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I would be interested in the response you get from Toyota if you take it in to be repaired. Since I'm long out of warranty, I'm leery of this leading to some much larger and more expensive repair.
Any Toyota techs out there heard of such a thing?+
The 3.0l was the 1MZ, the 3.3l was the 3MZ. Those are probably related, and you MIGHT be able to swap them out.
The new 3.5l is a 2GR engine, totally different engine family.
It might be easier to drop in a Ford V8.
How many people hop on the internet to say "no problem here" on their vans? Noone. Only existing members who subscribe to the threads already, and good samaratins trying to help.
when did you do your 1st oil change and did you take it to the dealer or your "local guy"?
did you use regular oil or synthetic and are you happy or do you wish you did the opposite?
thanks for your advice
I'm using regular dino oil, thin stuff - I think 5w20.
These vans have a lot of accessories to drain the batteries. They also drain the batteries if the the doors left open for extended periods (ours was a few days in the garage) even with the lights off.
Corroded battery terminals will often easily supply low level current flow for lights/radio/etc but NOT the 100 plus amps needed to turn the starter over fast enough for the engine to fire.
I'll pick the 3.5l any day, twice on Sunday.
new van has 48K miles,
has anyone else had this problem or is it a problem.
I plan to change oil and filter and maybe add some lucas oil stablizer to motor. Hopefull this will quiten it down some. After motor is warm it run fine.
Toyota added insulation to the firewall to compensate, but outside you'll hear more noise.
I needed to leave my car for a week, ok they suppose fixed and they live all the wall dirty.. Well the car is ok, I will take it... Then the car was spending to much gas and my brother just check the air filter and it was never been chance and the car used to be about 4 or 5 times for the regular service... Then one night I tried to star the car and the battery was dead and I was out of town in the night, well i have to got one, the millage at that time was like 25, 000 miles... I spoke with a service manager and they told me that I have to bring the battery.. then I decided to take care of all the services for myself with the best oils, gas etc.. My car is like 60,000 miles and the motor engine is broke because a rode went in to my engine block, and forget about the guaranty, they told me that they need to call to the fabric, you know it will take about 2,3,4 or 5 months, and they will say no, it is not under guaranty... So I was thinking to get a new sequoia and my husband told me forget it, I will never will have a Toyota again... :mad: In Mexico all the car sales do the same thing.... So never never get a Toyota Sienna........... :sick:
"Vehicle is currently operating within manufatures specifications, FTS inspected vehicle for engine noise. FTS noted engine noise on cold start-up is described as piston slap, after driving vehicle and letting it run for 20 minutes the piston slap noise was gone. Engine noise on cold start up and after warm up is normal operating condition when compared to other toyota v6 engines, noise is due to short piston skirt design, Toyota recognizes some customers may complain, however it is not considered a mechanical defect and will not affect the life of the engine. No repairs made."
Doesn't seem right to me, anybody else taken the vehicle in to get this checked? Same response and outcome?
My 2001 with 135k on it doesn't do it, although it's an entirely different engine family, but as I said, 20 inutes is way too long for parts to warm up and expand.
And for the sake of your engine, use synthetic oil.
Well anyone have this same trouble. Would like to hear your outcome.
Thanks
How is your gas mileage? Besides the sound, is it running OK?
There are several unfortunate aspects of this problem. Toyota would replace the ECM for free within 8 years and 80,000 miles, but up to 5 of those years had gone by before they admitted the defect. No doubt many owners replaced sensors and catalysts several times, only to have that p0420 frustratingly pop up again within a few months or thousands of miles (in the most painful scenario, this would happen just out of warrantee...) Most owners, despite having a defective ECM from day 1, were lucky (or unlucky) in that their catalysts/sensors/etc. stayed no-code-good (as opposed to just good-good) for a long time. While many "working" examples of original ECMs are available cheap on the used market, the redesigned ECMs seem unavailable. It cannot be that the upgraded vehicles are immune to being junked, which suggests that a great many owners may have replaced defective ECMs at their own expense. The sad thing, of course, is the cost of ~$1600 plus labor. Though specialized and ruggedized, these computers are relatively simple and made in large numbers. I bet Toyota pays less than $100 for each. How much goodwill could they have earned by replacing the defective ECMs with no limit on miles and years?
The set of complaints listed on page 2 & 3 was related to resonating vibrations heard/felt at some narrow RPM bands on 2007 models with the new 2GR engine. When crawling around underneath, I noticed on my '08 that just behind the spare tire were two heavy 'dumbells' clamped to the exhaust pipe. Were they there on the '07? I'm wondering if these are dampers added to change the resonance of the shaking pipe. Perhaps adding / changing the weights could null out or shift the noise to a less objectionable RPM? Just a thought....
Quoting from my car's service log
1) Driveability - Customer states there is a ticking noise from engine area. Ticking sound from B2 exhaust camshaft VVTI controller. No codes present or stored. Technician replaced B2 exh camshaft VVTi controller.
2) LSC 90k campaign - Variable Valve Timing Oil Hose replacement - completed.
This may be your noise!
I found a campaign letter on a Camry board that was issued for the 2GR engine. It states that other vehicles may be impacted, and the recall could be widened to a broader range of vehicles...
http://sumbiz03.home.comcast.net/~sumbiz03/CamryVVTiHoseCampaign.PDF
Q2: What is the cause of this condition?
A2: The rubber portion of the engine oil supply hose for the VVT-i actuator may develop a pinhole. Over time, exposure to small amounts of corrosive gases from the positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) may cause this pinhole in the hose to expand. As a result oil may leak from the hose.
Q3: Are there any warnings that this condition exists?
A3: Yes, this condition may cause abnormal engine noise and/or the oil pressure light to illuminate.
I guess the threat of being tossed into the waste can caused the old one to perk up and fly right...;<)
I am getting the same noise from my 2008 Sienna.
Bad tires? Is this an AWD van? Toyota is much more forgiving than say Subaru on the issue of mismatched tire diameter, but I suppose that if you were way off it might log an error. The skid control and traction control systems do use wheel speed sensors as an input, and it might not like a constant rotational difference if a tire was way off from the others.
The dealer and the Toyota tech rep say that it is PISTON SLAP and that this is normal. Do your reserch for what piston slap means ( bad news ) but Toyota seems to think that its OK I guess we are all stupid. This will be my last Toyota, I know what Piston Slap does to an engine.
Good luck with yours.
Piston slap is not the same for every Toyota vehicle. Some Toyota engines develop the issue sooner than others. Also, the amount of time it takes for the slapping to dissipate varies also. These two inconsistencies alone are solid proof that Toyota engines do not have consistent piston/cylinder tolerances.
The Toyota factory rep told me (on Dec 2011) that it is normal for their engines to develop piston slap (at what point this will happen was not specified) and that it is normal for them to sound like a diesel engine for the first 10-12 minutes of driving (depending on outside temperature).
If your commute is only 10-12 minutes like mine is, you will have a knocking engine the whole way to and from work.
*** This is not acceptable in my opinion. ***
Here's the thing. If you own a Subaru, you've probably lived with piston slap for 15 years. Corvette - famous for it. Go to the Dodge board - yep. This is the direction of the industry, as they attempt to trim reciprocating mass. And with all the complaints over the years on the Subaru boards, there seems to be little evidence of real engine damage other than a little scraping of the moly coating on the skirt, with little or no evidence seen on the cylinder wall. I've seen no change in oil consumption in 100k miles on my Subi, and it clatters like a diesel on a cold morning. My Sienna (2008 - 2GR-FE) does also.
I understand your feeling, and I don't like it, but I've learned to live with it.
Here is my my view on Toyota's piston slap issues. They should be up front and tell potential customers about the "normal" operation of their engines.... They will develop piston slap which causes the engine to sound like a diesel for the first 10-12 minutes of driving (from a cold soak engine temp). They should also let them know that if one of their engines does not develop piston slap.... then it is considered "abnormal". If the customer still wants to purchase the vehicle, that is their choice.
My wife and I have personally owned 14 different cars from 6 different manufactures (including a 1993 tercel), none of which had any audible piston slap whatsoever. I am not counting the 2008 certified preowned Highlander that we kept for one tank of gas and then forced the dealer to buy back due to piston slap.
I cannot argue with you on this, as I really agree. Piston slap is one of those universal dirty little secrets that nobody wants to acknowledge or openly discuss. I'd love to see a manufacturer issue a TSB that fully describes it, and what the 'limits of acceptable' noise level and duration is. They may exist, but I've not seen one. But yes, it seems to be the 'new normal'.
In my opinion, 10-12 minutes seems like a long time. As I said, both my 2002 Outback and our 2008 Sienna sound pretty bad for a few minutes, but you can hear it fade away as the engine(s) warm and smooth out.
They want to charge over $5,400 to fix this problem. I don't understand it. I've paid $close to $31,000 for this car the past five years. If I've done everything right, then why should I have to pay this large an amount to fix something that Toyota knew was a problem.
I've opened up a case with Toyota, and hoping they will help. I'm already in the market for a new car, but if the new Toyota's are built in a way that you have to have a major repair done on them after 107,000 miles, then they are just not worth it.
Has anybody else had problems with oil leaks like this? Especially on a Sienna with such low mileage. Should I be concerned with having them replace the block and cylinder heads and re-using all of the other parts from the original engine. they put in a new crankshaft and pistons. However, they reused the valves and other parts.
I feel like I own a new vehicle with a rebuilt engine!!! Should I be concerned that they have gone into the engine this deep? I have a concern that they have done so much work under the hood that there will more chances for problems in the future. We are the type of people to buy and hold our cars. We currently have a 12 year old Sienna.
Concerned Toyota owner...