fluids and maintenance

best to go to toyota.com/owners

there, you can plug in your vin, see maintenance and recall histories, tsb's, and look at the maintenance schedule and specs for your car.

all the best!

 

The engine and inverter/transmission take the same type of coolant - Toyota Long-Life Antifreeze. Cut it 1:1 with distilled water, unless you live in Alaska or northern Canada, in which case read the back of the coolant bottle. Buy the Toyota stuff on Amazon, or aftermarket "import red" coolant at the car parts store. Burping the engine after refill is conventional. Burping the inverter/transmission after refill is complicated; search the Gen1 forum here or read the factory service manual.

Like Bisco said, Toyota should have the owner's manual as a free download. I'm not sure if the maintenance schedule is in there, but if not, they should have that as a free download as well.

Besides coolant, a Gen1 needs 5W30 engine oil, Toyota T-IV transmission fluid, DOT 3 brake fluid from a sealed container, and windshield washer fluid. I am pretty sure the air conditioner takes R-134A refrigerant. As far as I know, there are no grease fittings on the stock suspension. The rear axle hubs are packed with grease at assembly and I don't think there's a way to change it. You can repack the front bearings with grease, but you have to pull them out of the hub to do it. Sometimes a little grease on the hood latch, door latches, and door stays helps.

 

w.r.t. Transaxle Fluid, stick with the original Toyota Type T-IV fluid, because besides lubricating the transmission, it also helps protect the MG2 windings.

ref: Gen 1 Prius Transmission Failure, P3009, P3120 - Luscious Garage | Hybrid Specialists

"Hardly criticism, the story of Prius Transmission Failure is a cautionary tale of proper maintenance: change the transmission fluid every 30,000 miles, for all hybrids of this design (Toyotas, Fords, and Nissans). It is the only service item in direct contact with the high voltage motor-generator(s) and the power-split device, to cool as well as lubricate these crucial components of the hybrid system."

 

Google "toyota tech info". First hit is usually the right one.

Go to the "Manuals" Tab, and enter your year/model info, search for all documents. The Owner's Manual and Scheduled Maintenance Guide should have all that info. Not sure why there's two of the latter, but check it out.