Another Potential Problem

Agree totally! :cheer2:

 

Since they discourage this, perhaps they might replace the transmission, transaxel, whatever it is called! perhaps they would replace it FREE. As for breaking the seal and possible moisture entering OR I think more likely condensing on the inner wall. I see no way to stop condensation. And, it would be more likely in cold climates. Sealed perfect or imperfect. :cheer2: For the life of the car is irrelevant, when the costs are out of your pocket!

 

I challenge this assertion. The transaxle has a pressure release vent which allows heated air to exit into the atmosphere. Therefore the transaxle is not "sealed".

It is not required to change the transaxle ATF fluid routinely, if you should decide to change it once. However it is a good idea to change the fluid routinely if you are interested in maximizing transaxle life. If you don't care then there's no need to change the transaxle ATF.

 

Sounds like you need to make a trip up here.

 

In preparation for the 1500 mile trip which will break 200,000 miles I went ahead and had both coolant resevoirs drained and replaced and had the transaxle fluid drained and replaced for the first time, plus normal O/C and T/R.

Now I'm on my way to 300,000 mi.

 

I had my '07's transaxle fluid drained and refilled at 40K miles about 3 months ago.

Figure I get clean fluid in there to keep the windings on the MG1 and MG2 electric motors happy. (those motor windings are immersed in the transaxle fluid, so I heard).

Will get it changed again when I hit 100K miles in another 4-5 years. I'm aiming to keep this car for as long as possible.

 

In my experience, even dealers that hesitate to drain and replace the ATF will happily try to sell you an "ATF flush" at twice the price :_>

 

Great thread. The last two days I've been debating with my dealer to have the transaxle fluid changed and they finally agreed...I'm at 95k. When I asked why they were so hesitant they confessed they can't recall the last time they did this on a Prius. Apparently they have to use some special machine and he assured me their Prius techs can do it. It was a weird call....not a lot of confidence in his voice. I've reviewed the DIY guide and it seems fairly straight forward. After reading this thread I ponder if this procedure is really necessary @95k or if I should wait until 150k? I plan to sell the car when it reaches 150k. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

There is no interaction between motor windings and the fluid. Fluid change is strictly about reducing gear & chain wear. If you want to keep the trans and windings happy don't overload MG2 primarily by not climbing high mountains with a low state of charge and generally take it easy on the car.
And most importantly keep fresh Inverter Coolant in the car. Its so easy to change that coolant I plan on doing it once a year as the pure aluminum Inverter heatsink is hard on the fluid. That coolant keeps both the trans and Inverter cool. That costs me $20 a year in coolant.
There is substantial initial new car gear wear on our trans as evidenced by how 5K fluid looks compared to virgin fluid. Its a sound investment to have the fluid changed on our cars every 50K. Alot of us do it earlier as its very very cheap insurance. I run fresh Redline fluid in mine every 30K. Costs me $45. every few years.

As far as dealer reticence to change the CVT fluid that's VERY common.
I've owned alot of manual gearbox transmission cars and most say lifetime.
Manual boxes just do not see the wear a motor does. No combustion.
Most Volkswagen cars say lifetime on there manual trans for instance.
A Coworker had 275K miles on his manual Jetta gearbox oem gear oil.
It started snicking 2nd gear. He tried Redline and it fixed the 2nd gear syncro issue.
Japanese designers saw no big difference in the Prius CVT design gear oil wise from a manual box which is why they say lifetime. I agree. It just happens to have 2 electric motors inside it. Which have little to do with the fluid. Other than if it runs out of fluid the whole trans will fail.

But our cars have a pretty expensive transmission since it has electric motors so it makes no sense to not perform minimal routine maintenance on it.
Because there is pretty substantial gear & chain wear going on as evidenced by the many UOA reports listed on this site.
And here's the best part: If your not a do it your selfer you get to pay hopefully an experienced mechanic to do it and he is forced to look at the bottom end of the car. Thats important because unless you check it yourself
you'll never know if you have a trans or motor oil leak. A good mechanic will check that out. Its a car not a savings account.....either maintain it or it will leave you on the side of the road.

 

No, they do not need to hook up a flushing machine. It is a very simple drain and fill, just like a manual transmission. Look to spend $80-$100.

If you are targeting a trade-in at 150K, then the urgency of a change is not great, assuming that you don't care what happens to the next guy. If you plan on keeping the car as long as possible, change it now.

 

No special machine needed. Dealers continue to confuse our car with
the Tundra Truck which requires Techstream Software and specific
refill temps. That truck is a real pain to change.
Ours requires opening one plug bolt...dumping the fluid...closing that plug.....opening another plug higher on the trans body and pouring fluid into that hole till it dribbles out. Its full. Close that plug. Done. I've done mine twice so far and I'm at 40K.
It is very necessary at 95K.

Then go to Toyota.com/owners and log in and using your vin you can notate all the maintenance you have done to the car. This is the log the dealer uses for all maintence they have done. All the recalls they have done. A prospective buyer will love to see that log showing conscientious fluid changes.

 

We both hit it at the same time. Good evening sir.

 

I'll check the toyota site out. I've done all of the servicing to my car and have every receipt saved. I know the transaxle procedure is fairly straight forward, in fact I've argued with a few "service techs" regarding the complexity of the job- there's a drain and fill hole. I'll just have them do as I'd like them to check the car over to ensure nothing else is wrong. My 100K warranty will expire in 5K. I may also have them do the plug but I may just do it myself considering I've done this with every auto I've owned- replacing a plug isn't rocket science. The dealer wants $165 for plugs.....

 

Given that your Toyota dealer sound like they don't know what they're doing in relation to the transaxle ATF, I think you should seriously consider doing it yourself. If you've ever done a normal (engine) oil change then that's seriously about the level of difficulty we're talking about.

If doing it yourself you really just need to be sure that,

1. You get a funnel with about a three feet of flexible hose attachment. My local parts store had the funnel and hose packaged together for about $5, so I assume it's a fairly standard part.

2. Make sure you pull the correct drain plug. The guides here show it pretty clearly so it's not hard. Just make sure you don't pull the coolant drain by mistake.

3. It's easy enough to do by yourself, but if you've got an assistant to pour in the last half pint of ATF then it does make it even easier. I got my wife (under protest about getting some ATF on her dainty hands) to pour the last few ounces in very slowly as I held the hose under the car and looked closely for when it started dribbling back out through the fill hole. I could have done it myself, but with the help I was more easily able to stop as soon as it was full and prevent too much overflow. In either case you cant really go wrong, just pour it in until it overflows, let it sit for a minute to make sure it's equalized, then reinstall the plug.

 

I agree it's not hard. I have changed the oil in my Prius 19 times myself. I think this go around I'd like them to do this and inspect for other issues, etc. As Ive mentioned before my extended warranty is running out. This service is only $100. The fluid alone would cost me $39. In the future if I decided to keep the car ( past 150k) for sure I will do it myself. Thanks for your feedback.