The last time that my 2006 Toyota Prius had a transmission oil change when it had 87,000 miles , now I have 205,000 miles and I didn’t change the transmission oil I took it to a mechanic today and told me that my transmission might have problems if I change it because the pieces holding together the transmission will be cleaned out and my transmission might experience bad shifting ... I have no issue with my transmission it’s perfectly normal I just thought i should do a transmission oil change .. what do you say ? What do u recommend ? Thanks a bunch
I recommend using another mechanic. You don't have a normal automatic transmission that uses ATF for shifting. There is no torque converter, no hydraulic pressure is used to perform shifts. There is no transmission ATF filter, etc, etc etc Drain it, add 3.8 qts of Toyota ATF WS. There will be no problems. Remember, your transaxle is full of motor windings. Do not use just any ATF. Although there are other brands out there that claim to be compatible, Toyota ATF WS is the factory recommended fluid for the Prius transaxle. There is some concern that you do not want to risk damaging the insulation coating on the copper windings.
Either find a HSD-aware mechanic or do the oil change yourself. It is relatively straightforward (use tube and a funnel though). Four quarts of Toyota ATF WS can be had for $50-60 and I even reused the aluminium gaskets for drain plug and fill plug (not recommended though).
I know this post it’s old but am new to the Prius chat so new to me, I see it’s a big deal with which ATF should be used seems to most of people are afraid of using a after market ATF, I been researching and so far I read on Valvoline website that manufacturers can’t void warranty and are restricted by federal law from including the requirements of the use of specific brand o a trade name product or service as a condition of their warranty, so I don’t see other than they don’t want others oils companies taking their business for they to been telling that the use of any other oil no Toyota will harm the car, there are YouTube videos people using Valvoline ATF WS with not problem at all, so to make it more interesting it looks like the Toyota ATF WS is no synthetic ( the stickers doesn’t mentioned synthetic nowhere )so it’s inferior to the Valvoline ATF WS, what Prius chat community think? I think someone can open a new chat about this topic since I don’t know how.
Yes, let's please beat this dead horse some more..............it's your car, use what you want. It's no longer under warranty anyway. If an aftermarket fluid saves you a few bucks and the transaxle lasts forever then great. If it doesn't, well that's great also.
