Has anyone installed an oil cooler, or transmission cooler (Aftermarket)

If you want to increase the life of the components then increase the quality of engine oil. There is very high quality oil available. Oil you can feel the difference in the car.

Redline Motor Oil.

That’s all I use in my cars for years now.

Google it. Try it tell me I’m wrong.

 

No chance...

 

I would ask what scientific proof you have that it is "better" in a practical sense
but I really don't care.
It is highly unlikely that it is in any way SIGNIFICANTLY better than many name brand synthetics.
Does it cost more ? I bet it does.

 

That's what I'm doing wrong! I've been putting the oil in the engine all these years.

 

Depending on a lot of variables and given sufficient on time, a fully warmed up engine, generally, will have oil temps higher then coolant temps because (1) cooling systems are way better made now than even 20 years ago with a lot of air deflectors, better materials, etc.. (2) Most cars just don't have an oil's cooling system and (3) The oil's job is also to cool a lot of very hot things that coolant doesn't even comes close of toughing. Namely the valvetrain, exhaust valves, (intake valves are primarily cooled by mixture charge) pistons, chains, bearings... As a matter of facts, cooling is an important job the oil has. Probably as much important than lubricating. However, the temperature will vary depending on the season, location, how hard you use the car and for how long, etc...In my 2012 Civic Si for example, the oil will rarely, if ever, fully get up to temps where i live during winter months but during summer, given sufficient time, oil will always be hotter then coolant.. I won't talk about the track sessions for obvious reasons.

Water to oil cooler\heater is a good idea however and will definitely help with engine longevity during those long winter months and daily driving where oil won't get hot enough. That's an upgrade that Toyobaru did on the latest generation of FR-S\BRZ as a lot of 1st gen ones died because of excessive oil temps.

Oh and oil's temperature sweet spot is somewhere around 212° to 240°.. Over 240° is where you may want to invest in a beefier oil cooler setup. Around 260+°, bearings materials gets soft... Not sure if a Prius engine will ever get that hot however.. If i were to get my Prime's engine oil at those kind of temps, something's telling me that i would also need to improve battery\inverter\transmission cooling also..

Correct. Assuming an Air\Oil cooler is used, you WANT a sandwich plate that has a T-Stat.. Obviously don't need a T-Stat on a Water\Oil setup as the cooling system already have one. An improved Radiator can be needed however as a tracked car with a beefy Water to Oil setup will dump more heat in the cooling system.

A working PCV system also definitely helps with moisture issues.

The only oil that i ever used that i could say i felt a difference. My Civic's K24 IS smoother and quieter with Redline oil in it. 0w20 during winter and 0\5w30 during Summer is what i use. I also use a 50\50 mix of Redline MTL and MT-LV in the transmission except when i know i will hit the track. In that case i use straight MTL. Shifts like butter with that for a longer time then OE Honda oil. Don't know if Honda's transmission oil breaks down easily but after 3 to 4 months, the transmission begins to be notchy.. Not with Redline oils.

P.S. I can't believe i'm saying all that on a Prius Forum. A positive surprise..

 

Now suggest that Redline ATF would be a good replacement for Toyota's generic ATF in the Prius transaxle.
Get ready for a 'positive surprise'!

 

Sigh. The ATF WS is the only fluid where Toyota does not say "or equivalent". No one else is testing how their ATF is at conducting electricity. So Toyota cannot suggest alternatives. There are good standards to meet on lubrication, but not electrical resistance in an ATF.

If you are past warranty, or know you would not make a warranty claim in any case, use what you like.

 

DOHCtor- Great post-

I originally got into Redline with there transmission fluids like 30 years ago and found them to be crazy good so i tried there Motor oil.
Its excellent its all I ever use in my cars. You get what you pay for right?
.

 

Sigh...


Toyota's ATF has been around longer than the Prius transaxle. It's the only thing they have for the their whole fleet of vehicles. It's not anything special.
ATF is not tested for electrical conductivity because that's not an issue with any PHEV or EV transaxle/drive unit.
This whole issue of 'electrical resistance' of any ATF is a made up issue on this forum.

Many Prii owners have used Mobil 1 ATF or Redline ATF in their Prii. No issues at all, except they know/hope they have a superior lube compared to Toyata's generic stuff.

And why is a transaxle fluid change not mentioned at all in the Prius service schedule?
I started a lengthy thread on doing oil analysis on the ATF removed from high mileage Prii.
This is a needed service. Wordy, but real data is posted:
ATF fluid changes ARE Required. | PriusChat
Don't you think Toyota has some 'splaining' to do on this subject?

Look at any EV. There are not EV specific lubes for the drive unit.
For example my two EV's call for Dextron ATF HP. The same stuff used in the Vette. It's synthetic based. Handles high heat and loads better, I assume. Other than that, nothing special in regards to the electric motor in the drive unit.

 

I remember pics of your Prius oil change fluid yikes it looked like a milk shake.
Looked like a diff oil change.

 

Sometimes.....but often NOT.
~40 years ago when synthetics were first coming out, Amsoil was right at the top of the heap and maybe Redline too.
So they commanded a premium price.

But now the difference has pretty much disappeared and Amsoil has dropped their price some, relative to other synthetics.
It sounds like Redline has not done that and is depending on a loyal customer base who is still operating on 40 year old data and the theory that more expensive is automatically better. It often isn't.

 

Right. It was so dark the 'Particle Analysis' part of the data, where they have a count of particles at various sizes, could not be performed on the initial sample.
The next transaxle change I performed a little while later and it had a range of particle sizes and their count. I think it was still flushing the original crud from original fluid. I would have used a magnetic drain plug if I had to do it over again.

 

Hey Bill doesn’t it have a magnetic drain plug like on my G2?

 

anyway nice to have you back.

 

My Gen 3 did not have a magnetic transaxle drain plug.
But I turned it into one by gluing a super magnet on the stock drain plug.
It is pictured in the first post on the thread linked above.

I believe it would work no matter what the "specific heat of liquids" are.

 

Heat can quickly demagnetize a magnet. I remember finding that out when I tried to solder a wire to a neodymium magnet years ago.

 

What about the "specific heat" of the glue used ?
I wonder how long that will last......before you have a magnet rattling around inside the case.

 

The epoxy was a backup and kept the ferrous fuzz from getting into any gap between the super magnet and the STEEL drain plug.
You couldn't pull that magnet off with your fingers even before I used the epoxy as a gap filler.

The heat of the ATF in the transaxle is never so hot it will effect the magnet's power. How hot do you think it gets?
There is a coolant loop to keep the ATF at a happy temp. Did you know that?
Lots of equipment use magnetic drain plugs. Heat is not an issue.

I was just trying to improve the design and life expectancy of the Prius transaxle.
Some still maintain that the Service Manual does not mention fluid changes,,, therefore never change that crud.
It was all in vane as the Gen 3 head gasket gives up at +200 k miles. No more head gaskets in my cars!

 

What do you think is in the rotors of the two electric motors in the Prius transaxle?
Stationary stators have the copper wires that send power to the rotors where there are a series of many xxxxx?