Transaxle Temp Sensor

none at all, all the best!

 

I think there's more to this problem than meets the eye...

 

Rebuilt...as in "Salvage Title"? Please clarify.

 

I would take a close look at any wiring harness that connects to this sensor.

 

I'm with Imken. Your car probably took a front end smush and the harness and or plug that supports the sensor was damaged and the mechanic did a poor job of patching-jumping and re-wiring it. My experience is mechanics are real butchers when it comes to fixing wiring issues. You need an electronics tech or the very least a good car stereo installer.

You need to find a smart mechanic that is able to get it on a lift and then dig around and see if indeed the harness is damaged. Lack of butchery evident means that something internal to the trans was damaged in the smush.

Whats your position? Are you man or female? Do you own alot of tools and are able to get the car high up on jackstands and find this yourself?
Its not rocket science. You get the manual and locate the sensor harness plug location and look there. Worth the looksee effort as you could save thousands of dollars with a little personal participation.

You are going to have to do something to circumvent the dealer as he will take you home on this one. Many people have found independent local mechanics to replace the trans. The owner buys it used from junkyard.

Btw, we see this situation alot here.
People think there going to be slick and buy a salvaged title car. This is a poor car to do that with given its complexity and lack of indie mechanics up to speed on the car.

Here's a sample:
2011 Toyota Prius Automatic Transmission Tranny 21 530 Miles | eBay

Indie would charge maybe $1000 to 1500 labor. Good Luck.

 

Don't want to sound like a broken record, but this is just another reason why NOT to buy a salvaged car.

The sensor has to be tested. It can be removable on the outside or it could be integrated with the inverter and ecu.

If it is not the sensor, it's the connector or the circuit. The break or failed conductor can be anywhere.

You need a complete wiring diagram and a VERY experienced technician with plenty of time on his hands.

I've been involved trouble shooting circuits to nearly 50 years. It took me 2-1/2 years on and off to fix my 1998 Mazda MPV. That vehicle is much simpler. The on-off intermittent fault mimicked many other faults. I finally solved the problem in the distributor's coil. It was towed home twice.

And, that's a much simpler system. Cars like that are why they are traded in and sold as salvage.

Your mechanic might be in over his head.

 

Usually based on what we see here its a smashed connecter. Those are hard to repair as you have to pull the trans out of the car to fix it and then find a donor trans to harvest the part as they don't usually sell alot of parts as they call the trans an assembly. It behooves you to become educated yourself to be able to identify the part and its location. I would go to Toyota TIS and pay for a one day subscription for the factory manual. Its like $10.You can download and print off any or all pages your printer can stand for a day. Its the same manual the dealer uses.

Find the location of the plug in question and look for yourself and see if its smashed. Or trace the harness back from the plug if it looks ok and see if its smashed.

Next step would be to buy a Mini VCI OBDII scanner as there very cheap and work off an XP laptop. Them you can pull the codes the car is logging and unhappy about and see if its really the issue or the dealer is pulling your leg and cant figure it out so wants to swing at the trans on your dime. You have to be careful. Even the dealer gets stumped and then wants to use your wallet to finance a full investigation at $135 an hour.

We need the codes the car is throwing to really help you. They may have nothing to do with this plug. The dealer pulled them and logged them. You can go to Toyota.com/owners...join...then using the cars VIN any and all services performed at a Toyota dealer in the US 48 are notated there. Hopefully the codes are listed there. Paste them here.

Also answer the question about your personal situation. Are you able to do anything yourself? Tools? Get under the car etc?

 

Most all of you technicians today are "pull and replace" individuals. You need the technical rebuild portion of the transaxle's manual to see where the sensor is located and how to get to it.

If you're lucky, it's an exterior screw in part.

 

stever2345...Rude person's is correct in that you "might" need to find someone with access to the component manuals (WDM, IPC and Overhaul) for the transmission, it's interface to the vehicle, and the skills to use them. If you can find all the wiring diagrams for "both sides", then you could eliminate or isolate the wiring and plugs yourself assuming you own a good meter and know how to use it. But even then physically locating an/the open, short or suspect area can take some time unless you are lucky enough to find a smoking gun. You could even ring out the sensor (internal or external) if you have the information required because most temp sensors are nothing more than thermocouples. My suggestion to you would be talk to a few Transmission shop and local Dealership transmission "Techs" (the wire guys too) to personally qualify someone to assist you. Know that Toyota Dealers don't like you talking to their Techs for obvious reasons, but they can not prevent it.

As to the general attitude toward mechanics here on PC, be advised that "like most professions", there are individuals at different levels and with different specialties out there. Most members on here don't even know to change their own oil, change a flat or buy the right tools, let alone fix anything, yet there is an over whelming mistrust and disdain of those that can and do. Do not think that every poor guy/girl working at Jiffy Lube, Firestone or the Express lane at your Toyota Dealership is indicative of the profession. Like anything else, if you want something done right, you have to go to the folks that know how...and pay for their experience, knowledge and skill.

 

I have an exploded view of the Gen III transaxle that my dealer's parts department printed for me. Fortunately, my dealer's parts and service manager is very good to me, when it comes to printing diagrams.

There are two multiple harness connectors in the transaxle. One is on top and one is on the back right next to the firewall.

The first thing I do is to secure a wiring diagram and trace the circuit leading to the temperature sensor. The wire can be "pinched" under the insulation. I'd wiggle it every which-a-way. If you break it, it would be fine, because it would reveal that it is the problem.

Another problem might be one connector that has slipped out of the connector block.

Then, all you have to do is to repair the break or the bad connection and you're fine.

Having 50 years of experience, I usually can immediately see the problem. I've communicated others with similar problems by emails and had to exchange at least ten emails over three days, before he finally realized the problem and recognized it.

I done repairs for almost nothing. A dealer once quoted $300 to replace a bad water pump, when it was only a constant tension hose clamp that was weak due to the OEM supplied clamp was the wrong size. Going to a smaller clamp that required more force to expand meant more pressure to hold the hose onto the water pump neck with more pressure.

I spent $1.45 sales tax included. Those who don't care to look at or to educate themselves would have been out $300.

Knowledge an information is everything.

 

there's another thread here by a guy who smushed his wiring harness transaxle connector when replacing the trans.

 

Ok fair enough. Spend the $10 and print out everything your friend will need. The location of plug and pins and the troubleshooting tree etc. Will save alot of time.
Would really help you if you can get it on a lift.

 

I just had a capital idea....

Just out of curiosity, what is the range of which this temperature sensor would be reading?? If the sensor did in fact go bad, couldnt a diode or some other electric shenaniganary be rigged up (much like what people do when their Catalytic Converters do) to in fact feed the ECU a bullshit number, just to satisfy it and stop disabling the car/popping up DTCs??

I mean to me it seems a total waste to replace a WHOLE transaxle assembly when one measly non-serviceable little temperature sensor has went TU. This of course, assumes the sensor is bad and NOT the associated connections, etc.

Why do I always have to be the practical one with all the brains around here?!?!

 

What I want to know is why it isn't fixed after two weeks...instead of talking about it.

 

I would expect the service department to report unusual resistance readings for a bad temp sensor in the transaxle as opposed to voltage readings which can be influenced by outside sources.