swapping transaxle

A few years ago, I had a similar experience with the 2004 using Toyota 0W-20 when I lived in Orange County, and switched back to 5W-30. I agree that viscosity is not appropriate for 2G unless you have relatively cold ambient temps.

Oil consumption has continued although at a reduced rate, at 165K miles the engine is now using ~1.5 quarts per 5K miles, not the end of the world.

Yes, the front wheel alignment needs to be checked since the front suspension was removed to allow the transaxle to be dropped out from the bottom of the car.

 

I believe that you can easily separate the two halves of the transaxle by removing 21 bolts that hold the case together. I'm not sure how visible the MG1 and MG2 stators will be at that point. It probably will be hard to do much more disassembly beyond separating the two halves as that requires taking the gears apart, etc.

 

Could be. If you go ahead with that project, please take lots of photos and post.

 

Just wanted to say "Kudos" to JC and the mechanic. I keep thinking "what if" JC gave the guy his car back or at least said give me $1000 and drive your Prius again.

What a "Pay it Forward" it would be if JC just flat out gave it to the guy.

But that's all "what ifs!"

Glad to hear that the job got completed and was successful.

 

Late to the party here. I would have mentioned to replace the trans inner cvt seal where the inner cvt penetrates the differential. That seal should be replaced on both sides if the cvt's were replaced and I would have done it on a bone yard trans. If seals not replaced keep careful eye on the trans for leak. Maybe a big piece of cardboard under the front of car. look in that area carefully every time under there for a while. Would be horrible to loose the trans cause a seal was blown out and all the fluid leaked out. Very easy to damage seal installing the cvt inner's.

Also if your going to pull the trans apart its well worth it to rent a big impact gun. I like Dewalts electric 1/2 inch impact.
Its a beast and you can tear into it pretty quick. My local rent joint charges $15 a day.

 

Thanks for the detailed accounting. Glad to hear that everyone involved with the car appears to be very happy with the outcome.

If you end up with lots of good photos, please post in a separate string. Maybe we can designate that as a sticky if you find out something noteworthy about the transaxle failure.

Transaxle failures are usually very interesting because they don't happen that often, are potentially very costly to resolve when they do happen because of the big labor investment required, and there are both electrical and mechanical reasons why the failure might occur. So a teardown of a failed transaxle and identification of the failure mode will become a big contribution to group knowledge.

 

Great deal JC, this is an excellent example of what can be done to both save money and get your car fixed. Its also an excellent example that things don't always go right the first time (as evidenced by the orange safety plug issue). This sounds so much like things I have done in the past to save money. Nowadays, I'd be the one in the garage doing it by myself. However, if someone said they'd do it for $480, it would be very hard to pass that up. .

Good job!!!!!

 

Yes that's the seals I mentioned. Sounds like the mechanic did a good job. I would still do the cardboard under the car for a while and change the fluid out again after a 100 miles. That and keep an eye on the Inverter fluid level too.
Things tend to move around a little after replacement.

 

where can I find these tutorials as I need to do this job myself. I have swapped the engine out and a head gasket so this should not be to hard.