Independent Prius Mechanic in Orange County

welcome! are you near avi's advanced automotive (hybrid fix) in inglewood?

 

When I lived in south Orange County, I found that Rancho Santa Margarita Toyota and Tustin Toyota had competent service dept staffs.

 

It will probably be expensive.

I have posted on how to replace the engine coolant in posts #22 and #42 here:
Changing engine coolant | Page 2 | PriusChat

The yellow Lisle funnel is really helpful when doing the engine coolant system as this makes it much easier to get air out of the system. You still need to run the CHRS pump to move coolant into that part of the engine coolant system.

 

I second Rancho Santa Margarita Toyota!

 

you can't go wrong with anything margarita.

 

I don't doubt it, but I often wonder why the Prius is so difficult to do an engine coolant change. I've changed coolant on various Hondas over the decades, and it's pretty straightforward:

1. Drain radiator.
2. Drain engine block.
3. Remove, drain and clean out the overflow bottle
4. Pour pre-mixed coolant in through radiator neck with bleed screw open.
5. When coolant starts coming out of bleed screw, close it and continue pouring coolant 'till it's up to the neck.
6. Start the car with radiator cap off, run 'till coolant fan comes on twice. Watch the radiator neck, baste out if it starts to overflow, and top-up if it drops.
7. Once the fan's cycled on twice, shut down, cap the radiator, reinstall the overflow bottle, and fill it to top mark.

 

We are talking about the 2G Prius here, which has an engine coolant heat recovery system which is unique to that model and which helped that series qualify for CA AT-PZEV certification and the associated longer hybrid system warranties.

 

Do you know, is the 3rd gen easier? I've heard mention of removing an exhaust coolant heating hose drains a fair bit of coolant.

 

Well, I own a 2015 so I haven't needed to worry about this yet. In fact I'm looking forward to your post on that subject so I can learn from your experience...

However after reviewing the 3G repair manual about this, it doesn't seem very difficult. Open the radiator drain cock, open the engine block drain cock, let the fluid drain out. Tighten both. Open the air release valve. Fill the engine coolant at the reservoir tank until coolant comes out of the valve, then close the valve.

Add coolant until it reaches the "B" mark on the reservoir tank. Run the engine in inspection mode, work on getting air out of the system by setting cabin heater temp to MAX and the fan on, squeezing hoses, etc. Make sure the engine runs sufficiently so that the thermostat opens up. Make sure the cabin heater produces heat and you don't hear air bubbling around in the heater core.

After you are done and the engine has cooled down, make sure the fluid in the reservoir is at the FULL mark.

The spec is 7.7 US quarts for the 3G engine coolant system capacity.

 

For transaxle fluid, just raise and level the car, and drain: 90% or more comes out. Filling to correct level is foolproof: just fill 'till it starts coming back out.

Have 4 qts or liters on hand and you'll be ok, it'll take around 3.5 (liters, in my experience).

 

If the coolant is Toyota's brand, I don't see why they would not use it. The cost of transaxle fluid change is less then $100.00.

 

you don't need a hybrid mechanic for any of these services. why not take it to a triple a or someone trusted.

 

The way to make the car level after raising the front on ramps, is to use a hydraulic floor jack at the center rear jacking point which is a inverted tower sticking down.

If you cannot make the car level, the transaxle will be slightly overfilled but that is not the end of the world.

 

Instead of using a pump, it is much easier to use a funnel with a ~3 ft. long tail snaking down to the transaxle fill hole.