Where to buy ATF?

The last time I exchanged ATF it cost some $8 - 10 a quart at the dealership.
BTW, if you an change engine oil, you can change ATF.

 

You will need to get 4 quart. Different dealership has different pricing, so do check their website or call for coupons and/pricing. Check the forum for tips and instruction if you want try it yourself. The car needs to be leveled. The best price I was able to get was about $45 if I brought 4 ATF. Nothing else needed.

 

4 bottles WS-ATF and two gaskets for the two plugs.

 

Yes but takes 3x longer the first time

 

The only ATF fluid that u can use has to come from the dealer.....no where else. If u put anything other than the Toyota WS ATF, expect ur CVT transaxle to live a short life.

 

Like others, I only get my ATF fluid along with the washers from my dealer.

 

There's a few adventurous souls who defend (to the death, LOL) their right to put alternate fluids in. And the may be ok.

But really: why bother, why chance it, why jeapordize your warranty? The kosher Toyota ATF WS fluid is cheap and readily availabe from the dealership. Same thing for the fill/drain plug washers.

It's not that complicated, just follow the correct procedure.

 

4 qt from the dealer, price is about $11/qt (though I paid $9) and $2/ea for the washers.

You will need either a gear oil pump (tedious) or 3' of 1/2" OD tube plus a measuring funnel ($5 at Walmart or O'Reilly) to refill. Refill should be about 3.7-3.8 qt.

 

There are over 3 million Toyota hybrids running around, so odds are pretty good at least *one* other person has delayed the first ATF exchange past 30k miles.

Feel better now ?

 

Yet some follow the Toyota recommendation of never changing it.
This is an technical look at what happens if you wait until 112K miles to change.
ATF fluid changes ARE Required. | PriusChat

Keep in mind, probably the vast majority of Priuses on the road may never get this essential service.
Good for you about doing this service to your car!

And I'm one of the owners that says "Horse Feathers" about Toyota's house brand of ATF WS as the one and only ATF that can be used.
Walmart has their low dollar ATF that states it is compliant with ATF WS, and many other also make this claim.

It's not a mysterious automatic transmission. It's not a CVT with the variable belt.
It's a gearbox that needs a clean lube in it.

I use High-Quality American-made Synthetic Lubricants.

 

The last time I bought ATF-WS was 2 years ago. List price was $8/qt from my local dealer, I got it for $7.20 because I bought the car there.

 

I had mine done at 81k to be on the safer side (it helped my decision when my local mechanic only charges $50 when we bring our own trans fluid). I am assuming that the previous owner didn't change it...

My Toyota ATF was about the same price if not slightly cheaper than what Tumbleweed quoted above (I had a 15% off coupon for parts, etc), so 4 quarts cost about $30. All in all, $80 for a piece of mind.

 

My 2010 Prius has just hit 80000 KM (50000 miles) and after doing some reading here I thought I'd change the transmission fluid. I bought 4 'litres' (946ml) of WS ATF and 2 gaskets from my Toyota dealer for $39.69 taxes included. The fluid is labelled made in Canada which I thought was interesting. The factory gaskets were solid aluminum; the replacements look like spark plug gaskets, more crush to them.
I bought an outboard gear oil pump from Princess Auto for $9.99 and it worked great, although it takes 125 'strokes' to empty a litre bottle. The refill took 3.5 litres. The whole job took less than 2 hrs from start to finish.
Although the used fluid was definitely darker than new WS, I've seen a lot worse through many years of tranny fluid changes. Bear in mind that your engine oil doesn't come out the way it went in either; this just shows it's doing it's job. So although it may be useful preventative maintenance I wouldn't worry about your transaxle falling apart if you don't do it every 30K FWIW I just changed my first cabin air filter and am still using the factory engine air filter - and it doesn't really need changing yet.

 

From the last photo, the fluid doesn't look all that bad (still translucent) compare to like F8L's and others at much less. Makes we wonder if something is wrong is some of these trans-axles?

 

That pump sounds like a lot of work compared to a simple funnel and hose setup where you stand up and pour the bottles into the funnel positioned above the right side of the engine. If you take out any screen in the funnel, it's even faster.

 

My primary concern was not getting it all over the place. If I had a 'good woman' to do the pouring while I held the hose and checked the level the funnel probably would have won out; alas I live alone...
I did follow someone else's advice and use a white zap strap as a dipstick, works great!

 

I don't follow you. The funnel just sit there on the right side of the engine ( car right ) and the hose goes in the fill hole. You pour it in the funnel until it pours out the fill hole, have the drain pan there, wait for the excess to stop, pull the funnel and hose out from the top and Bob's your Uncle. Very little on your back-under the car time.

I probably spend more time getting the car level on jack stands than the actual ATF change. I work through the oil change door. I can get my oil analysis bottle in there too. It drains onto the belly pan a little bit but that can be cleaned up with a few paper towels and a small blast of brake kleen.

My next change is due. Maybe I'll track the time and take some pics and post it as a "Quick ATF Change" thread, you think?