Hey guys,
Been a while since I've been on here but thought I should pop on to ask a question after visiting a dealership today. I stopped by their parts department to pick of some paint to repair a scratch and was talking to one of the service writers who recommended a transmission fluid change for my 09 FEH because it was over the 30K mile mark. I bit my tongue for the moment and asked how much, $400.00 for the transmission flush and fluid change. I asked why so much more than a regular transmission flush and he said that the CVT has a high presure filter that needs to be changed and the labor costs to change it increases the cost so much. Knowing that the NYC FEH taxi's don't get their transmission fluid changed until 100,000 miles I am defiantly not going to do it any sooner but I am curious about the high pressure filter he spoke of. Couldn't find any reference to it. Does it exist? Is it serviceable/replaceable? Or most likely was he just blowing smoke? :p

 

It doesn't exist.

 

Accoding to my local Ford dealer the eCVT "transmission" in my
06 FEH does not require any maintenance. It is a sealed unit.

For a fun demonstration on how it works visit:

http://www.eahart.com/prius/psd/

 

The owners manual calls for changing the transmission fluid, check it for interval & kind of ATF to use. It has a drain plug and a fill plug. Drain the oil, then refill. No filter. I suppose because it has nothing but gears & bearings to wear.

 

There are no "clutches" within the eCVT. The drain plug is
sealed such that you break the seal if you wish to inspect
the level. I just looked at the "scheduled maintenance" for
my 06 FEH and there is no indication of maintenance for
the eCVT all the way out to 150,000 miles. I think that
may vary by year. There is a torque converter of sorts
but that would not wear over time and use.

 

Torque converter in there? Not so. There's nothing in there but a planetary gear set and the two associated Permanent magnet synchronous machines.

There was no "seal" on either the drain or fill plugs of my FEH transaxle. I don't even think there was evidence of thread locker on them when I pulled them.

 

I read one place, I've never taken one apart, that there is some kind
of "pulse isolation" device within the eCVT. Akin to a torque converter.
If no such device existed then the output shaft pulses coming from the
ICE would be hard indeed on the eCVT. But, you may be right. I've never
seen a detailed teardown image of the eCVT. If there is no such device
then the gears within the eCVT are one tough cookie.

 

If it has a pulse damper it's likely over on the flywheel assembly. Probably has one.

The shop manual lists the two synchronous machines, a one-way clutch, and the planetary gearset as internal components.

So, I think this thing, with the right alloys inside it, will have very few wear products floating around in the oil. But, it will still have some in there.

 

As I suspected the pulse damper is on the engine. For a picture go to page 303-01C-66 of Volume II of the shop manual, in my case it's the 2006 edition.

This pulse damper includes a slip clutch unit. So the eCVT unit is a very simple unit.

...And I suspect that means it is a very, very tough unit. If I'm right then it'll be a very long lived unit.

 

Good reference, thanks for looking that up.
It had to be in there someplace. I think the eCVT may
be somewhat simple in terms of a "transmission" but
does not operate without the use of a complex computer.