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Transmission issue?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Mryan5281, Oct 23, 2019.

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  1. Mryan5281

    Mryan5281 Junior Member

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    My wife brought my 2009 Toyota Prius in did an oil change about 6 months ago. The place told her it needed all sorts of stuff like a transmission oil change. So she told them to do it. A couple months ago I started hearing a whirring noise at high speeds. The noise is proportional to my speed. A mechanic has looked at it and can’t find anything wrong and thought maybe it’s the transmission. I pulled out the receipt from when my wife brought it in and see that says check the fluid level after 7 days. I didn’t do that. I’ve now just learned there’s no way for me to actually check the fluid level myself and that there’s technically not a transmission...

    Since I just last 200k is it worth checking the “transmission” fluid or is it pretty safe to say my “transmission” is shot?
     
    #1 Mryan5281, Oct 23, 2019
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Did you go to a Jiffy Lube? This car takes a special transaxle fluid, not your regular non hybrid stuff
     
    #2 JC91006, Oct 23, 2019
    jerrymildred, Raytheeagle and Mendel Leisk like this.
  3. meeder

    meeder Active Member

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    Did they state what kind of trans fluid they used on the invoice?
     
    #3 meeder, Oct 24, 2019
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    you can check the fluid level by removing the fill plug and inserting your pinky (difficult access)

    but that statement is probably standard because of regular tranny's.

    prius does not need to be checked after it has been filled properly
     
    #4 bisco, Oct 24, 2019
  5. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Scary. If they put in the wrong fluid, they might owe you a new transaxle. You need to find out what's in there right away.
     
    #5 jerrymildred, Oct 24, 2019
  6. Mryan5281

    Mryan5281 Junior Member

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    yes, it’s NAL PureSyn Multi-Vehicle LV. I called NAL and they said for my specific car and year it requires a “WS” (?) type transmission oil and that their product quoted above meets is listed as meeting WS specifications.
     
    #6 Mryan5281, Oct 24, 2019
  7. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    I had a member come by my house with the same complaint about whirring sound at high speeds. Asked if the transmission was shifting into the right gears etc. I drove the car and it felt fine. Looked it over and noticed his tires were not wearing properly. The struts were leaking as well. So the noise was actually not a transaxle noise, but a tire noise from a bad tire......created by bad leaking struts
     
    #7 JC91006, Oct 24, 2019
    jerrymildred and Raytheeagle like this.
  8. Mryan5281

    Mryan5281 Junior Member

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    thanks, that’s helpful. I brought to the dealer. They say it’s a wheel bearing in the right front tire. I’ve tried to confirm it with the sharp turns but can’t. My mechanic said he did that too and couldn’t confirm a bearing. The noise didn’t change regardless of which way he turned.

    I’m skeptical of the bearing diagnosis from the dealer because I’ve read on here that someone had the same issue m, dealer said it was the bearing. They changed the bearing and still had the issue.
     
    #8 Mryan5281, Nov 3, 2019
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