My 2007 Prius needs a new axle seal on the driver's side. The dealer wants around $250 to do it. I would have no qualms doing it myself if I could find an easy guide on how to get it done. I've searched for videos and tutorials but no luck yet. Any advice? Thank you! Brandon
I read the wrong part of my estimate. It's $340 :-/ which i could pay, but don't mind doing the job if it's not too intricate.
techinfo.toyota.com'll show you how it's done, no problem there, the $15 subscription's a small part of the job. You mean the seal in the transaxle where the axle comes out, right? Do you have a set of seal drivers and experience using them? Driving a seal is one of those tasks that seems like a monkey with a hammer could do it, but one glancing blow can leave you wondering if you're going to do all this work and then notice a drip a month later.... -Chap
Also, it may not be so easy to get the axleshaft out of the transaxle without causing damage. If you have to buy a new axleshaft (at Toyota new parts prices) you will be sorry you did not have a professional mechanic do the work.
The question should be more likely have you ever replaced the cv joints? The seal is pretty easy the hard part is the shaft. Helps to have a seal removal tool also. There's lots of posts about removing that inner shaft and a few youtubes but its not that easy if your laying under the car on the ground. This job should be done with the car up on a rack. Also this is the best time to replace the trans fluid as you will lose some when you remove the inner shaft. The fact that you need to replace the seal right now means you have been losing fluid all along. Careful there as you will lunch the trans driving around with low fluid. Anyway go to the dealer and buy 4 quarts of Toyota WS trans fluid. There $10 a q I think. Btw, most of the time when that seal needs to be replaced its because the inner shaft is worn and its moving around and has beat up the seal. The seal will fail if any out or round movement exists. So you may be replacing the symptom and not the real problem so inspect the inner shaft carefully.
thank you all for your replies! i think im just going to bite the bullet and have the dealer do it... it's hard to find a hybrid mechanic in town who has done the job (or even a regular mechanic) oh well...
Thats a regular mechanic job. If they know how to do struts. It's more of a strut job than anything else and nothing unique about that on this car. Got to beat the inner shaft out. Any tire place can do this. I would buy 2 seals and 4 quarts of WS fluid from the dealer first. Don't be surprised if they tell you your struts are toast.
