Changing Transaxle oil

I'm new to working on my prius and Now I wish I would haven listened to my instincts and forced them to change the trans fluid because my 2003 has 120K miles on the original fluid. THe procedure seems pretty simple but I was hoping someone had photos of where these plugs were so I know I'm working on the right ones. If I could find a place to D/L or buy a good factory service manual that would be GR8! I am starting to wonder what else I am WAY behind on servicing!

ANY help appreciated! Thx!

 

I don't have photos. 2G photos are easily available here, if you search.

Since you have a Classic, the procedure is slightly different. The Classic transaxle has a removable black steel drain pan. That should be removed so that you can clean off the pan interior including the small rectangular magnet which will look like a garden slug with all of the ferrous debris stuck to it. The location of the transaxle ATF fill plug is basically the same as 2G.

techinfo.toyota.com is a subscription website where you can download Toyota repair manual info. You may be able to purchase used paper manuals if you look around. New paper manuals will cost ~$300 or so.

For Classic, you will need 5 quarts of Toyota ATF T-IV, a new drain pan gasket, and one or two new aluminum plug washers (depending upon whether you remove the drain plug on the drain pan, or not.)

 

Hey rhc3v6, information regarding DIY transmission fluid change for a genI (Classic Prius is here) good pics too.
Site is at: techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/nehg-0826/

Enjoy.
BTW I love this forum PriusChat!

 

i just took my prius to the dealer for the coolant pump recall and had them change my tranny fluid. cost me 79 plus tax. i didnt think it was too bad.

 

I checked with toyoda today ws trans oil is $8.98 qt plus tax.

 

Is anyone concerned about loosing transaxle vacume after replacing there atf fluid on the prius?

My transaxle doesn't get warm in winter months to expand air out of transaxle to produce any vacume !!

Other posts have suggested that transaxles temperatures are enough to expand the inside air and force it out of the check valve which is at the top of the transaxle.......I don't think this would produce addiquate vacume even in summer months....

Without transaxle vacume. Micro-dieseling of atf oil happens as atf gets compressed between gear teeth..
The result is micro-diesel combustion of atf fluid..Combustion by-products include acid and soot....

In all of my reading of prius chat atf changes diy or by the dealer I've never once heard of anyone re-installing transaxle vacume.???

I regreet loosing my vacume at 4000 miles to simply check transaxle fluid level (which was good) I lost my vacume when the transaxle was hot and believe me there was plenty of vacume with transaxle hot... some say there would only be a vacume when transaxle is cold....not with the factory installed vacume..Vacume is present with factory vacume when transaxle is hot..

I'm thinking of replacing drain plug with one that has a suction tube and air valve within the plug...So that one could put a vacume pump on it to reinstall vaccume after fluid changes does anyone know of such a device??

 

I'm not concerned about losing transaxle vacuum. When I changed ATF the second time at 40k miles, there was slight vacuum present when I loosened the fill port, just like when I loosened it the first time at 10k.

P.S. I think any vacuum present is incidental, not a requirement for a properly functioning transaxle.

 

Just thought i'd post that i changed mine today. had 35k miles on the clock and the oil was pretty dark.. i've seen worse. there was no build up to wipe off on the plug so thats a plus. One thing i found funny is i went into the maintenance screen to put in a custom reminder to do the atf again in 60k miles... but there's already a button just for atf... apparently toyota knew people would be changing it regardless of their lifetime atf

 

So maybe a unique situation, change transmission oil on NHW11 with 50k miles but 9 year old fluid.

Magnet had usual 3mm of fur, but I also found three small plastic or ceramic pieces that are about 0.5mm thick and about 2mm by 2mm. They look pinkish and shiny and I'm not sure if it is magnet wire insulation or gasket junk. I also noticed quite a bit of copper flakes at the bottom of the pan. It looked like panning for gold, just quite a bit of microscopic specks.

 

1. The plastic bits probably are from the stator wire insulation.
2. The copper is probably coming from the bearings.

 

How common is it to have visible copper on NHW11? Would that indicate a reduced life for the bearings, or still possible 100k? I know no one can say for certain just wondering if it is a strong indicator.

 

I would say that visible copper particles are not common. I've owned and maintained ~25 vehicles and the only one that I recall producing copper particles during a fluid drain was a 1976 VW Dasher, in the engine oil. The engine was getting noisier and noisier and I do not doubt that the valvetrain was starting to fall apart due to loose bearings. I sold that car after it was 8 years old and logged 90K miles or so.

I recall that Bob Wilson had reported seeing copper particles in his NHW11 transaxle ATF a few years ago, after using Amsoil or some such non-spec ATF fluid. As far as I know his transaxle has not needed replacement.

 

I've read this entire thread, and am now confident I can change my transaxle fluid.

Something I haven't seen answered: Where do I take my used fluid? Will chain auto part stores take it the same way they will take used engine oil?

 

They should...the stuff is nothing else than the oil to lubricate the transmission gears, isn't it?
- Alex

 

This is because vacuum is not required in the transaxle.

If a particular component needs vacuum, the vacuum will be created elsewhere within the vehicle (usu. the intake manifold).

 

If you've gone through 25 vehicles, doesn't that tell you your maintenance habits have some room for improvement?

My dad drove the same Toyota pickup for over 15 years...

 

Very clever.

Actually, I purchased that number of vehicles because I had the interest and the funds to do so. Generally this was not an issue of wearing out a vehicle before replacing it.

There's nothing wrong with driving one vehicle for 15 years, but I'm in a position to do otherwise.

 

Just changed the transaxle fluid tonight on my 05 Prius with Toyota ATF WS and new aluminum gaskets (90430-18008) for the fill and drain plugs. It was almost as easy as an oil change. The major difference, of course, was getting the car as level as possible before draining the old and refilling with new.

I used an eight inch magnetic bubble level to find what level was when the car was on the garage floor and left it on the roof so I could match that level after driving onto ramps and then lifting the torsion beam with a floor jack in the rear.

The fill and drain plugs were a little snug but they loosened easily enough. The used fluid was darker (like concord grape juice) than the clear red wine color that the new ATF WS fluid has and it appeared to be a little cloudy as well. After letting it completely drain out, I cleaned the drain plug and reinstalled it with the new gasket (washer).

I used a small transmission funnel about 6 inches in diameter at the top with about 2 feet of flex hose attached to it and added a piece of clear plastic tubing from the hardware store to the end of the flex hose to make the total length about three feet. I found I could route the tubing next to the driver's side headlight just to the right of the HV inverter pump down through the space just in front of the inverter. It was fairly easy to do this so I can't see why anyone would want to do this job any other way. It took me about ten minutes to slowly pour in the nearly four quarts of new fluid. I let a little drain out of the fill hole after removing the tubing until it was just dripping, re-installed the fill plug, lowered and removed the floor jack, and drove off the car ramps. Started right up with no issues.

The used fluid had about 64K miles on it. It was last changed in November 2009 during the 120K mile major maintenance by the previous owner.

Except for the rather steep price of $9.33 per quart, it was definitely worth doing. It was 73 degrees at 8:30 tonight which was the perfect day for this maintenance since it's most likely going to get cold really soon and stay that way here in Michigan until at least next March.

Any average DIY mechanic can do this job. It's worth the $40 plus tax to do every 60K miles now that I know how easy it is. All you need are a couple of hand tools, car ramps, a floor jack, a level, a bright flashlight, a big drain pan, and the funnel. It's also handy to have a garage to work in.

 

Yes. I've asked a few times, when showing up with transmission fluid from various vehicles over the years, and the answer I always got was "just dump it in" (with waste oil tanks), or "leave it with the rest" (with bottled used oil drop-off). To date I'm a little incredulous, but that's the story I got.

 

Yep, that's what I get too. When u think about it, oil is oil.