Did our transmission just go south? P0AA6, MG2 in car replacement!

It is....welcome aboard!

Possible....but if it did, you'll be thousands ahead if you take the car from this dealer and verify the diagnosis.
I'm troubled by a dealer that calls a customer and says that "they think that the transmission has failed."
I like dealers that have more refined troubleshooting abilities than that.

Presuming the transaxle has failed, I'd go with a used transaxle unless you're going to be putting another 150,000 miles on the car, and even then I'd think doing so anyway. My guess is that you can get a used unit for < $500 and have somebody install it for around $1000.

Oh????
Anybody out there besides me think that this is coincidental???

Always look where you've been.

 

sounds like you bought a car with a known problem......that's why they sold it.

My 2005 transaxle failed at around 150k miles too, so it's not all that surprising.

 

I think I had a MG2 failure. I ended up buying a used transaxle for $250 and paid my mechanic around $600 to put it in

 

Can either of you tell me if the ATF had been drained and refilled before the tranny failed? I have yet to hear of a tranny failure when the ATF was periodically refreshed. Not to boast, but my 2004 is at 277k miles and the tranny is fine (ATF refresh every 60k miles).

JeffD

 

The P0AA6 means there is a high voltage leak. The likely causes are the HV battery, the air conditioner compressor, or the transmission. Less common would be a damaged HV cable. Here are a couple of links from Luscious Garage. The first is an example of good trouble shooting.

This next link describes a simple test to determine the source of the leak. No tools are required to run this test.

A Gen I and the Gen III Prius will restart and continue to run with this code present. It is just the Gen II that will not restart. Clearing the code with a reader or by disconnecting the 12 volt battery will give you one restart and the car will run until shut off or catches fire. That could help get the car home.

A proper sub code will also help identify the source of the leak.

Brad

 

I was a hard sell on replacing transaxle fluid initially.

There's no combustion inside the transaxle and it's a sealed unit so no dirt should be getting in there either.
Also...this isn't the 1950's. There aren't pounds and pounds of metal shavings cruising around inside from crude machining to worry about.

In a normal car, with a normal CVT (inasmuch as you can call a CVT "normal") I would say that there is a zero point zero percent chance of the unit suffering a lubrication related failure before the one billion mile mark.
However (comma!!!)
Prius CVTs have electrical windings in them, and stator failures are somewhat common in the motorcycle community - so I understand the benefit from changing the lubricant at 30-60K and thence every 60K or so....and using the OEM stuff - which surprisingly for Toyota isn't outlandishly priced.

I'm not convinced that the OP's failure wasn't related to the somewhat recent transaxle fluid replacement, but that was 10K miles ago - so I think that the statute has run on that issue, but this isn't a $4,000 fix!!!!

It's insane that a company that's trying to maintain a reputation for frugality and reliability should have to rely on a dealership that would attempt to shake down a customer for a $4,000 repair that could and should be done for "only" about $1,000.

There's a warranty labor rate that's associated with a transaxle replacement.
This is the rate that the company would reimburse the dealer if they have to replace the piece/part under the OEM warranty, and they usually keep those rates written down in hieroglyphics in a dusty ledger, locked in a safe and guarded by armed former Army rangers.
For a customer funded repair, the rate is literally whatever the dealer thinks that the customer will tolerate.

Let's pretend that the warranty rate is about 4 hours, and the loaded repair rate is $250/hr.
That's $1,000 for labor on a $3,000 part....and even at this somewhat inflated price the dealer never suggested a re-manufactured or even a used component for a ten-year-old car with half lunar mileage?!?!?!



----crooks!

 

I bought my 2005 because of the failure. A friend of mine owned it and didn't want it anymore after the failure. So I don't have history of any changes of the fluid.

There is a TSB on the transaxle p0aa6 with subcode 526. If this is the case, you might have a claim with Toyota. They might give you a break on the repair since there's a TSB on it.....it would covered under extended warranty up to 150k miles.

 

I have a Gen I that had a P3009 code appear. That is the same as your PA006 code. I cleared the code to start the isolation test and the code has not reappeared for months. Sometimes weird stuff just happens. Order a Mini VCI cable now! Find a USA based seller so you can get it in under a month. You could open up the battery for just a visual inspection. Look for rusty spots. You will not see puddles of electrolyte. Minute amounts are all it takes. The air conditioner compressor can be unplugged to remove it from the HV system. Until the car sets a code again you have zero chance of finding the problem.

Brad

 

Dat,

Send me a PM and I will send you a link to a zip archive maintenance manual on my web server. There are two versions; one for 2004-2005 and the other is for 2006-2009.

JeffD

 

DarnDarnDarnDarnDarnDarnDarnDarn. Use Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market to find a transmission.

Brad

 

On a Gen I Prius it is possible and much easier to replace just the MG2 without removing the whole transmission. I do not know if this is possible on a Gen II.

 

I wouldn't muddy the waters with anything other than Toyota ATF-WS. Plus: the Owners Manual has pretty strong language, warning to use JUST that.