Wow, when I asked my dealer a few years ago for prices, they said it was $310 but it was the same price for the big V-8's and for hybrids. (Probably worth it for bigger vehicles, but not for hybrids that only have less than 4 Qts of transmission fluid in there.) Find a good, local mechanic and ask them. The only "big chain" I've had good service with is Christian Brother's here in Colorado. Firestone is horrible here. And you read it wrong, it says every 45k miles...which is about right...I do all of ours every 5-years OR 50,000 miles, whichever comes first. Some do there's every 30,000 miles but I don't see it being very dirty at 50,000 so sticking with that.
First, you should do an early ATF drain/refill at about 30k miles to remove the metallic particles that appear as the gears lap in. I do a second one 60k miles later and then at 90k intervals as the ATF does not degrade rapidly. (I did lab tests on my 2004 Prius every 60k miles). Second, my CT dealer (A1 Toyota) only charged me $100 the first time in 2006 and the price went up over the next 18 years to $125. Your dealer is ripping you off. JeffD
I just called my Christian Brother's auto repair....they charge $275 to 310 for a transmission service. And you can request using Toyota fluid....they can do that (you want to do that) You don't need transmission filter changed out, either, if you do the 5-year 50,000 mile services.
The interval is probably about right. The fluid in the hybrid transaxle doesn't get particularly hot or see a ton of wear, it's good for a very long time after the initial change (usually the first change has a good amount of particulate from breaking in when new). Most Prii owners I know have well over 200k+ miles without having been changed at all, but it's good to change it every so often because fluid does break down over time. As for the price, I personally find it to be high. You need 4 quarts of fluid at ~$15/qt for the actual Toyota stuff (Toyota WS I believe, or a compatible fluid like Maxlife), remove the aero shield (maybe 5 minutes worth of work if you've got the right tools?), remove the fill plug, remove the drain plug, reinstall drain plug, pump fluid into fill plug, reinstall fill plug and shield. I don't know what the book time is, but it can very easily be done in under an hour (at most) if the car is on a lift. I've done it on my Gen 2 in half that time in my driveway (admittedly sans aero shield)
My car has 171K miles. Never had any mention of this trans fluid exchange. Sounds negligent... but the service seems like all you have to do is jack the car up, but keep it level... remove the drain and fill plug... put back the drain plug... pump the oil in (3.8 quarts of the right oil... ATFW-S.) and replace the fill plug... put panel back on and check the oil levels... How is that $454? maybe it is the washers you replace? My oil change was just @$82 and that was a special.
Old rule of thumb for hydromatic transmissions with wet clutches was 60K under normal operating conditions or 30K if you towed or severe conditions. These Prius has a planetary gear setup - no wet clutches. The ATF lubes and cools the transmission and transaxle - it will chemically breakdown over time and heat cycles. Official Toyota states that it's a lifetime fluid. In my experience, It gets pretty dirty at around 20K; then stays clean. I did a 60K mile change - 80K miles total on the car, 2nd change on the old Prius C. The second change at 80K miles was cleaner than the 20K mile ATF change. I'm assuming it was mostly assembly dirt and break-in filings on the first time around. I wouldn't pay more than $200-$250 for that job - If I couldn't do it myself. The Toyota ATF-WS is expensive. Your car; your money - do what you think is right for you.......
That sounds overpriced, even for a dealership. The service advisor may not realize that the prius takes less than 4 quarts of transmission fluid. If you tell them it doesn't have a torque converter and takes less than 4 quarts of fluid, they may be able to go down on the price. During my 2020 prius prime's most recent trip to the dealer the service advisor tried to explain to me that it took something like 9 quarts of fluid because of the torque converter. I played along and said "even for an eCVT?" and he said "yes, even for CVTs." I don't even think he knew what an eCVT was. I am pretty sure the eCVT in the prius does not have a torque converter. I then started looking back at my maintenance records for my 2013 prius C. In 2018 a different dealership itemized the parts as 10 quarts of ATF for my prius C. I wonder where all the fluid went? If you shop around, you will find the price will vary highly. I have gotten quotes as low as $150 at an independent hybrid shop, $200 (but I had to bring the fluid if I wanted Toyota WS fluid) at a very well rated independant shop and $160, $320 and $370 at two different dealerships, all in a 1 year span. This is in a vary high cost area of the country.
If I’m trying to assess a quote, I’ll often pose the question: what’s the expense, time and effort to DIY? In this case it’s: about $50 CDN, an hour or two, and about the same complexity as an oil change.
DIY it. It's just not that hard, and will only cost you 4 quarts of Toyota ATF WS, which is available at the parts counter.
According to my 2022 manual and maintenance schedule that is true only if towing, using a car top carrier or heavy vehicle loading. Other than that it never calls for it to be done (not that I think that’s a great idea, just pointing that out).
You are correct. I just checked my maintenance manual and does say *extreme use or towing. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
