling the engine is to remove the dash panel, which they claim to be a 5 hour job)

yes those other options and answers to the questions other members asked .....

 

Show us good pictures of the leak. Usually from an axle seal maybe an inner cv joint failing they sometimes beat the seal up. That’s no big deal.

only seen very very few case leaks over the last 14 years in this site.
Bulletproof tranny really.

 

did search on prius tranny and a cvt from a 1st gen is going for about $500 abouth the same for 3rd gen (these are used with like 80k miles)
and even 200$ for an 07 with local pickup if your in NC ...
so prices arent that bad if u really feel u need one .. but u best be checkin that labor out ..
u could diy but figure 1-2 weeks car will be down ...

 

If it’s an case seam that’s leaking, I’m guessing it’s form-in-place gasket? I could look it up.

or the labour to disassemble and reseal knocks the quote outa-the-park?

Better the transaxle you know is worth something?

 

What kind of mechanics do you go to without CLEANING the area? You can't identify where the leak is coming from without cleaning everything off. As you're driving, the wind from under the car gets the crap sprayed everywhere.

It sure looks like it could be a axle seal leak from your first picture, you see the axle boot in the picture. That's what it looks like.

First step you need to do is get a degreaser and clean off that entire area. Then you monitor it and see where the leak is coming from. The axle seal is less than a $10 part from Toyota.

If you don't want to clean the area, just replace the axle seal of the side that's leaking/dripping (maybe $120 - $150 labor from an indy mechanic). I'll bet that'll fix your transaxle leak.

 

Toyota calls the transmission “transaxle”.

 

^ That.
If the dealership mechanic said that they wanted to replace the transaxle to fix an axle seal leak then they either didn’t want the work, there is something that I don’t know about that prevents them from fixing the leak, OR they are just trying to yoke you for a $2000 repair bill.

—-I have my suspicions as to which one is the case, but Ive been wrong before,

SO…as stated above it looks like you DO have a real leak.
Time to check and see if the axle seal is where the fluid is getting out, and if so then whether or not axle seal repair is a thing.

My last submarine had a shaft seal that leaked like a Senators aid when we were above 400’….and as far as I know it was still that way when they turned her into razor blades…..BECAUSE……not every leak requires you to replace a major drivetrain component!

EDIT:
I just checked the inter webs and came up with this:
https://lusciousgarage.com/blog/prius_axle_seal_leak/

This informs me that (a) this is one of the few common problems with G2s and (2) It’s NOT a $2,000 fix……

Good Luck!

 

How qualified is this mechanic? I personally wouldn't have put any silicone on the casing. And if you have a leak where it's bolted, it can't possibly penetrate the silicone right?

I would personally check around the new seal to see if there's anything leaking. Fluid will collect at the lowest point, just like water. It won't be necessary where the leak is from

 

Yes I bet it got hit from some fod.

get some carb cleaner and wire brush and clean the whole suspected area off so its super clean. Remove all that silicone crap.
Find out exactly where its leaking/cracked take some pictures of it. Post those pictures here.

If it was me I would then take the car to a muffler shop and have that crack or seam welded shut. Worth a try. Who cares if the case is welded closed your never ever going to disassemble the case.

Btw, I would pull the two 12 volt leads off the 12 volt battery and then pull the high voltage safety switch out before any welding is done on the car.
There have been reports of electronic damage to the G2 after welding but that was years ago.

I recently had some welding done on my muffler and removed those connections anyway. Its really easy and quick. Better safe then sorry. In fact the muffler shop mentioned they wont be responsible for damage to my hybrid before they started welding.

 

If you get to needing a replacement transaxle, last time I did mine (I actually did 2), my mechanic charged me $500 labor and I brought him the part. I think the parts are still quite cheap as there are very few failures for the gen2 cars.

I parted out a car once and left the transaxle on it when I got rid of it, that's how undesirable they are.