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What happens is if MG2 burns out some windings, they become a permanent, short. So as the car moves, MG2 steals energy from the rotor and being a dead short, it causes a speed dependent 'hum.' I've never heard it but a couple of transaxle failures have confirmed it as the 'kiss of death.' Needless to say, the heat builds up in the transaxle and things only go down hill.
At $1,500, it sounds like a fair price for a 'fixer upper' and if you have a nice place to work on it, a lot of fun. You may be able to figure out how to remove the transaxle w/o taking out the engine but that is going to be one heavy piece of metal. Work SAFE!
Art's Automotive mentioned having trouble getting the 'shims' to rebuild the transaxle properly. It may be better now but there is no guarantee.
We had one person in California report swapping in two salvage transaxles and having them both go bad (check the "Prius Technical Stuff" message archives.) But that was just one report.
My thinking is try 'cheap' and you might get lucky. If not, you can always get a new one from Toyota and put it in yourself.
One caution, don't ignore the 12 VDC battery. In that old of a car, they do wear out. Just be prepared. Also, you may want to try and put a 'forced charge' on the traction battery before removing the transaxle.
A forced charge is holding the brake (or leaving it in "park") and flooring the accelerator. The engine turns MG1 and puts a charge on the traction battery until it is fully charged ... then the engine shuts off by itself. This just leaves your traction battery in a nice, fully charged state. Since MG2 is not turning, it should work just fine.
Do get the Toyota manuals, often available on Ebay. Volume 2 is critical, Volume 1 has more diagnostic info.
Bob Wilson
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2019 Tesla Model 3 Std. Range Plus - 215 mi EV
2017 BMW i3-REx - 106 mi EV, 88 mi mid-grade
Retired engineer, Huntsville, AL
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