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2012 Sienna Hydrolocked Engine

14 messages,  Last post on Aug 22, 2012 at 6:06 PM

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What is this discussion about? Toyota Sienna, Van

Messages Page 3 of 3

#12 of 14 Re: 2012 Sienna Hydrolocked Engine [missmy06] by fibber2

Aug 22, 2012 (5:45 am)

Replying to: missmy06 (Aug 20, 2012 6:46 pm)
The height of the chin spoiler is likely the culprit that induced a wave that forced water up and into the grill. Actually over the grill as the intake is on top of the radiator upper support. If the spoiler cleared the water, I cannot see any way that tire action could possibly do this. Tire splash tends to go out to the side. Not sure on the new models, but on my '08 the lowest spot is around 6-7" off the ground. The water would have to be a few inches above that to create the 'snow plow' wave to force it vertically. I'd guess, and just a guess depending on speed that 10" could do it?
 
The only other scenario would be a vehicle coming from the other direction at sufficient speed. Tire splash from another vehicle has more than once sent water onto my windshield from hitting standing water of only a few inches.

#13 of 14 Re: 2012 Sienna Hydrolocked Engine [fibber2] by missmy06

Aug 22, 2012 (5:54 pm)

Replying to: fibber2 (Aug 22, 2012 5:45 am)
Well there were other vehicles driving in the sub along with my wife. But because of the heavy rain none were going fast. My wife's Sienna stalled right after she turned onto a street and she estimates she was doing 5-10mph at most. Other cars driving past were probably doing similar speeds. But she did note that there was splash from both her van and the other cars going by. And I guess in some respect I should feel lucky because it happened in our sub and everyone was going too slow to cause any crashes. Had it happened on the main road with faster speeds it could have turned out much worse. And had we been on vacation and out of town on unfamiliar roads it could have been worse yet. As for the damage, the dealer has yet to tell me what all happened inside the engine. They told my insurance adjuster that they could manually rotate the engine "backward but not forward". One other bit of luck is that my insurance (Liberty) has approved all the repairs that the dealer said they'd need to do to bring our one week old van back to new condition. And that's with all new parts, not aftermarket. And Toyota said that the engine would be certifiable since the repair is done by a dealer using new parts. I'm hoping that will help with the resale value down the road.
 
What I find disappointing in all this is that Toyota had a robust design on the 2nd generation Sienna but chose to go with a more vulnerable design on the new Sienna. All at the customer's expense.

#14 of 14 Re: 2012 Sienna Hydrolocked Engine [fibber2] by missmy06

Aug 22, 2012 (6:06 pm)

Replying to: fibber2 (Aug 22, 2012 5:45 am)
You make a good point, fibber2, about the chin spoiler. On our van the chin spoiler, if I am thinking of the correct part, had separated from the front bumper on the right side. From what I recall the intake is on the left side of the van but maybe a half-way dragging chin spoiler channeled more water up into the vicinity of the intake.

Messages Page 3 of 3

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