According to my 2005 Prius Scheduled Maintenance Guide, on page 11 it states: for the 60,000 miles or 72 Months service, Under Additional Maintenance Items for Special Operating Conditions "Driving While Towing:" "Replace automatic transmission fluid" "Replace differential oil" "Tighten nuts and bolts on chassis" "Driving while towing????? They didn't edit the Maintenance Guide very well since in the owners manual it says not to tow with the Prius. "Automatic transmission fluid???/Differential oil???" Are they referring to the CVT/transaxle? According to the Guide, there is no mention of changing the oil in the "CVT/transaxle" at all except under Special Operating Conditions. I would like to change to synthetic. I have a little over 2000 miles now and considering the change now. Now my question, does anyone know what type/weight and how much oil it takes? Thanks, Charlie
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(chasabel\";p=\"90063)</div> Are we still talking about the transaxle? If so, there's a special fluid you must use: ATF WS (World Standard). Do not use Dextron of any kind. I only mentioned to compare to manual transmission in the sense of complexity. It still uses ATF.
That maintenance menu quoted has little relevance to the Prius. First of all, there isn't a separate differential. The Prius is a front wheel drive car, the PSD and CVT share a common sump. I agree with Dan to ONLY use Type WS fluid. BTW: Type WS is a synthetic blended oil developed by Toyota for automatic transmissions and is also required for the CVT.
Thanks Guys, I guess as long as I don't have any leaks, I'm good for the life of the car since the maintence guide does't call for a change, unless severe conditions, which I don't forsee. Charlie
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(chasabel @ May 17 2005, 04:18 PM) [snapback]90279[/snapback]</div> Charlie, It is a good practice to replace the ATF (type WS) in a Gen 2 Prius every 60,000 miles (treat it as if it is in "severe" use). I replaced mine at 61,000 and sent it in to a testing lab. The results were that the ATF was just about used up (15% reduced viscosity) and I don't stress my Prius (except for high speed highway use on long trips). JeffD
