Prius C Tranmission/Transaxle/HSD Oil Change

Fill is directly rearward of the half shaft on the engine side of the transmission.

Level should be 0-8mm below the fill hole. This is about 3.5 qts in the 510 transmission.

We use only Genuine Toyota ATF WS.

 

Yep. ;-)

 

No need to bother with transmission fluid at such a short interval unless you're driving your Prius C like it's a race car (which I know you are not, because it is a Prius C and it is impossible to drive it like a race car!) Toyota spec's WS ATF as "lifetime" (which means "lifetime of the car's warranty", truth be told)... At 30k you're just fine. Mayyyybe worry about it at 60K but really only consider it strongly at 90k.. And at that mileage you're really not much in the hole at all for paying a familiarized dealer to take care of your car. one transmission service in 90,000 miles? That's bloody-well cost-effective!

 

Nope. 30K is the longest you should to wait before first drain and fill. Well documented for GenII and GenIII, though Toyota said first at 100K.

 

"Nope"??? Got anything to back that up? I've worked on untold numbers of 100,000+ mile Priuses still using original ATF.

Granted, automatic transmissions are an abomination and a secession to the appliance crowd, but the Prius CVTs are typically just fine to 90,000 miles without service.
The only cars with poor-condition WS ATF fluid I've seen have been the trucks. Tundras, Tacomas and FJs.

Granted, Toyota's maintenance specs are designed to get the car out of warranty coverage without repair.. (Toyota is a BUSINESS, not a charity!)... and the modern age of Internet editorialism as well as Car & Driver/Road & Track/Motortrend reviews heavily biased toward service intervals (regardless of real-world needs) driving manufacturers to produce cars with bare bones service schedules.... .... Changing a Prius CVT ATF at 30,000 miles is quite probably a waste of money, time and resources.

 

Yep. My own ATF changes. You are a Toyota Tech and I am a Boeing Tech that started with cars. Disclaimers like...."Granted, Toyota's maintenance specs are designed to get the car out of warranty coverage without repair.. (Toyota is a BUSINESS, not a charity!)"....does not float with me. Only doing "minimum suggested" maintenance increases the likelihood of failures within the given life cycle, which pays your bills, not mine.

When was the last time you changed Prius ATF at 30K miles? I know what condition mine was in.

 

Black doesn't always mean "worn out." That said, the factory service "intervals" for ATF are ridiculous, as driving style, habits, distances and a zillion more variables will cause variable wear and tear on the A/T' hydraulic fluid.

Boeing, eh? The polar opposite of Toyota. Yours is a company dependent on government contracts and extreme examples of "cover your nice person" litigation and engineering.. the other is a no-holds-barred capitalist enterprise.

Aeronautical vehicles are held to extremely high standards given the consequences of a failure while an airborne vehicle is in flight. 1 of a million Prii transmissions crapping out while cruising on the freeway at 65mph is a nuisance. 1 of a million airplanes having an engine crap out in-flight is a major FAA headache and national news story, regardless of the frequency of failure or actual cost of life.

There is no "minimum" maintenance spec with World Standard ATF. Toyota specifies that it's suppose to last forever under "normal" driving conditions, whatever the f*** that happens to be. Real world? Change it every 60 or 90K. I've done my share of W/S services onf 100,000 mile cars and trucks... Most of the time the fluid looks good and the vehicle drives/shifts perfectly, even if the fluid is black. At the same time I have had to replace transmissions under warranty with less than 15,000 miles (usually rental cars) on them... Driving habits/abuse are a major factor, make no mistake.

Monitor and change fluid as needed, in this case, I think

 

State of mind is huge. I'm with the others. While Toyota saying that the fluid should last the "lifetime" of the car... changing 4 qts of oil is quick and easy to do. Will take me about an hour to do if I want to draw it out. Probably something I'll do every 50k miles.

 

I 'm a salesman for a Toyota dealer and they recommend that "you should not change the trans-axle fluid because it's lifetime." Me on the other hand, I replaced my trans-axle at 40,000 miles. I was happy to do this because when I flushed my fluid it was a dark brown instead of bright red. I have pictures to support my statement. Just search Transaxle Fluid Drain & Fill (DIY Easy as 1-2-3) on priuschat to see the difference. If you plan on keeping your Toyota for the long run I highly recommend flushing it at 30,000 miles and every 60,000 miles after that.

Also If you're looking for a new Toyota message me to see what finance and leasing options are available to you.

 

I think this is what you're looking for:

Luscious Garage | Hybrid Specialists | Maintenance

Second paragraph: "We use OE parts and fluids and follow prescribed service schedules."


I try not to get into telling people what they should do for oil change intervals on the Internet, instead telling them about my experiences over the course of 2.5 decades in auto repair, and letting them make up their own mind. We use only OEM fluids at OEM recommended intervals, and we just don't see lubrication failures on high mileage Toyota's, if they've been maintained.

Carolyn C, who owns Luscious Garage, is THE high mileage Toyota hybrid expert, BTW. They work on a lot of taxi's with hundreds of thousands of miles on the clock.

The Toyota HSD transmission is not a typical automatic (or CVT for that matter). It doesn't have the typical wearing materials like clutches contaminating the fluid.

 

There's a HUGE amount of discussion on this in other parts of this site. It's a great read. You should go find and read it all.

But, the final conclusion is up to the individual. Some will make the change early...some won't. Just please don't brow-beat those that do.

 

I have just changed my engine oil to Schaeffer oil full synthetic 9000 and for 2000 miles so far it has increased by 12%. I am now going to try their full synthetic in my 2011CVT and see how it does. I have a friend that is a rep and he suggests testing the oil to see when it needs changing the first time using their oil. He said test it at the original interval and then every 2000 after until it needs changing. Then you know when to change it every time. This is on my 2011 Prius with 34,000 miles.

 

I am preparing to order the Toyota WS ATF. How many quarts are required for the typical drain and fill??? (I see the specifications indicate the transmission has a total fluid capacity of 3.50 quarts, but usually all of the fluid does not drain out.)

 

Buy 4.

 

When you raise it for draining, make sure it's roughly level, ie: raise front and back. Make sure it's secure, and/or leave yourself an out (put some rims or chunks of wood underneath, something solid, non-compressible, and thicker than you).

Take the fill plug out first, just in case there's a problem.

If it's sim. to 3rd gen Prius, a 10mm hex "socket" is required for both fill and drain. There's a washer you should replace (on both). The torque might be 29 ft/lb (if per Prius). If I get a chance I'll verify tonight.

Personally I see no problem with an early first change, then you might spread the interval out more, for subsequent changes.

And also, if sim to Prius, you'll need a funnel with about 3 foot of hose (or some sort of pump). Keep the hose dia under 10mm and I think you'll be ok, it'll fit.

 

I changed mine @ 25 thousand miles and it was pretty dark took me about a half an hour to do it and I think I had $33.00 in it worth for peace of mind