Newbie with a couple of questions.

1. The coolant heat recovery pump will usually run for several seconds when you start the car in the morning, and will often run when you turn off the car.

2. The Prius transaxle ATF fluid change does not require the transaxle to be at a particular temperature nor does it require use of any diagnostic tools. This is a simple drain and replace and the procedure to do this has been posted numerous times, please search for that if you require additional info. The only "special" tools needed are a 24 mm socket, a 10 mm hex key socket, and a plastic funnel with a 3 ft long flexible tail. You will need 4 US quarts of Toyota ATF WS and it is also suggested to replace the two aluminum drain/fill plug washers (although some owners don't bother.) Tightening torque of the drain/fill plugs is 29 ft.-lb. I also observe 30K mile transaxle ATF fluid replacement intervals.

(BTW, the Haynes repair manual is not very good. You may find that Bentley offers an improvement, and of course the reference source is techinfo.toyota.com if you want access to official repair documentation.)

 

I am also using 30k at the interval for changing the ATF. This may be a bit conservative, but UOA has shown that it is not a "lifetime" fluid. Changing the transaxle fluid in the Prius is more like draining and refilling a conventional rear differential than it is like servicing a conventional auto transmission.

 

Hi Tom,

Welcome to the murky world of hybrid repair at Toyota dealerships. All I can think of is that most dealership staff don't understand the hybrid specifics, so they assume that the owners must be even more clueless and will be willing to pay outrageous sums of money for "special" hybrid repairs. If you have worked on cars all your life, then PriusChat is a great resource for all those DIY projects, including changing transaxle fluid. As far as repair manuals go, the Bentley manual, $44 on Amazon, is a better resource.

 

I have AutoEnginuity with the Toyota add-on and it is a good bang for the buck, $400. For Gen II, it works pretty well, pulling HV battery data, which is important for me as far as tuning my plug-in conversion kit. Does not work very well for Gen I (2001-2003) and I don't know where they are at for Gen III (2010+). Only thing I don't like is that it will only get data from one vehicle computer at a time. It works well as a generic scantool too.

 

I use the ScanGauge II, which you can buy at a slightly reduced price thru PriusChat (at least last I checked), I think $160. It gives the coolant temperature and various other things you may want to monitor (programmable) and the ability to get a diagnostic code when the check engine light comes on. Several threads on this in PriusChat and cleanmpg.com, depending on how technical you want to get.

 

Right now the consensus seems to be to get the Drew Mongoose interface and then a copy of Toyota's TechStream. Then you get access to all the functions the dealer has, so you can do almost everything possible.

This works out to be cheaper than the AutoEnginuity and more flexible. The Drew Mongoose uses the SAE J2534 standard, so it's useful for many other cars without needing special proprietary "modules".

The AutoEnginuity is also reputed to be quite buggy and doesn't do everything.

 

Do you own a properly licensed AutoEnginuity with ProLine connector? As I said, it is not perfect, but it is a good bang for the buck. "Quite buggy" is an unfair characterization, at least when used on a Gen II Prius. I have also used it as a generic scantool on the 2000 Insight and it easily pulled the DTCs.

Techstream Lite is the ideal choice in terms of functionality for everyone not already a Toyota dealer, but it costs $1345 initially (includes Mongoose MFC) plus $1095 for annual TIS subscription renewal.

Anybody know, would a $169 Tactrix plus a $55 two day subscription to TIS result in a static version Techstream Lite that could be used even after the 2 day subscription is up? If so, THAT might be the best route for DIY.

 

No, I don't. I'm just regurgitating what I've read here, but I've seen enough to sour me on AutoEnginuity. They definitely seem to be slow on fixing bugs and adding new functions (gen III support for one). If there were no other options, it might be something I'd consider.

Well in any event you can buy the Tactrix and use it with several of the generic OBD2 packages out there, then you are only out $169. If you find yourself in need of more advanced functionality, you can pop for the $55. Even if it doesn't keep working, it would still be vastly cheaper than going with the whole $1345 TechStream package.

Apparently recent versions of TechStream are easily locatable for free on the internet. Caveat Emptor, but if you don't mind the risk, that's a pretty low-cost solution.

I for one think that Proprietary Diag software should be included with the car if you are qualified to use it. The automakers locking us out of our own cars does not seem right!