First transmission oil change at 144K

As many of you know, I just bought my first Prius (2012 Two) a couple of months ago. Today, I did the first real service on it by changing the transmission oil. I was not prepared for the amount of work needed under the car and it ended up taking me nearly six hours to do everything. Here are a few observations:

1. Raised vehicle on four jack stands in my garage and found that there was not enough space to work under the car. So I raised the front end again, which made the car slightly off level.

2. When removing the engine under cover, a few clips broke and the box of new ones I purchased did not fit any of the positions, so that was a total waste of money.

3. The old transmission oil was completely black. In comparison, I did transmission service on my 2006 Civic last week after 37K miles interval and the oil color was not very dark.

4. I was able to drain about 3-1/3 quarts of oil. To fill new oil, a clear vinyl tube was routed from the engine compartment down towards the transmission housing. A small funnel was attached at the top. The first half quart went in pretty fast, after which it was a slog because of trapped air inside the tube. It took me a good 30 minutes to refill. Right around 3-1/3 quarts in, the drip from the fill hole started.

5. The amount of oil that drained and refilled was less than what most of you have experienced. So I guess having the vehicle front angled up slightly does make a difference in both drain and refill. I found it hard to level the vehicle perfectly on the stands.

6. Given the drained oil was so dark, does it make sense for me to drive 5-10K and then repeat the drain and refill? I can't believe the previous owner never bothered to change the transmission oil. The vehicle was serviced regularly at Toyota of Butte, Montana, and it was in their care until 136K, so I don't know why they never serviced the transmission.

 

Which presumably (according to toyota) ends as soon as the last of the warranties on the vehicle end.

Here is an excerpt from the repair manual:


(a) Add transaxle fluid until the fluid level is between 0 to 10 mm (0 to
0.394 in.) from the bottom lip of the filler plug opening.
 Stop the vehicle on a flat road.
 Recheck the transaxle fluid level after driving when exchanging fluid.
 Insufficient or excessive amounts of transaxle fluid may be the cause of some trouble.

So you are supposed to jack up the vehicle on a flat road somewhere during the test drive and check the level? Some of these directions in the repair manual are so nuts.

 

One annoying thing about transmission drail and refill is the awkward placement of the two plugs. The drain plug sits directly in front of some flat bar which makes a huge mess. Why not place this bolt at the bottom of the transmission like everything else?

Similarly, the fill bolt is hidden behind the cv shaft. So awkward to get a handle on it unless you have a lift.

Anyway, enough of my bitching about this. I still can't get over how bad the oil looked though. I definitely would like to do a second drain and refill next year after I put 5-10K miles on it.

 

I have put about 100 miles on the new fluid so far and have not noticed any changes in the way the vehicle drives or any new sounds. I wasn't expecting any, the car drove just fine before too. But yes, to get rid of the remaining old residue, I do think it makes sense to do another drain refill in six months time. I am about 2500 miles away from an oil change, so I might just do both of those things together.

With regard to the high mileage comment above, I am stubborn about keeping my cars forever. My Civic is going strong at 291K but only because I have kept up with its demands. This Prius won't be any different.