I recently installed, with the help of my neighbor, Prius OffRoad's lift kit w/ HD rear springs for Prius v. Per their recommendation, we installed a Toyota OEM rear shock that is slightly longer; we also installed KYB front struts. In the process of finishing the passenger front, we discovered that the passenger drive axle was shot. (It fell apart at the CV joint, spilling thick oil from the boot.) After my new drive axle came from Rock Auto, I pulled the part of the shaft that comes from the transaxle. It drained a bunch of fluid. My neighbor worked on installing the new drive axle while I went to work researching the drain-and-fill procedure for the transaxle. I picked up four quarts of ATF WS and a pump, finished draining the unit, and refilled it. Weird but fun. The next day I took the car to Firestone for an alignment. When it was done, the front desk person said, "My tech aligned it as best he could," which I thought was odd. The printout indeed shows some values out of spec, and the car has a definite drift to the left. I'm having trouble figuring out how to attach that document, but I'll mention that the right front camber is -0.9 (no change), and the front left and right caster are 5.0 and 4.8, respectively (also no change). In fact, the only thing they managed to change other than a 0.1 degree difference on the left front camber is the toe, which is now right on. Any thoughts on what's going on here? I'll continue to try to get the document up, but I'm wondering whether this is on them, or if it possibly indicates an error in the installation of the drive axle. My neighbor claims to be an ASE certified mechanic (and has volumes of tools that suggest plenty of use), but he wasn't familiar enough with this model to know it has a sealed "transmission."
Odds are good adjusting toe is all you can do. That's all my shop has ever been able to do. The transaxle is not sealed but only has the drain and fill plugs. Since it has the electric motors the proper oil is essential.
