Orange4boy's Rescue and Revival of a 2003 Prius

[MetroMPG]

Fantastic photo.

The Burtynsky one is OK too.

[orange4boy]

Transaxle Is home. But not before generating a story.

Picked it up from my friend's studio and it seems as advertised. The oil is bright red and clean and thick. There isn't a spot of a leak anywhere. The cables are quite clean with just a bit of dust on them. All the bolts have the original paint marks on them and have never been removed. There is some dirt on the top and it's a bit corroded, but it presumably has been sitting on a shelf at the wreckers for a few years. The input shaft spins smoothly. The only damage I could find was a cracked plastic connector and a few scratches on the inner surface of the output shaft bearing. Not a critical area.

I have to get it into the shop now to clean it up, drain the rest of the oil, clean the pan, fill it with new oil, replace the shaft seals? (they seem almost new), and inspect it as best I can.

Overall pic with a blot of the oil:



output shaft bearing inner surface scratches:



Another shot of the oil and the good condition of the shaft seal:



Oh yeah, Story...

Driving home we had to go through the new Pitt River bridge construction site. (nice looking bridge) The transaxle weighs about 300 lbs and with the three deep cycles at 60 lbs each in the back of the van, she was riding a bit low.

We drove down a temporary ramp with a bit too much speed and although we didn't notice at the time but something went awry. The van started to bounce a lot over bumps. After that there was a strange intermittent knocking / scraping sound over bumps that got worse and worse until I thought some thing really bad had happened.. Of course, as is often the case, a breakdown always occurs when the weather is crappy. Pouring rain gone horizontal in the wind, in this case. Nice.

We stopped so I could see what was up down under. Threw my moving blanket down and in the pouring rain, crawled under to have a look. The right rear lower shock mount bolt must have got sheared off on the ramp because the shock was dragging on the road. I borrowed a wire from the battery pack and tried to tie it up as best I could. The wire was too short to tie it up to the body, so I tied it to the mount.

It lasted about 3 miles before it broke free again. Luckily, We were close to my friend's studio again so we stopped by to effect a more durable repair in his underground parking garage. Thank goodness for that. After a cup of tea and a much more "enjoyable" repair we were on our way again through the wind, power outages and driving rain.

Unloading will have to wait.

[Daox]

Thats quite a ride home. Glad to see you got a good transmission though.

[bwilson4web]

When you get the old tranny out, take a close look at the 'torque limiter.' The torque limiter is a clutch plate bolt mounted to the fly-wheel. I've seen one report of a torque limiter slipping and you'll have time to inspect it.

On the cracked connectors, the inside of the transaxle should be 'air tight.' Shroud areas should be no problem but if it looks like it might have a compromised air seal, you might consider a JB Weld patch.

I've been programming the Graham scanner and currently:

• 7 - MG1 and MG2 temps, to make sure the stators are OK (transaxle)
• 1 - engine coolant and rpm, normal power (engine)
• 2 - min battery module voltage and position (1-19) (traction battery)
• 3 - max battery temp and max battery module voltage (traction battery)
• 4 - Oxygen 1 value and Oxygen 2 value (catalytic converter)
• 5 - MG1 Nm and rpm (transaxle generator)
• 6 - Accel 1 and Accel 2 (accelerator input values)

These are 14 of the ~50 values that can be monitored. We can change them later but these are what I believe will be the diagnostic values that will be most useful. You'll always have the ability to read and clear diagnostic codes from the hybrid vehicle, engine and battery electronic control modules (ECUs.)

There is another BC resident who posted at PriusChat getting some codes. Do you' all know each other? Once you're rolling again, he might need a hand.

Bob Wilson

[MetroMPG]

Seems that transmission is in good shape.

Looking forward to the next story. I mean update.

[orange4boy]

Major progress yesterday. After working on it all day, the transaxle is ready to drop. Too beat to post pics. Will have to wait till tomorrow.

The trickiest bits so far were the harness connectors to the power steering motor. (They are buried behind and below the brake distribution box) and the motor leads to MG1 which I had to unbolt from the transaxle because the last dimwit mechanic to work on it tightened the torx bolts on the inverter so tight, I bent/twisted the torx bit trying to remove it. Will have to try heat tomorrow.

[orange4boy]

Pics.

Today I drop it.

[orange4boy]

Got the beast out. That is a tight fit.

The ICE motor had to be pried out of the way to make room. How I will get the new one in is a mystery. I may hoist it in from below with a chain hoist mounted above. The ability to swing and rock would be a big help in getting it in.

Now that it's out I'm not getting the cogging. I can spin the CV joints which spins the input shaft. I think it means that the mg2 is ceased because the cogging was the ICE being rotated by the wheels while the car was in neutral. I imagine if it was not ceased it would rotate freely so the Ice would be unmoved by wheel rotation in neutral. . Just a guess. Would also explain the lurch when I tried to start the car. It would immediately stop and flash all the warning lights.

[orange4boy]

Got the replacement transaxle out of the van and hoisted up to take off and clean the sump. The newer sump is just dusted lightly with filings and the magnet is a little bump compared with the huge pile on the old one.













Hopeful puppy is hopeful... Walkies? Walkies? Walkies? How about now? Now? ... Now?... Now?... Walkies now?.. Now? Walkies?

[orange4boy]

Mounted my chain hoist to the joists of the carport today and made a bracket for the tranny. Works great. Did all the work at chest level.

Done:

1) Drilled out MG1 cable attachment cover bolt as it was seized by the overzealous use of an impact drill. I had to remove the wires from the transaxle still in the car during teardown because of this.

2) Installed MG1 cables in Transaxle and sealed cover with RTV.

3) Cleaned and replaced oil pan. The sediment was very fine and black. It seemed to be coarser towards the magnet suggesting a good wear in pattern. There was just a sprinkling of bronze glitter.

4) Cleaned out CV joints. Will re-pack tomorrow with synthetic grease. Stock grease is thin and flows fairly easily.

5) Swapped brackets and other pits and pieces to new trans.

To do:

1) Install new axle seals. They are waiting at the dealer for me to pick up. Probably will have to wait till Tuesday to do it. I might install the Tranny now and the seals later.

2) Install transaxle.

3) Pray.