Toyota L110 / L210

Toyota's rear-drive hybrid transaxle — the gearbox of the GS 450h, the GS 300h, the IS 300h and the RC 300h, built by Aisin.

⚑ It is the same idea as the Prius e-CVT and not the same gearbox. Both are power-split devices with two motor-generators and no clutch pack; this one sits in line with the car and drives the rear wheels, where the P-series transaxles sit across the engine bay and drive the front. A part, a fluid or a fault reported for a Toyota e-CVT may be about either.

The L110 carries a two-speed Ravigneaux gearset on its output, which the transverse units do not — it is what lets the GS 450h use a small motor at low speed and still pull at motorway pace. The L210 in the IS 300h and RC 300h is the same architecture without it.

There is no torque converter, no clutch and no set of ratios to wear, so the failures owners meet are electrical rather than mechanical: the inverter, its coolant pump, and the resolvers on the motor-generators. A shudder or a slip on one of these is not a gearbox symptom at all.

It takes Toyota's WS fluid and it is not a lifetime fill in practice. The transaxle shares its case with the motor-generators, so debris and heat reach windings rather than only clutches, and a drain and fill at sensible intervals is cheap against what it protects.