I just got a 2006 Prius and I brought to Toyota dealer to do a regular oil change. After that, been told that I'll need a Inverter Coolant and Transaxle fluid change in next maintenance point.
This prius already has 111,000 mile now.
My 07 Prius is leaking transaxel fluid into the inverter cooling system. Transaxel fluid is sweating through the inverter coolant hoses. Before my taking ownership of this vehicle, it had previously been in a front end collision (that’s a whole other story). Anyhow – if I replace the radiator, should that take care of this problem? Are there any other ways these two cooling fluids could become cross contaminated?
View 16 RepliesI just acquired a 2006 Prius with 96000 miles. My local service station said he did not want to change the transaxle fluid. He said he had changed it for someone and the car stopped working. My son the mechanical engineer said there is a risk that changing the fluid can dislodge particles that were not a problem and cause a problem. I don't drive many miles -maybe 3000 per year, so car will be 19 years old by the time I get over 130,000 miles. So I am not looking for the transaxle to last 200,000 miles or so.
View 14 RepliesHow to do the transaxle fluid change and finally did it myself. I dropped and clean the pan and put new gasket. The MPG dropped a little, I was getting 44.6 before fluid change and after fluid change it dropped to 43.3 ... Why this happened.
View 1 RepliesI'm trying to change my trans fluid on my 2010 Toyota Prius I, but I go under there and look, and there's NO drain plug and NO filler plug! It's just completely solid, with a black electrical thing on the front (looks like an electric pump or sensor of some kind). I've watched videos, read articles, read manuals! I would just hate to have to take it in to the same dealer who's telling me "it's good way past 100k miles..." .
View 19 RepliesI have a 2010 Prius and need to change the Transaxle fluid. I have the Haynes repair manual, but it only shows the drain and fill plugs for the Gen II. I have found what looks like the drain plugs but am not sure of it. Fill appears to be right next to the CV axle and the drain is straight down from the CV axle. Are these the correct fill and drain plugs?
Also, this transaxle seems to have a whine to it. Whines only at kind of a neutral throttle. Throttle pressure or backing off on the throttle reduces the whine. Is this normal or what?
Long story, but I bought a 2007 Prius with 73K miles on it. Now I'm at 93K miles, and I think it may be more jerky than when I got it when I shift the tranny into "brake" mode.
I don't know if the fluid has ever been changed on it, and I intend to change it very soon now. Am I in a pickle? Or should this transmission be fine if the fluid hasn't been changed for 93K miles?
Changing my oil today, been awhile since I had the hood open for an inspection a year maybe about 5 - 6K miles
It's been about 2 years since the prior owner had it in for a service, I recall they had it in right before we purchased it in August 2008
I live in Miami Beach where it's HOT
I noticed the inverter coolant level is no longer at full It's hard to see where it's at, actually
It's not below low, and it seems to be at least up to the bottom of the double seam that wraps around the tank, but I can't see where it levels off behind the seam
Should I be concerned enough to take it in to the dealer and pay them to hunt around until they find a small leak, or is it normal to lose a small amount of coolant over the course of a couple years
Should I just buy their high priced Toyota Super Long Life Coolant and top off the extra 1/8-1/4" or so until it's at FULL?
My original intention was to replace the engine oil in the car. I was in a hurry(yes....I know) I could not find the oil drain plug. I did find a large bolt which turned out to be a drain plug for the inverter coolant instead. The instant the fluid drained from the car, I knew it was not engine oil. I did not know the drained fluid was inverter coolant. It had the color of a transmission fluid but significantly less viscous.
View 17 RepliesI have an 06 Prius that I got needing a transmission. I picked up a used transmission from the junkyard, and I started working on it today, but I am having a problem. The big orange cables that go from the inverter to the transaxle have been cut. So I need to swap over my good cables (from the bad transmission) over to the new transmission. I need to know how the cables are removed/installed from the transaxle side. They don't seem to want to pull out.
View 8 RepliesI have a 2010 Prius, currently at around 69,000 miles. Back in Feb 2015 (when it was just under 60,000) I was driving on a city street and hit the accelerator once a stoplight turned green - immediately as I took off (at a normal rate of acceleration) my 2010 Prius made a loud noise and I got the red triangle of death, with a "Check Hybrid System" message. The car quickly shifted into "limp home" mode and I was able to make it back home as I was only about a mile away.
Got towed to the nearest dealer the next morning and after tons of testing and going back and forth, they replaced the transmission and inverter (was able to get it covered under powertrain warranty), and I was on my merry way. No issues until last night.
Yesterday evening, I am on a city street and get a warning beep. I look at my dashboard and this time I have a yellow exclamation mark with the "Check Hybrid System" message yet AGAIN. Towed the car to the nearest dealer and am now waiting on next steps. Only update I've gotten so far is that they are still trying to diagnose the issue, and are getting 4 error codes in this process, 2 of which are new. I am waiting on the technician to tell me what the actual codes are - hopefully should get them tomorrow.
I would hope if it's another issue with transmission or inverter, it's covered under warranty given I replaced both less than a year ago. However I'm not sure and am worried that it's going to be $$$ in case it's something else that failed. Plus I'm getting serious doubts as to the safety of my car - what if I had been moving at a high speed on the highway during either of these situations?
Inverter coolant runs low and also regular coolant blows up. Do they use one line together? Everyday I have to fill the inverter.
View 4 RepliesTook my 2007 Prius into the local Valvoline where they said they could drain and refill the transaxle fluid. The guy undid the bolt a bit and said he got fluid mixed with water, no odor. He closed it back up and refused to further service it due to liability. I think he opened the drain for the inverter coolant, not the transaxle fluid drain plug. When I called them back, the guy said he used a standard wrench to remove the bolt. NOT a 10mm hex key.
I drove the car home about 3 miles, but now I'm concerned about possible damage to the engine, how much fluid he let out, but the inverter coolant tank appears full.
I have an inverter problem on a 2006 prius. Looking for instructions on how to change the inverter ?
View 2 RepliesHot or cold? I just changed the fluid so should I adjust the level when cold? And with the pump off I assume?
View 1 RepliesMy 2001 Prius with 134k miles has been running great but leaves a small amount of coolant on the ground after parking. I've had to add approximately 8 ounces per 100 miles.
View 13 RepliesI have had my certified 2010 Prius since June 2015. Last Saturday I noticed my inverter coolant reservoir was on the low mark. I went to the closest dealer and they topped it off up almost to the full mark for free. I thought it had probably went down from evaporation and I just hadn't noticed it before. Yesterday I went back to the dealer where I purchased it which is about 90 miles away to have the CVT fluid changed. This morning the coolant was back down to almost the low mark. I looked on the ground and can't see any evidence of a leak. Tomorrow I have a appointment to have them check it. Since it is still in the one year certified warranty I don't know how motivated they will be to find the problem when they can't charge me for it. I don't think the level would have went back down right away if there wasn't a leak somewhere. I checked and there have been no recalls done or called for on it.
View 12 RepliesHaving seen the rather catastrophic outcomes that are possible with inverter coolant pump failure, I've thought a bit about adding a flow sensor in the coolant path. I even went so far as to buy a flow sensor, which would probably do the job. However, it's somewhat heavy, and then there's the plumbing job to take care of. Seemed somewhat challenging to pull off.
Since this aborted endeavor, I began thinking about ways to detect surface turbulence at the top of the coolant tank, and am now thinking that might be easier to pull off, even if it requires programming a PIC to do the monitoring. My current thought is to install an LED and optical sensor in the cap, and measure light intensity received.
So, the sideways coolant tank in the engine compartment, not the one next to the grill, but the one that is sort of between the air filter box and that shiny metal square
I have always thought that tank was slightly low, but it has a seam just about where the full line is, so I was never sure....finally about three weeks ago, I worked up my courage and put a few ounces of coolant in that tank. THEN it was up to the full line.
So, a few weeks after adding the coolant, I had the water pump recall done. Now the coolant level is back down to where it was before I added....so I am assuming that the correct level is just below that seam that seals the top of the plastic tank to the bottom part of the tank.
I am getting a slow coolant drip from my inverter . The very slow leak appears on the left side of inverter when facing the front of car with hood open . The connection point alum tube to coolant resevoir black rubber tube. The inverter coolant connection reservoir tube side is damp to the touch and has visible red goop buildup.......
View 7 RepliesI'm a new owner of a used 2008 Prius. Car only has 67K miles and other than the leak, appears to be in good shape.
I noticed the coolant was low in both reservoirs, filled it up (with the proper SLLC), but a day or so later the check engine light came on. Took it to mechanic (dealer is 2 hours away), he read and cleared the codes, then found the leak. Appears to be leaking where the lower hose attaches to the pump, so not sure if it's the pump or the hose that's the problem. I've also noticed that the pump seems a bit noisy for a few minutes after shutting off the car (of course, I'm new to the Prius so not totally sure what "normal" sounds like).