$ 620.00 Inverter fluid change

that is crazy expensive. There is a guy on here selling a gallon of OEM SLLC for $10. You'll need 3 gallons. any mechanic can do it

 

Not only a rip-off, but unnecessary. Wait until 100,000 miles at least.

 

That's steep. That aside, the Toyota USA warranty and maintenance booklet says:

Engine coolant change: 100k miles or 10 years, 50k miles or 5 years thereafter.

Inverter coolant change: 150k miles or 15 years, 50k miles or 5 years thereafter.

I can post a table format summary of the schedule tomorrow: much easier to follow than the event-by-event format in the Toyota booklet.

 

One edition of Toyota’s Flat Rate Manual allows 0.6 and 0.8 labor hours for changing the engine and inverter coolant, respectively (operation numbers 002019 and 002049) on third-generation Prius cars (ZVW30 series).

The list price for a gallon of pink coolant (00272-SLLC2) is $20.24, and as @JC91006 kindly mentioned, the job requires about two and a half gallons (7.2 L for the engine and 2.1 L for the inverter). If you’re doing it by the book (more info), you also need a new gasket for the coolant drain plug on the bottom of the hybrid transaxle, part number 90430-18008, list price $1.90.

 

@NutzAboutBolts has videos on both coolant changes. Even if you're not considering DIY, worth a watch, to get a feel for the scope of work. There's links in a thread pinned at top of 3rd gen maintenance forum. Attached is some repair manual info:

 

If you’re a mechanic, how did the maintenance cost surprise you and how come your not doing the work yourself

 

I did both coolant / inverter this weekend and pulled the throttle body off so a bit of fluid came out and I did the best I could squeezing the hoses to get out more fluid. The car was up on 2 front wheels and with drains open I lowered the car down on the wheels while it drained. I paid about $50 for 2 gallons of Toyota fluid with tax at a dealer. I have fluid left over so you are covered with 2 gallons. I 'think' I was quoted somewhere around $250 for each fluid change, there was no discount offered on getting both done at once. Los Angeles, Ca prices.

 

I'm NOT a mechanic and that sounds ridiculous.

Advice:
1. Stay away from Toyota dealerships....especially THAT dealership.

2. Coolant changes for a 6-year-old California car are a YMMV thing.
Me?
I wouldn't do it now.....
You fix cars for a living and I fix phones, so I'm not going to virtue-signal you on the periodicity of this maintenance but the price is about 2x what I'd pay for inverter+radiator coolant changes. At least they didn't insult your intelligence by calling them a coolant "flush."

 

The engine coolant change is particularly easy. You just remove a trim panel beneath the engine, open the drain valve — it’s a stopcock, needs no tools — and drain. Close the stopcock, replace the trim panel. Then you refill, warm the engine slightly while squeeIng a bit on the radiator hoses to bleed out any bubbles. That’s it.

 

There's a couple of openings in the underpanel, one just aft of the radiator spigot, that you can reach a hand in, and a smaller one directly below the tap. You can reach in and get it draining without underpanel removal. I think it helps to have the front slightly raised, clearance is tight.

That said: the Repair Manual recommends to also drain the block, and to get to that location you probably do want to remove the underpanel. And have eyes on stalks, and arms 4 foot long: the block drain point on the rear side of the engine block, fairly high up, and near the passenger end of the engine. It's similar to the radiator drain, having a spigot you can push a tube onto. You "open" it by turning a small socket-head cap screw just above the spigot, takes a Allen key IIRC.

And that said: I seem to recall those that have got to the engine block drain found very little came out.

Another point you can drain: remove one of the coolant hoses on the exhaust coolant heating system, it was reported here some coolant can be drained there.

 

I don’t see any reason for draining the block unless there’s been contamination with oil, or you’re removing the engine, etc.
But just for maintenance? Not needed.

 

Well I'll give it a try, see how much comes out, at least once. With hondas over the years, about a couple of quarts came out of the block. That seems a reason: if the object is to replace the coolant, I think it best to remove as much of the old coolant as practical.

Repair Manual recommends it, fwiw.

 

Not much comes out of the block anyway. If you live in an area that sees salt, the block plug can be dangerous to touch.

 

Can you recall roughly how much? Say a cup?

 

I need to raise my prices....

 

Honestly don’t remember, but it was very insignificant.



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