I'm looking for a repair manual for 2008 onwards. I am interested in all kinds of repairs - moderate to advanced. my question is - where to buy / download a manual from? why is there one manual for cars from 04 to 09? aren't there changes in engine - gas/electric 1.5 in 06 to petrol/electric 1.8 in 09 model? I have downloaded a package that contains "official toyota info -> repair manual" for prius 06, so should I get one for 09 also????? I have a link to that download I can share with anyone interested. thanks
The authoritative source is techinfo.toyota.com which is a subscription website for North America. Toyota Europe has a similar site. I don't know if you, in Australia, can access those sites due to credit card billing issues. In North America, the NHW20 model years are 2004 to 2009. The 1.5L drivetrain remains essentially the same during those six model years. Hence if you have access to the 2006 model year repair manual info, that should be good enough for 2009. I believe you are referring to an Italian website that provides this info - as this violates Toyota's copyright I don't make a practice of distributing that link. The ZVW30 model first came out in model year 2010 in North America and has the different 1.8L powertrain. That model has new repair manual info. Third party sources of repair manual info includes Haynes (which is almost worthless, I understand) and Bentley (which is much better, but does not provide the 4,000 pages of detail that the Toyota official repair docs provide.) Those manuals are for NHW20.
I've ordered the Bentley, and for some reason its title says it's for 2004-2008... I guess they published in 08... I'm guessing it'll work for my '09. I'm buying more for my education rather than doing much of the work myself, since I live in an apartment and don't have indoor space to work on the car. I did change a timing belt on a 1981 corolla once in the winter outside... nearly froze my fingers off. (Gotta love non-interferring engines)
Hi everyone. I'm a newb here, been lurking for a while. Can't post very often because this site doesn't work well on dial-up and I have to do it when I can get to the library. Speaking of the library, I just checked out copies of the Bentley, Haynes, and Chiltons manuals here. I agree with Patrick, the Haynes is nearly worthless and often incorrect (they say to check power steering fluid every 5000 miles, for instance--what ps fluid?). Chiltons is the same data as Haynes, different look. Bentley is far superior but about three times the cost. I will buy the Bentley when I need to, but I will use the library copy as much as I can. My '07 just got 60K on it and I found this site when I searched the net for help on figuring out what service is needed, especially on the transaxle and coolant systems. Thanks to everyone here for some great info. I have not had the car to a mechanic yet, prefering to DIY as much as possible. It's clear from the manuals that some processes may best be left to a pro, like changing engine coolant. Others look easy enough with help from the manual. As a retired EE (power systems), I've been enjoying the technical content here and in the Bentley book. No one's been able to satisfy my curiousity on how the car works before. The CVT with two MGs is way cool--I see the use of the traction battery is not only regen power storage and traction power, but it makes that efficient transaxle work, too.
Hi Andrew, I suggest you check out the following free website: Automotive Training and Resource Site Then select the Technical Articles link. This will take you to a page that has many Toyota training materials. Look especially for the articles about hybrids. This will help you to understand some of the theory of operations. To dig further than that, you'll have to subscribe to techinfo.toyota.com and look for the New Car Features manual. This provides substantial theory of operations that the repair manual does not have. The NCF explains how things work while the repair manual tells you what to replace and how to replace it, given a diagnostic code or specific symptom. The repair manual does not tell you why you are replacing a part. If you are interested in 2G, you would look at the 2004 NCF and then subsequent model years to see changes from 2004. If you are interested in 3G, then you would look at the 2010 NCF.
About 6 or 7 months after we bought our 2004, someone posted a link here on PC to the manual for the 2004. It must have been 60 or 70 or more separate files! ... it took me forever to piece it all into one giant PDF. Of course it doesn't say anything about repairing the backup camera, as it wasn't yet thought up for the Prius. But other than that, I've used it for helping a 2008 owner. As you say, it's pretty much the same. .