Disappointed with '07 transaxle fluid report

I am unsure how to translate "The oil was starting to show it's age" as "this fluid should of been changed a long time ago" (and yes, I mine changed at 60K)

 

From the title, I thought you were disappointed with the lab, or that the fluid was in such good shape that it didn't need to be changed (both would have been surprising).

This is pretty typical unfortunately. I don't know if Toyota will change policy if enough people write in. But you've probably added 100,000 miles to your car's life expectancy.

 

If you are the sort of person who waits until the scheduled maintenance, how likely are you to use a lab?

The lab sees shorter fluid usage because the folks who use a lab tend to be the folks who change early. I changed at 60,000 miles but did not use a Lab, I figured I was 40,000 miles early, I will change again at 120,000 and know I am twice as often as most Prius owners.

I am not surprised by "twice as long as average", I just fail to see what that has to do with your fluid. They make the comment to explain the metals in the fluid, if you changed at 40,0000 there would be about half the metals.

 

I am just so appreciative of the guys on this site that help teach the rest of us what we really need to do with our cars. I changed my transaxle fluid at 30k miles due to recommendations here. I did not have a lab analysis but I think just the appearance of the old versus new fluid spoke volumes.

 

I wish I had changed mine sooner. I think I did it at 130,000.

 

I would encourage writing them. It wouldn't hurt and their reply should provide amusement for us if yoyu will share it with us. As far as accomplishing anything, bzzzt! Toyota knows full well how the oil hold up when run as long as they recommend.

 

all toyota (or any mfg) cares about is getting you past warranty.

 

Some cynicism is justifiable, but if that were fully true cars wouldn't be generally reliable for 150,000-200,000+ miles if maintained according to factory recommendations.

 

well, it could be that prius in general will be reliable for 150 - 200,000 miles when maintained according to factory recommendations?

 

Years ago (somewhere between 4 and 10), there was an article on Autoweek (IIRC) that reported that GM changed their parts testing procedures to test until part failure instead of mileage warranty expiration. Unfortunately, the article's long gone.

My parents owned 3 GM products prior to the change, so it's not surprising their reliability wasn't very good...

 

Interesting report, yeah it does look like it could have been changed earlier.

I changed mine until 65000 miles but I didn't get a sample analyzed. Someone here (I think it was Bob Wilson) recommended getting the factory fill changed out at 30k miles and then changing every 60k miles after that.

 

I would say the used fluid (and the transaxle) was in great shape. There was no moisture (one of the main reasons that the transaxle fails). Viscosity was 86% as compared to new fluid - not bad at all. Some wear metal is expected and no big deal. If I was the OP I would be very happy knowing the fluid did its job well for 80K miles.

 

Did you have any problems after changing the fluid later than recommended?

I ask because I'm approaching 150K and I don't think it's ever been changed.

I was told by one of my mechanics that sometimes transmission clutch disks fail after a delayed oil change because the dirt in the oil is holding everything together and the fresh oil will "clean" the grime that is allowing the friction on the clutch disks.

 

The Prius transaxle does not have clutch disks. It is better to change the ATF late than not at all.

 

G2 transaxles don't fail from moisture they fail because people beat the shit out of them. Low volt hi load overheat of windings.

If you change the fluids on any new car at about 10,000 miles your usually good to go for the life of the car. Its that initial break in that contains all the bad stuff. .The G3 trans fluid looks really bad after break in. Milkshake.

The trans fluid on my bought new 07 looked bad at 5,000 miles like most transaxles where the fluid also serves the differential. Subsequent 35,000 mile changes of trans fluids show no wear at all really after getting that break in oil out of there.

Same goes for the Inverter fluid and the engine coolant. The G2 is very hard on the Inverter fluid and pretty easy on the ice coolant.

The G2 is an engineering marvel. All you need to do is keep high quality fluid in it.

 

Mine definetely wasn't in "milkshake" condition, but I fully agree: an early change is the most beneficial, judging from the look. I drained ours around 10K miles, and it was quite dark compared to new fluid. Subsequent drain-and-fill, the drained fluid looked like new.