Hi all just hit 100k in out 2012 prius C. Fluid color is below. Used my dealer free reward points to bring the change down from $150 to $90. I usually do all this stuff but been too cold and snowy in northeast. Next step is to replace the plugs. Good god if this prius c is anything like the prius youtube vids. which show taking the wipers out and numerous other things just to get to the plugs sheesh. Didn't see anything on a prius C plug change hope it's is easier but betting not. Dealer wanted $200 for plug change. fluid photo below is sideways no sludge.
In reality; NOT. It's quite dark compared to new fluid. Starting with the Gen III, Toyota no longer provides a magnetic drain plug, and there is likely a lot of steel and iron particles worn off of the gears in the fluid. I've attached a photo of a Gen II drain plug taken out after 100k miles. Even with the little ceramic magnet, there is a lot of iron and steel. When I changed mu fluid at 13k, I replaces the standard drain plug with my custom milled OE one fitted with a rare earth neodymium magnet.
Mike I agree tho I'm no expert. I put a large NEO on my oil filter a few years ago, cut the filter open and after rinsing with solvent I saw very fine metal particles all attracted to the NEOmag and lower filter casing closest to magnet position. Easy with oil filters since they're iron/metal but what about the CVT crankcase is it aluminum? The engine is an aluminum block with an iron sleeve? ANyway it makes sense they embedded the magnet in the drain plug to attract iron particles. I recently purchased a new Nissan with the CVT, love the car but Nissan CVT's have far more issues than Toyota from what I've read. I will be changing the CVT fluid in it far more frequently. Would've bought another Toyota but Nissan gave me 0% and $3500 in rebates on the Altima, usually you can get only one or the other. In addition the Dealer gave me nontransferable Lifetime Powertrain warranty which implies changing all fluids at or before OEM intervals and keeping exact records no problem.... Wanted the Corolla but payment on it was much higher than the Altima midsize car with the same mileage with the 2.5 four. I do realize tho the Nissan quality has dipped a bit and Toyota has been steady. THanks all for responding....
The case might be aluminum, but all the gears are made of iron and steel. That's where the particles come from. In suspension, the particles are either the same or harder than the gears and parts rubbing each other. Removing them from the stream of fluid reduces wear. I made them, because I wanted one, and $20 is worth the price. It's cheap insurance. I'f I had a car like the CVT Altima, I'd put a disc magnet on the steel pan. My old 1998 Mazda MPV has a ceramic button magnet there. It catches quite a bit of iron-steel there.
I see no point in leaving the original transaxle fluid in that long, per the OP. I did a change at the one year mark, about 10,000 km: the drained fluid was quite dark. Did a second change at 3 year mark, around 30,000 km: the fluid looked pretty good. Based on that I've resolved to change it every 3~4 years, down the road. Letting the original fluid sit in there for over 100,000 miles is the worst thing you can do, imho. It's a pretty cheap and easy chore, my last bill: Four Liter Toyota ATF-WS fluid: $37.28 (Can) Two Drain/Fill Bolt Washer: $3.98
On my new altima, the CVT drain and fill holes are on the side and you need to use a pump or gravity feed hose to fill. I'm doing latter with funnel. You also have to keep the car level when doing it. Once it comes out of fill hole you plug it. Kind of a pain but I plan on doing it frequently.
I think so too. Most of the wear has occured after few ten thousand miles, so change then and it stays much better.
I always do a transmission oil change 12k miles or so with a new car. By that time, the gears and parts have "worn in" and the rough pieces have entered the fluid stream. Since I found NO magnet in the OEM plug, when I changed the fluid at 13k, I installed the magnetic plug. 200 miles later, I quickly swapped plugs with another, and already found metal particles on the magnet. I lost 3-4 ounces of fluid in the plug swap, but it was easily replaced from the left over fluid from the four quarts of WS used in the fluid change. An early change and the addition of the NOT SUPPLIED magnetic plug is definitely WORTH IT from my 40+ years of experience on working on cars. That is, unless you only keep a car for 100K miles or less from NEW.
How about slapping a very strong neodymium magnet on the outside of drain plug? Then the whole drain plug becomes magnetized, much cheaper than buying a magnetic drain plug.
Having the magnet in direct contact with the fluid is the only way to get it to work correctly. Since the available magnets are larger then the diameter of the OE plug's cavity, the plug must be precisely milled to the correct diameter and "glued" into the socket with a two part epoxy or a special green Loctite sleeve and bearing holding compound like 640.
