ATF change: 3.75 qts out, 2.75 qts in...huh?

Wouldn't be any concerns about driving the car with me You measured what you took out and trying to put back in and so on I didn't do any of that I drained the mess out that was black just like yours. And then I filled it up just like you did with the front end kind of cocked up a little bit and all of that like I'm doing a rear end in the old days I filled it till it ran out or began to and then turned axles and set the car down and let it sit 5 minutes and came back and jacked it back up and tried to put more in it It wasn't having it I'm not sure exactly how much I have in there at the moment but there's no more going to go and that's the end of that and I've been driving that 2009 car for oh gosh 100,000 miles now since that was done that was like a year and a half ago and not a peep out of it running great everything's lovely transmission works like it's supposed to so I just leave it alone. I guess it's about time to do it again because when I did it it was coming up on $190,000 miles I've put another hundred on it maybe I'll put another 40 or so and change it again. It was black when it came out I was kind of ashamed of that but it wasn't my fault.

 

When draining, did you remove the fill bolt first? And if so, nothing spilled out?

 

To be honest about it it didn't make any difference. I even checked it again after driving We drive the cars a lot so you know in a couple of days they'll have a couple hundred miles on them all three of them so and nothing everything looked good wouldn't take anymore been driving in Central North Carolina in the heat and cold ever since like I said I think I put almost a hundred thousand on it I did all this when I first got the '09 I thought I'd give it a shot at some good fluids and all but it hadn't seem to make any difference I have some of these cars with 300,000 on them that I know none of this has ever been touched and they're just rolling along like ever the nice clean ones I'll change fluids and stuff like that on those and try to keep them reasonably nice and the beaters we just let them run change the oil and just the basics keep tires on them.

 

Here:

Transmission fluid change | PriusChat

Patrick Wong says it takes about 4 qt of ATF to fill. His posts are usually pretty solid. Suggests yours is now under filled. Perhaps there is some sort of obstruction in the transmission now, blob of sludge or something like that? Maybe drive it a short distance to dislodge whatever it is, then change the ATF again?

I also recall seeing a post on this forum (somewhere) about the car having to be really flat to get the right amount in, but I don't recall the effect being as large as you observed.

 

Yeah I tried to keep the car pretty flat when I filled mine I have a funky funnel that can curve around and get in that thing and all that I thought about maybe an obstruction in the transmission but the fluid came out just dark and I drained it hot and there were no clumps or plops or any of that nonsense when it drained it drained just like the oil The viscosity was nowhere near like the oil but anyway and when I looked at it in a glass and shined a light through it you know you could see some shiny particulate matter like babbit looking material or whatever the hell it is and that was about it I wish I was under-filled but I honestly don't know that I am or I am not it'll be coming up on time to possibly change it again and head to 600K with that we'll see maybe after this coming winter season but the car runs great it all speeds nothing seems to ever get hot or anything I look under the hood all the time after any kind of hot rodding or driving hard and all that

 

Very strange.

I'm not familiar with the geometry of the insides of this transmission, but my general impression is that it is basically just a tub with two motors and some gears in it. So not really the sort of device that should be able to retain big air bubbles, as often happens when refilling the coolant on cars. Perhaps a member who has taken one of these apart could comment on the possibility of air being trapped.

That said, the only reasonable way to explain the missing volume would be to fill it with something else, most likely air. One unlikely event. Especially after you drained the expected amount of fluid out of it. Driving the car for a while should create enough vibration, fluid motion, and heat to let any trapped air migrate to the top of the case and presumably then accept the missing volume on another fill.

I guess one might also get this result if the transmission had been grossly over filled and it somehow retained part of that fluid when it was drained. That requires two unlikely events, so the preceding unlikely explanation is still more likely than this doubly unlikely explanation.

 

My first thought is that somewhere along the line, someone added fluid while the car was "nose high".

If you jack and support only the front of the car, it's possible to overfill the transmission by 3-4 quarts. Tilting the car makes a big difference in how much can go in before it dribbles out the fill port.

You gotta have the car level when checking or filling the fluid.

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But if I overfill it with the nose up a little bit and I leave the plug out the fill plug and then lower the car down and let it sit however long while I like walk off and do something If I'm over that three or four quarts or I don't know maybe even a half or 3/4 of a quart at some point it should level up with the fill plug and then be over that and run down the edge of the transmission and generally make a mess right? Now if you close it up and let it down then you never know this obviously I get that thanks.

 

The only problem with that is both the fill and drain bolts are towards the rear.

 

Umm no, they are not. On a Gen 2, they are on the front of the case.

 

Ah ok. Gen 3 vs 2 presumptive assumption, blew it.

 

Call around. The online price for ATF WS at one of our local dealers is $12.15:

World Standard Automatic Transmission Fluid

Also the MSRP is $16.21.

Use this link to find the price at (some) local dealers:

World Standard Automatic Transmission Fluid

Be aware that some dealers charge more at the counter than they do if the order is placed through their web site.

 

That's still quite a bump, I paid $9.14 CDN per liter, in September 2016. The price of Toyota 0W20 has shot up too, fwis.