I took my 2010 prius in to the dealer to get the reverse beep turned off. I bought it a month ago and the beep is so annoying. While I was there I decided to pick up some oil, filter, ATF WS, washers, and replacement plastic clips. The "service advisor" sounded skeptical of me being able to do the transmission fluid myself. To be honest this guy looks like the type who would call AAA for a flat. I've seen a few videos and it looks super easy. The most difficult part seems to be getting the plastic cover off and then on again. But then I got curious and began to wonder if I'm missing something. Is this more than a simple drain and fill? Or am I correct and you just drain the old fluid and then fill/pump thorough the fill/inspection hole?
You want to raise and level the car, and ensure it's safe, ie: on safety stands. It's most convenient if the engine undercover is completely removed. I do this for every oil change, it's trivial after the first time or two: there's 4 bolts at the front, then maybe 10 plastic fasteners with heads you pry up. Two of the plastic fasteners, at the oil change access flap I never use, are slightly bigger, and at least one mine are a unique grey colour. If you start at the back removing fasteners, and work to the front, removing the 4 bolts last, it's very uneventful and easy. Reinstall the opposite. When prying up the center caps of the plastic fasteners, be careful the first time: assuming they've never been removed before they may have a grit accumulation. I use mainly a paint can opener, similar to a flat-blade screwdriver, but with a short 90 deg bend at the tip. A slim flat-blade screw driver is good to have as well. When you have them off wash them out with hot sudsy water. With care they'll last virtually forever. If you do break some, replace with the Toyota fastener is best bet, the generics are mixed quality, and there may be fit problems. As mentioned above, remove the fill bolt first, then the drain, just in case there's a problem. For putting in the fresh fluid the hands-down simplest method is a funnel and 3' tube extension. Just checking what I'm using: the tubing has an O.D. of 14 mm, and it's got a little bit of clearance still, inserted in the fill hole. You can pour in 3 quarts (it's liters up here, about the same) without worries, then go slower, adding maybe 100 cc at a time till it starts coming back out. You can do it yourself, but it's a little easier if someone helps with the pouring at this point, to minimize spillage. It takes around 3.5 liters in my experience. A breaker bar style wrench is handy for fill and drain bolt removal, much less drama than a short ratchet wrench. 3" and 6" extensions also. Fill and drain bolts are identical, and require a "socket" with male 10 mm hex. To do it right you should replace the washers and use a torque wrench when re-installing, it's 29 lb/ft. There's an instruction in the Repair Manual to recheck the level after driving. I actually did this, like a day later, after the first time, but it's onerous and unnecessary. The level is right if the car is level and fluid is right at the lip of the fill hole. It doesn't change afterwards, say after driving for a day or two.
Several ways would work. You could run the front up on ramps, then raise rear and settle into safety stands. I raise the front, settle onto safety stands, then repeat at rear. I do this both for transaxle fluid change (very infrequently, higher lift) and for tire rotation (lower lift, twice yearly, in the course of snow tire swap). The only caveat: I don't put safety stands at the scissor jack bearing points, find them too flimsy and unstable. Instead I place them inboard some, under main structural ribs. Here's my front location: At the rear I use a similar alternate location. The rear's not that critical though, lighter load, and I have used the scissor jack location there, but prefer the alternate loc. Haven't got a good pic of a safety stand in position there, will mark up a stock pick and post. Here:
