ok, nice and sunny day. had CVT WS TF changed today.

about only one word of caution:
open fill plug first. otherwise, fluid gushes out of drain plug in very uneven manner, spilling all over the place, if you do not allow air in through fill plug hole..

also, when you pop those plugs open, transmission sucks a lot of air in, and it's quite scary sound.

1. tools needed: 10mm hex head wrench. you can use socket wrench socket with it, or what i used - L shaped one; drain pan; either oil pump or long tubing with funnel that will fit in; 12mm crush washer x 2; rags and all that good stuff for cleaning. pretty basic.

2. jack car securily; level position is preferred:


for barrel chested folks - there is very little clearance down there; my hydraulic jack basically ran out of height and i still could barely fit under. there was no way to turn or even to put 2 arms underneath, to hold something

3. here's suggested set - aluminum splash pan, good drain pan, oil pump, and gloves

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4. here's WS (world standard) Toyota fluid; $7.42 each, total of four needed. i, also, came up with a funnel with long tubing slid over funnel and taped in place securily

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5. for jobs like this, i normally use "willie the creeper" dolly, but there was no way to use it, so old rag worked fine:

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6. drain anf fill plugs are located on the driver side of powertrain, right next to catalytic converter:

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those are the ones with hex holes in them, lower being drain and upper/left being fill plugs.

7. takes a lot of torque to break them loose; i used box end wrench over the long hex wrench end to create leverage; cheat pipe suitable length will work; plugs pop with loud noise - don't worry, you did not break anything; once popped, after another half turn, they can be removed with fingers:



8. i can not tell if fluid came out bad; it looked slightly darker than fresh one, but did no smell very bad or had much impurities in it:

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9. secure drain plug back in place; you may want to put new 12mm crush washer on it; i have very good experience with reusing original washers maybe once, so that's what i did. copper washers are the best, they do not crack like aluminum or plastic ones.

10. now it's time to refill; i ran tubing from the top down and deep into the transmission; it went in good couple inches easy; i secured funnel to the bonnet lifter and RE-CHECKED IF IT DID NOT SLIDE OUT OF TRANSMISSION!!!

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11. i poured fluid in very slowly; reason being, it's thick and can easily block tubing, air gushes out, splashes all over; also, size of my tubing almost completely plugged the fill hole, so i wanted to allow air out to avoid emboli. took only about 3 minutes for 4 cans.

12. allow extra time for most of the fluid to drain down the tubing. all 4 qrts fit in, there was only minor drippage. clean everything, reinstall fill plug, torque.

13 while you there, might be a good idea to change oil. so i did.
here's oil drain plug and filter location:

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also, i had cat covered with rag while filling, so that fluid does not get into it's mesh:

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overall time about an hour. messiness level, with my Silverado transmission pan removal being the messiest job i have ever done, having me all covered in ATF, and graded 10 out of ten, i'd give this one maybe 3. quite simple, just a lot of dancing around with prep work.

yes, it did start and drive thereafter. so far, i can not tell any difference. but i did not drive her much anyway.

 

Thanks for the DIY.

BTW, i believe the "cat'' youre referring to is the flex pipe and the actual cat is the located further down, shown in your last pic.

 

u r welcome. you prolly absolutely right, as there's not a single O2 sensor connected to the "cat". anyway, because of the metal mesh, it can easily soak fluid in and burn it later, and fill plug is right above it. good i caught on covering it before i refilled it.

 

several days down the road, after that fluid change and oil change (what a surprise, she took in a GALLON of oil!), i wish i could say - oh, wow, what a difference.
there's really none. maybe some really minute. mpg is the same, overall jerks and thuds about same. maybe somewhat softer, otherwise - not that i can tell any difference.
well, i'm good for another 50K miles on ATF
it awfully looks and smells like the usual ATf, so, maybe next time, i'll go with a quality synthetic one instead.

 

I wouldn't recommend anything but the specified ATF. A "normal" transmission doesn't have motors with high voltage running through them.

I believe that the catalytic converter is under the hood, right at the manifold.

 

This is great for new DIY like myself. Thanks !

Just a question. This fluid change is also known as the "Hybrid Transaxial Fluid" change, which is same as CVT Transmission fluid change??

Is there no filter that needs to be replaced?

 

No filter on the fluid change on the Power Split Device (AKA Transmission).

 

And this car does not have CVT. Toyota could not come up with a better more digestible name for what they designed. Power Split Device is totally vague for lay buyer.

 

It says here http://www.edmunds.com/toyota/camry-hybrid/2009/features-specs/
Its a CVT. Now Im really confused.

 

toyota calls it a PSD (power split device) instead of a CVT. Technically it functions as a CVT but the original CVT has a different design which uses belts/chains to adjust gear ratios. Other names are eCVT which is rather more simple.