I can't claim to be an expert in your TCH but there have been a small number of Gen1 Prii that have had HSD failures due to shorted turns in the MGs at about 100k miles. All of them AFAIK had never refreshed their ATF. As the gears in the HSD wear, metallic particles build up in the ATF which may contribute to this failure mode. The rate of metallic buildup does decrease as the gears "lap in" and mesh more smoothly. This can be seen by comparing the results in my 60k and 120k mile ATF lab tests.

As is always the case YMMV.

JeffD

 

So about 50-60,000 or around 4 years is a good time to change the fluid, right?

 

From what I know now with my experience with my 2004 Prius, I would choose to do the first ATF refresh at 30k miles and then each 60k miles thereafter on a new TCH or Prius. I haven't seen any indication that time is an issue so I would focus on the mileage.

These Toyota Hybrids are great cars and they deserve this extra care. It may be overkill on a Gen3 Prius or a TCH, but until some of your fellow owners get lab results, we can't know for sure and I choose the conservative path.

JeffD

 

I had the transmission ATF changed at 75K. The dealer charged 0.5 hours labor. Total cost was $80. On a unrelated note, they said the water pump is leaking. Looks like I'll get some use out of the extended platinum warranty after all.

 

Everyone should have their water pumps checked before their warranty expires. Definately a weak point in our cars.

 

Not to change the thread topic, but I agree 200%! My first water pump leaked and was replaced at 15,000 miles. My second one leaked and was replaced at 30,000 miles. Waiting for the same fun at 45,000 miles....

 

Well,

Just got back inside from changing the "transmission" fluid. It took about 45 minutes and just under 4 quarts of WS fluid. The manual says 3.8 so it should be OK and the dealer charged me $34 with tax for 4 quarts.

I used a small pump to get the fluid in the case but you could also pour from above as noted elsewhere in this thread. I prefer to add it from below to be able to see the fluid start to run out. By the way, don't forget to add new washers (or clean the old ones well) and torque the plugs to 29 ft-lbs. If you are using a socket style of 10 mm hex driver, use a 6" extension on the fill hole to get around the O2 sensor and no extension on the drain plug.

Don't let these cars intimidate you, they still have gasoline engines, halfshafts, belt, hoses, water pumps, radiators and everything else a normal front wheel drive car has. They just have a "little" extra for the hybrid system. If you have access to a Snap-on Modis, Solus Pro, Verus or the equal from another company, you can find out a lot of information on these hybrid systems.

Newer scanners will pull MG1 or MG2 rpm, temp and load as well as the overall battery state of charge and the voltages of individual cells in the battery pack as well as a LOT of other info on the hybrid system. The aftermarket is starting to come out with a lot of good tools that can be used to track issues on these cars (if they ever develop any issues...) and your preferred tech can help you out without having to pay dealer prices for most things that will crop up over time.

If you are more of a DIY sort of person, get out there and get to work!!! You can have a lot of fun and learn about your car in the process as well as saving a lot of cash in the process.

 

Changing my tranny oil tomorrow morning. At 58K I'm expecting the old oil to be a little dirty! Should be a quick job on the lift at my father's auto shop!

 

Ok, just got home from the shop and here are my thoughts based on what I saw today...

My tranny oil probably could have made it another 20K or so. When I drained it it did not look as bad as I expected for 58K and almost 4 years of use. It looks pretty good (still had a nice maroon tint to it) and it smelled just like the new fluid (I know that is very un-scientific but I thought I'd throw it in). The drain and fill plugs came off easily and the whole process took about 30 minutes (most of the time was spent checking out the undercarriage and making sure everything else was ok under there. I'm sure driving conditions and driving style might have an affect on the life of your oil so take my info with a grain of salt. I don't baby this car by any means (I'm not trying to get 50MPG out of it!), so keep in mind that my results came from NORMAL everyday driving. I am NOT a hypermiler!

Oh, and I went ahead and replaced my spark plugs too just for grins. The old ones were still ok.

I took a few pics for everyone to see what I am talking about. They are crappy camera phone pics so sorry for the quality!

There is one of my TCH on the lift, two while the old oil was draining, one of an old spark plug and one of a new spark plug.

 

Carlos,
You need to send a sample in to a testing lab to really know its condition. My 2004 Prius ATF was done at 61k miles (loss of viscosity and heavy metallic load). The second exchange at 120k miles was in better shape.The iridium plugs are good for 100k miles, so I would expect them to look good.

JeffD