Can someone tell me how much oil resides in the transmission (power split device) of my Prius? At 42,000 miles I had it checked as a lone maintenance item and was told it took "about a pint, actually, a little less than a pint." This seems like quite a bit. The transmission oil was supposed to have been checked by a dealer at 30,000 miles, but it probably wasn't. There are no visible oil leaks under the vehicle, and I could see no leaking oil when I looked from below.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CraigCSJ @ Oct 16 2006, 09:51 AM) [snapback]333381[/snapback]</div> Craig, It holds about a gallon of Toyota Type WS ATF oil. I has mine changed ($89 at he dealer including the cost of ATF) out and tested by a lab at 61,000 miles and it was about used up. Plan on changing yours soon. JeffD
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hdrygas @ Oct 16 2006, 05:46 PM) [snapback]333719[/snapback]</div> Craig, Could it be that you overheated the Tranny once or twice? With all of your instrumentation, I would think that you noticed. JeffD
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jdenenberg @ Oct 17 2006, 08:20 AM) [snapback]333925[/snapback]</div> I over heat nothing! I do wonder how much pulse and glide may contribute. There is some suggestion that cooling and circulation of the oil may not be optimal in glide mode. Maybe I could talk Toyota into giving me a new 0X in return for my much driven Prius? Hint Hint? Actually when they do the G4 I want to give my car to one of my kids to drive.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jdenenberg @ Oct 16 2006, 08:58 AM) [snapback]333384[/snapback]</div> Thanks for the information. I suppose down one pint isn't that much. Something seems strange to me, in that two replies say change the transmission oil now. The Prius maintenance book says that through 120,000 miles it is only necessary to check and top off every 30,000 miles, UNLESS you tow something, which should not be done. Could Toyota be that far off the needed maintenance in real world driving? Craig
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CraigCSJ @ Oct 18 2006, 07:28 AM) [snapback]334414[/snapback]</div> Some of us are beginning to suspect so. Used fluid analysis has been organized by Bob Wilson, who has info on his web site. Sometimes the fluid becomes dirty and sometimes changes in viscosity. Mike Beyer has devised an outboard fluid filter. The small number of transmission failures that have occurred cannot clearly be linked to fluid problems, but that possibility remains. I suppose that Toyota has taken apart a few transmissions and has more info on this matter than the rest of us. But there is little we civilians can do, other than considering precautionary fluid chages at 60k mile intervals. Bob W. would suggest even sooner. Anyway, it is going to cost about $100 each time. You could save that much changing your own air filters...
The transaxle takes about a gallon. Probably a little more if you started dead-dry, but a gallon should do for a change. The folks over in prius_technical_stuff have been agreeing that WS in the '04+ is not "lifetime" after all by any means, and changing somewhere between 40k and 60k is prudent. For the Classics, it's even worse -- the T-IV stuff is basically toast by 15k, and Bob is experimenting with changing that up to WS fluid [yes, in a Classic] and seeing how that fares. http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/pri_toil.html http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/pri_T_cold.html . _H*
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tochatihu @ Oct 18 2006, 07:41 AM) [snapback]334420[/snapback]</div> I am going to ask Mike to look at the fluid at each oil change. It may be that we (me) do not drive the car as Toyota was thinking we would. Remember they said just drive it. They may not have nut cases like myself in mind when they did their testing. We will have to feel our way. All I can say is my PSD fluid looked and smelled very different from new fluid. Maybe we should all remove 50 cc and replace it at each oil change and save or analyze each one. You could then see how it is holding up every 5K.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hdrygas @ Oct 18 2006, 10:07 PM) [snapback]334930[/snapback]</div> How expensive is an analysis? Or are you just talking about visual/olfactory inspection? Dave M.
