Transaxle issue; would appreciate your thoughts

These thermister type temperature sensors I guess they can go bad and this particular one is inside your transmission transaxle and doesn't look like it's something that gets changed or serviced a wiring diagram would help greatly. Tracing down the sensor wiring to make sure that nothing's been crimped pinched or something out there in Oregon and whatnot The weather's pretty reasonable not excessively hot or excessively cold and all of that so California these days similar although it's getting hotter. I have friends in Corvallis. I would think personally slapping another transaxle into your Prius if you like the car wouldn't be a problem if it's not smoking burning oil and otherwise doing old car things if that's not in the list of possibilities then you'll probably wind up replacing the car if you have to spend a lot of time going over 60 miles an hour in the heat just makes sense The codes all point to the thermistor in the transaxle that reads the motor electric motor and gets too hot what have you I mean a transaxle for an '07 Prius even a low mileage one from somebody like me or a private owner today would be almost no cost there's no market for this stuff You should be able to get it for near nothing I would almost give it to you your friend would come over here and help me lift it out and he could take it with him give me 50 bucks something just so somebody can use it I know all people aren't like this but anyway rather than just send it off to be burnt or crushed or I don't even know what so you have to weigh that out but changing the transmission in the front wheel drive car generally is about a two or $300 labor affair it's not a big job to drive axles get pulled out lay in the car seven bolts undone inverter moves out of the way transmission is hoisted right out another one drops right in place seven bolts or replaced inverters mounted back on top of the tranny drive axles are pushed back in etc It's not that bad so if you can get the transaxle from somebody for say $200 you know got like five or six hundred dollars doing this repair so if your car isn't reasonable shape it may be well worth it a generation two in my eyes is well worth it generally now if it's rusting away and all of this and that then you may have to reconsider that depends where you live and the weather but generation twos are built like tanks compared to everything forward of that model You're in the one that's got the possibility to go 666 The rest of them not going to happen so you have to go with your gut and what the mechanics are telling you and what you have a picture of your car goes a long way doesn't matter if it's old and faded got a few dents that's not what we're talking about that may be what you're interested in. I'm interested in the car going to 666 and being usable I don't really care what the neighbors say they're the ones paying $700 a month for a Chevy Aveo.

 

With the proper Toyota software a reasonable technician should be able to gauge and figure out whether your ECU ECM is going south or has gone south or weather you have a problem in the transmission generally the squib business and all that Is internal to the transmission and the transmissions coming out whether they play with yours or they replace it with another one that didn't have the problem that would be up to you I don't think I would be paying anybody to rip open a 20-year-old transaxle at this point in the game when I can find a $100,000 mile one in many parts of the US they're all over the place pretty much.

 

Never had this issue, but if the trans is making a new noise and a temp sensor is sensing maybe the two are related. Noise indicates friction somewhere. If you can drive it at 60 with no issue, continue that until you find a decent independent prius shop. Getting AAA with free towing might make you more comfortable with the situation. Another question is how much do you want to spend to keep it running? With that sort of mileage it might be worth fixing. You should have another 100K left easy but if there is a trust/anxiety issue with it that matters as much as the money.
FWIW both my 30 something kids have these cars and when they go more than 300 miles they rent. When I have a trip over 100 miles I take another car, the prius just isn't fun over 70 especially in hilly areas. The wife's baja turbo is!

 

Yes, there is a good chance that the problem is not the temperature sensor. The temperature sensor is a thermistor, which is very reliable and rarely goes bad.

My guess is that the inverter coolant pump is bad. Normally, when the pump goes bad, code P0A93 is triggered. I would take a chance on replacing the pump before I replaced the transaxle. Find an independent garage to do the work and only use the Toyota OEM inverter coolant pump.

The inverter coolant pump is located underneath the inverter on the driver's side. The noise you hear maybe is the pump.

 

You can get strange transmission temperature sensor codes if the transmission fluid is overfilled. Have seen it act up but only after driving at highway speeds for several hours.

If the transmission was filled while the front was raised on jack stands, someone can put way too much fluid in. I have drained 3-4 quarts out of the FILL plug on a couple Gen2's while the car was raised (level) on a lift. This corrected the problem.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Some good advice and maybe some shotgunning. When you went to the "local service center" and they changed the transaxle fluid, do you mean at a Toyota dealer or somewhere else.

Did a dealer look at the howling issue? It could be the transaxle (rare) or a wheel bearing (common). Certainly something causing excessive drag could warm up the transaxle. At freeway speeds you would not expect the transaxle's electric motors to be used excessively.

This is my philosophy as well. An old Prius is not reliable enough for road trips.

A bad temperature sensor usually is easy for the ecu to specifically diagnose and code for including issues like a sensor or wiring short, open or totally out of range. A sensor that starts at ambient temperature when the car is cold and builds up in a linear manner is usually telling you the device being monitored is too hot. Being able to watch the sensor with a scanner while driving tells the tale.

This is an interesting possibility but is one I would discount if the fluid was changed by a Toyota dealer. Regardless it is a quick and easy check for anyone with a lift.