ATF fluid changes ARE Required.

MolyB is not used much anymore in high quality synthetic oils. Its mostly found in magical "this can will fix your engine" additives. Especially if the base oil is crap.

Redline touts a very high quality ester base stock synthetic. It feels much different to the finger than WS.
Redline is known for having the best gear box & auto trans oil. Amsoil is known for having the best engine oil.

And there engine oil is the strangest stuff I have ever felt. It feels like super slippery plastic. I tried there 0-20 engine oil once in my Prius engine and it was to slippery or thin I think. I heard or thought I heard more top engine clatter than usual. The 0-20 in there brand was to thin I think. The engine in our car is pretty clattery to begin with but I thought it sounded weird so I dumped it. Probably would have been fine but my car was relatively new and I was paranoid. I am going to use there 10-30 next time. At its next 10K change.

 

According to this paper: http://www.motordiagnostics.com/papers/TTFE1.pdf

winding contamination is a major factor in winding short generation. Thus it totally makes sense to keep the fluid as clean as possible. I just bought WS fluid and will be changing it soon at 22,000 miles. I was going to wait till 30,000 miles, but based on this thread I decided not to wait any longer. Making this a sticky would not be a bad idea.

 

So I'm going to my dealer tomorrow to do my 30K oil change and tire rotation... Should I just go ahead and have them change the transmission fluid as well? I mean, I don't plan on selling the car anytime soon and I believe I'll have it for a while but I can just see myself getting weird looks from the service writer. I guess we still don't have a consensus on what is needed or not?

 

Simply ask,"What is the cost to change the transaxle oil? Do you have everything needed?"

Bob Wilson

 

Will do! We'll see what I end up doing. Maybe I'll do it with my oil change and tire rotation... Or, I may wait and do it another time. I'm not sure yet.

 

How difficult is it to change the Trans fluid on your own? I plan on doing my first oil change and switching out to Redline and would like to do the same with the transmission as well with, if not Redline, then Toyota. Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

^ That little cap on the hose is a nice touch.

Comments:

Maybe get 3' of the hose. Might be a bit long, but just in case.

Pick up the funnel first, bring along when you're shopping for the tubing.

While you likely can do the change without taking the cover completely off, I would take it right off: it's not that difficult, makes access easier. Also saves wear-and-tear on that flap.

I picked up magnets some time after doing a change, so in the interm just stuck one on the head of the bolt. Obviously being on the tip it'd be much more effective, but maybe it'll pick up some.

As far as the change:

You need 4 liters/qts of Toyota ATF WS. You'll use a bit over 3.5. Also get replacement washers for both the drain and fill bolts (they're identical, 10mm recessed hex socket type).

Raise the car and get it level. And safe. When refilling the proper level is basically arrived at by filling 'till it starts coming back out, then waiting till it subsides. If the car isn't level, it might throw the level off.

Torque values for the transaxle drain/fill plugs: 29 ft/lbs

 

I had all the parts to make the filler in my garage already. My driveway has a slant to it, so I drove the car up on ramps until it was level. The whole operation was simple, especially when compared to a fluid and filter change on a VW DSG trans.

 

Ya, it's not difficult, but more hassle than I thought.
First, there is no access without ramps (I hate driving on ramps, huge anxiety factor).
2nd, the plastic cover had to go out. 6 screws and numerous clips (luckily, I didn't break any).
3rd, the drain+fill plugs are very tight, one needs to have a long extension for the hex wrench.
4th, the drain plug was non-magnetic. I had to manufacture a magnetic one epoxying a small magnet into a small hole I drilled (see below).
5th, filling 3.5qt of WS using my gear pump took forever, especially since it didn't fit Toyota WS bottles with wide necks.
6th, cleaning, bottling used oil for recycling, and putting things together.

Here is my observation on used WS ATF at 22,000 miles/2 years: very dark burgundy and slightly cloudy compared to bright red and clear new one. There is a lot of oxidation going on in that short time. Way worse compared to WS I drained from RAV4 @30,000 miles that was almost like-new. That Prius transaxle works very hard and possibly hot (I don't monitor temps yet, but don't block grill either).

Due to the hassle factor, I will replace ATF one more time with Redline D6 after warranty expires (60,000 miles) and be done with it.

 

I think for giggles, I will fill mine with Amsoil ATL once the warranty expires, which coincides with my next fluid change at 60,000 miles.

 

Thank you for the help in outlining the procedure!

I just changed the engine oil at 1153 miles to Redline 0w20 and will do the trans fluid at the next oil change. A few last questions; Do you know of any manufacturer that makes a magnetic drain plug for the trans plug. I was able to find one for the engine oil plug but no luck for the trans. And finally, what specs shoul I be looking for when I choose the trans fluid. I'm partial to Redline products and am considering Redline D6.

Once again, thanks for your help.

 

Unless you're really adventurous I'd stick to Toyota ATF WS fluid. It's readily available through the dealership, and not too expensive, maybe 50% more than their 0W20 motor oil. If there were a problem and something else was in there you might be SOL on warranty.

 

Adventurous? I think its very adventurous to follow Toyota's maintenance schedule. D6 M1 even that crap they sell at Walmart for WS will work fine.

 

You posted at the beginning of this thread not to use M1 because it doesn't have "Windings Compatibility"
Now your saying your going to use Amsoil? And that has windings compatibility?
Please explain. And or show me where Amsoil states this magical property.

Btw, Amsoil ATL has low boron/calcium content. A problem as that is an additive usually added to the fluid to prevent yellow metal attack. Just ask Bob.

 

Amsoil Tech Support stated that they will back the use of Amsoil ATL in Toyota hybrid applications where WS is required. I do not see the same recommendation from ExxonMobil.

As for the additive package, I would be careful about drawing conclusions that two specific ingredients are the only two solutions to preventing yellow metal attack. I will leave this job to Lubrizol and the other additive suppliers.