Gen III 30,000 service

Since you are changing the cabin and engine air filters yourself this only leaves the normal oil and filter change, tire rotations, inspections and checking fluid levels. I prefer to take mine to the dealer when I do not do it myself. Their charge was around $75.

 

Transaxle oil change is a good idea at 30,000 miles. Should cost $100 at a dealer.

 

After an ATF refresh at 30,000 miles, you can wait another 60,000 miles before changing the ATF again as the build up of metallic particles in the ATF slows significantly after a "break-in" period.*

JeffD

* Determined in a long term ATF testing program on Gen1 and Gen2 Prii by a group of technically oriented Prii owners. Attached is the laboratory data on my 2004 Prius ATF which was changed out and tested at 60,000 mile intervals. It is now at 219,000 miles and running fine.

 

Be aware of the "Toyota recommends wheel alignment at 30,000 miles." ploy (see earlier thread)

 

IF you can get a dealer to do the transaxle fluid change @ 30k. Many people (including me) ran into considerable resistance when asking a dealer to do this.

 

Take a look at the lab data before making the decision to not change out the ATF.

JeffD

 

I'd add that the tire rotation should include balancing with glued-on weights.

+1 on the transaxle (ATF) fluid change, with Toyota ATF-WS.

 

Jeff,

Thanks for that info. Unfortunately, I don't understand the report. What's the conclusion you've reached? 60,000 intervals, or first change at 60,000 followed by 90,000 intervals?

Thanks!

 

I changed my ATF at 30K myself, very cheap insurance IMO. Plan on next change at 90K

 

You should look at the high metallic content at 61k miles (when I joined the group analyzing Gen1 Prii to add Gen2 data. If I had this data when my Prius was new, I would have done the first ATF refresh at 30k miles.) you see that there is a high rate of gear wear as the gear teeth "Lap in". After that the ATF stays clean longer. Our analysis determined that in a Gen2 ( and probably the Gen3 as well, but we had no Gen3 data at that time) an early ATF refresh at 30k miles is a good idea as it cleans out this initial metallic load and then repeat the refresh every 60k miles thereafter.

We did discuss the possibility of extending the refresh period to 90k intervals after a couple of ATF refreshes, but I'll do it one more time at 240k miles (probably near the end of this year) just to continue the testing regime.

Jeffd

 

Got it. Change tranny oil at 30/90/150/210/270 thousand miles.

 

The Gen3 Prius Tranny uses the same type WS ATF as the Gen2 (Gen1 used Type IV ATF and needs changes more often). There were some changes to the Tranny at each generation.

• Gen1 bearings were not robust enough so they were upgraded in the later models.
• The Gen 2 has a chain that transfers torque to the drive shaft whereas the Gen3 is directly geared and it is physically smaller/lighter.
• The Gen3 Tranny gears down the MG that balances torque with the Engine so that it is less susceptible to being over reved.

I see no reason that our suggested ATF protocol would change in the newer design, but I await some solid lab testing data to confirm this.


JeffD

 

Manhatten Beach Toyota wants to charge $309 for 30k service for Gen 3 Prius.... seems really high..

 

This is why I change the cabin and engine air filters myself and only take it in when it's not time for "major" maintenance services.

 

That is about the going rate. $250-$300.

Sometimes you will have an honest dealer like City Toyota in SF who recognizes that the 30k service is extremely basic and only charges $179.