Location of Transaxle fill plug?

Hi Gary,

Raise up the front of the car and support with jackstands. Look at the side of the transaxle facing the radiator, probably halfway up the side of the case. You'll see a hex head fill plug, needing a 24 mm (or 15/16") socket to remove.

Make sure that you can loosen the fill plug before you drain the transaxle fluid. The drain plug requires a 10 mm hex key socket to remove. Do not remove the inverter coolant drain plug (which requires the 24 mm socket) by accident.

 

I'm pretty sure forum member Hobbit took this photo, underneath the Prius with the shields removed

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu256/jayman_photo/Prius Stuff/Priusundermotorshieldsoffcopy.jpg

I added arrows to the cvt drain and fill plugs

Always remove the fill plug first. If for any reason the fill plug is cross threaded, or seized, from the factory, you sure don't need to find out once all the oil has drained out

 

For others who stop my the other drain bolt w/o a red arrow (between and towards the left side of the photo) is where the electrical system coolant is drained. If you open that something red or pink will come out but it's not quite the same.

 

That would be bad. You would have no choice but to scream many bad words.

 

The inverter coolant drain is here

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu256/jayman_photo/Prius Stuff/Priuscvtcoolantdrain.jpg

In hindsight, Toyota should have used the hex head for the coolant drain, and the regular bolt for the cvt fluid drain

 

With the shroud off (and a funnel and a foot of tubing), it is very easy to do the transaxle thing. Even DIY-ers who think they can only change cabin filters and engine oil ought to be thinking about this.

 

A bit more than a foot of tubing if you're going to be sure of
getting from above the engine/inverter to the front-side fill
hole, but yeah, it's not that difficult. I made it seem a lot
harder by going for the top plug when I went at my first try.
.
'Bout time to do it again, in fact... if it ever stops snowing...
.
_H*

 

As a "belt & suspenders" kind of guy, I'd suggest three feet of length from funnel top to the end of the tubing.

 

I'd also strongly recommend getting the correct tools for the plugs -- a 24mm socket for the fill plug, and a 10mm hex bit for the drain plug. It makes it much easier, and makes it unlikely you'll damage the plugs.

 

I bought 3 ft of tubing but cut it down to 1 (or maybe just a bit longer) to do the job. I can find out the length actually used, but it's not here. It's in New Mexico.