|
Another possibility I also remember is that left front axle, on the dailypic's 04 transaxle thread, was full of transmission fluid and mine had a left front axle replaced too but this may not be related to the trans failure. Could just be a seal problem that ruins the CV, not the other way around. Just interesting.
What kind of temperatures are you seeing? There could be much higher spot temperatures in the windings although you would think that the oil would carry away the heat better than air. Any other oil bath electric motors that you know of? There could be some solvent/corrosion effects from the oil if there are combustion by-products present. What happens to conductive/magnetic iron particles in that situation? Quite a soup, really.
Interesting problem and tough to diagnose. Would love to be a Japanese speaking fly on the wall at Toyota engineering meetings.
It could also be that this is just a normal failure rate for electric motors/transmissions. Are there any numbers on it? It can't be that bad due to the ravingly good customer satisfaction levels on these cars, just that when one does go it's sometimes $$$
I suppose, like anything else mechanical taking good care of it is the best insurance. Mine has no record of a fluid change in 100,000 miles. I guess the mechanic didn't bother reading the maint. intervals.
|