Toyota Sienna Maintenance and Repair (2003 earlier) - READ ONLY

3687 messages,  Last post on Jul 18, 2007 at 11:32 AM

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What is this discussion about? Toyota Sienna, Van

    

#1116 of 3687 Sienna Tranny Problem by jimbrew80

Jul 20, 2001 (8:37 pm)

My wife bought a Sienna 2000 in August 1999 in Seattle, so far she has approx 38,000 miles and a dead tranny. Luckily, we noticed a whinning noise and took it to the shop to have it checked. One reason we bought the Sienna was to avoid the unreliability of the Dodge/Chrysler trannys that roughly five of our friends had experienced. This was our first Toyota - but may be our last depending on how the Bend, Oregon dealer responds.

#1117 of 3687 jimbrew80 by arbabc

Jul 22, 2001 (4:08 pm)

Have you been taking your Toyota Sienna to this dealership for all it's regular maintenance? The reason I ask is that, if they know you and the vehicle, they are likely to feel somewhat responsible for not seeing this coming.

#1118 of 3687 jimbrew80 by sgergen

Jul 23, 2001 (8:56 am)

Isn't the tranny supposed to be serviced at 30,000 miles?
 
If you had this done (at Toyota or have the receipts/invoice to show that it was done somewhere else), I would guess you're 100% covered. If not, you may be on the hook.
 
Good Luck!
 
Scott

#1119 of 3687 Low tire pressure warning by thewolverine

Jul 23, 2001 (9:25 am)

Sounds like the indicator just needs to be reset - if I remember correctly there's an indicator that needs to be reset each time a certain area of the Sienna is entered into - had this problem 1 mile down the road after my first oil change - brought it back - reset the sensor and back on the road in 3 minutes.
 
Pretty sure it was the tire pressure light but that was almost 3 years ago.

#1120 of 3687 Update 2001 Problems by guitarzan1

Jul 23, 2001 (10:07 am)

A while back, I presented a large list of items that were wrong with my brand new Sienna. I took the van to the dealership, and out of the list of problems, they only "fixed" the problem of the difficult to open front doors. They replaced the windshield with a worse one, and didn't address any of my other issues, included the power door that opens and closes itself 6 times before shutting down. FYI... There is a TSB on this door problem, but the dealer neglected to even perform the TSB.
 
Before, I was only pissed at Toyota for building a poor quality van. Now I'm pissed at the dealer, too, for their apathy and rudeness. Now, my vehicle is in worse shape than it was before. Not only do most of the problems still exist, but my new widshield is worse than the old one, there's an annoying rattle coming from the power door, and there's grease stains on my floor mats. Thanks a lot!!!
 
Toyota customer relations seems like they could care less. They're supposed to have someone call me. We'll see. At this point, I'm seriously re-considering my "Toyota customer" status. I'm am just so turned off of Toyota by this situation. And to think that I paid thousands more for this van than their competitors, just because I expected reliability. HA! Jokes on me I guess.

#1121 of 3687 98 Sienna sliding door problem by old_guy_in_tx

Jul 23, 2001 (10:41 am)

I have a '98 (30K Miles) with dual manual sliding doors. The passenger door inside release button sticks from time to time and there is the "rattle" on both doors. Any ideas? Can I lube it with a dry lubricant or Talcum powder? By the way - it is out of warranty by a month.

#1122 of 3687 guitarzan - response by sgergen

Jul 23, 2001 (12:30 pm)

Have you tried a different dealer? Sounds like this one is a joke!
Did they put in Toyota glass? We picked up a rock and had the glass replaced in our Sienna and the first chunk of non-Toyota glass that our glass replacement place used was complete crap.
 
I had them take it out and had a different place put in the Toyota glass and it's great!
 
Scott

#1123 of 3687 How difficult is it to open your doors? by guitarzan1

Jul 23, 2001 (8:32 pm)

Question for the group... If you weigh about 160-170 and grab on to the door handle of your Sienna, leaning all the way back, putting all your weight on pulling the door handle. Will it open? (Please don't try this at home and blame me when you go flying backwards.) Mine doesn't. I would guess that 99.9% of all Siennas have doors that are easy to open by simply pulling the handle. Mine doesn't. It requires an extreme amount of force for me to get the doors open... You have to yank it so hard, you can see the metal door panel flex. Imagine my small wife trying to get into her van. Normal?
 
I thought the dealer had fixed this problem, but it turns out, they didn't. It's exactly the same as it was before. Sometimes it's fine, most of the time it's very very hard to open the door.
 
Dealer claims they tried the power door 100 times and couldn't get it to fail. I got to work and tried the power door once and it failed - not closing properly and opening and re-closing several times. Finally it closed... Or so I thought. When I went to drive home, I tried the door again. I couldn't open or close the door, even manually. Then I had to drive halfway home with the door buzzer going off. I stopped at a different Toyota dealership and showed it to the service advisor. He realized the lock was sticking and that it was trying to open or close the door not realizing it's locked. Obviously it's not closing right because the buzzer went off. If you pressed the door open button, you'd hear what sounded like a cable moving around in the door panel but nothing would happen. Normal? Such is my life with my Sienna. They should have painted it bright yellow.
 
Enough of my whining. Toyota is going to have a specialist look at it next Monday.

#1124 of 3687 Arbabc/Sgergen response to Sienna Tranny Problem by jimbrew80

Jul 25, 2001 (2:02 pm)

Yes, we have taken it in according to Toyota's scheduled maintenance to the same dealership - never had any problems up to this point.
 
Regarding our tranny problem, the service manager called yesterday and said that my wife's 2000 Sienna van will be getting a brand new transmission. They also gave her a new 2001 Sienna to drive while her van is in the shop since she needed something for a trip to Seattle this week. So far, I can only praise the dealership and the service . . . Dave Holt Toyota in Bend, Oregon.

#1125 of 3687 Excellent news on Sienna tranny! by sgergen

Jul 25, 2001 (2:14 pm)

jimbrew80 -
 
Great news huh?
I was one of the lucky ones that had the torque converter problem with my 2000 Sienna and I must say that Burnsville, MN Toyota treated me well and took care of everything is a efficient manner.
 
Sounds like you're getting the same, decent treatment from your dealer so I guess all isn't doom and gloom in Toyotaland.
 
Scott

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