Toyota Sienna Maintenance and Repair (2004+)

davidk4

I own a 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE Limited with parking assist sensors which worked fine until the day after someone bumped my rear end (while I was parked) and one of the sensors has a small dent and scratch on the flat surface. Now I get the constant beeping which the manual identifies as a problem with one of the sensors.

My dilemma: I can get a brand new sensor for $130 from my autobody guy, but I'm not sure if replacing the sensor will fix the problem. My Toyota dealer wants to charge me $130 just to look at it.

Question: Is there a software program on the Sienna that needs to be reset when the sensor is bumped? Would clearing this program reset the sensor and negate the need for a new sensor? Is there a sure way to test whether the sensor is damaged and needs to be replaced without having to purchase a new sensor and without having to pay my local Toyota dealer $130 just to tell me I need a new sensor and an additional $130 to replace it?

Any help would be most appreciated.

mj_

We have the 2004 model and have run across the battery problem constantly. Seems that the kids (who are still little) don't shut the door all of the way and the courtesy lights on the door stay on, which will run the battery down in about 40 minutes. Jumping the car never works. Always have to call AAA. (Of course my non-family friendly '94 SUV turn off automatically but not the Sienna. Go figure). We keep the light switch off and always check the door to make sure its shut. You just have to be careful or buy yourself one of those more powerful car chargers. Good luck!

sabu

I have a 2004 Sienna only have less than 20k mile in it. Last month the front Passenger side tier came off from the Van, while I was driving. Luckily I was taking a left turn and going less than 15 MPH speed. Only thing I did to it was I changed a flat about 10 months ago (@ August 2005). I end up Paying for the repair since Toyota Of Richardson would not take any responsibility. All 5 Nuts Broken off from the Van. It just brock off. Please give your input on it. what might happened ? .. I never had any one rotated my tier, never felt like it needed a rotation.

user777

That would be "Tire", not Tier.

Because the nuts broke off, I'm suspicious. You say you changed a flat 10mo ago. Did you have a problem with vibration as you drove? I'm thinking if you under-tightened the bolts that might have been obvious before they let go. If on the other hand you overtightened them, then I could see them failing in a different way.

My gut feeling is one or more bolts were under-torqued, since I think it would be much easier to under-tighten them, than it would be to over-torque them to the point that they fail for material stress reasons, but I don't know you or the tool used to change the tire. When it/they failed, perhaps you had a chain of events that took the others out very rapidly as you were turning.

Examining the hub and the lug nut assembly, I suppose the root cause could be independantly determined without too much trouble.

alive78

I own a 04 sienna le with 70k miles. After noticing the a/c was not running cold, I took the van to the dealer thinking it needed a freon recharge. However the dealer informed me that after running a diagnostic, they found metal debris in the front unit. The cost to repair or replace the a/c would run $4500 worst case scenario, which would mean that the rear unit would be also contaminated with the metal debris from the front unit. The best case scenario would cost no less than $1500 to fix the a/c. I of course was shocked, not so much at the $$ to repair, but on the dealers response on the possible causes of the malfunction. His response was "it just happens". He gave no possible explanation. I have always been diligent in the regular maintenance of the vehicle, i.e. oil change, regular service, etc. I wonder if there is a trend or history of faulty a/c units with sienna vans. Do you or anyone have suggestions or comments. I would appreciate any input.

03gtiturbo

Typically, the only reason for having metal in the A/C system the way you're describing, is from a compressor failure. I think that $4500.00 sounds a bit extreme, as I assume this means replacement of the condensor, evaporator, drier(s), compressor, and all refrigerant lines. If the compressor came apart (as is sounds like it has), the dealer should be able to flush the refrigerant lines out with liquid refrigerant, then blow them out with vaporized refrigerant. The compressor and drier(s) will have to be replaced in any case and have new R134a added. More than likely, the condensor and evaporator will be fine.

Incidentally, my wife and I are looking for a minivan replacement for our 2004 Honda CR-V. We're leaning more towards the Sienna, but have looked at the Odyssey, but are concerned with many complaints we have read about the Odyssey.

redsienna3

I have a 2006 Sienna LE with 12K mi. The transmission shifting is uneven, not smooth. Sometimes I depress the gas pedal and nothing happens for a second or so. I'm sure that a software (firmware) upgrade could fix the problem, maybe a "performance" option. Anyone hear about a transmission "fix" available or planned by Toyota?

mke

Recently notice drivers side sliding door to make noise when closing or opening. This was due to frayed cable. In order to replace this cable the whole electrical motor assembly had to be replaced. Total cost was about 1,400CAD!! Luckily this was covered by warranty. Passanger side cable shows cracks and will fail similar way in few months time. Dealer will replace it also. Just a warning to anybody having same van! :confuse:

russmiller

I just bought a 2006 (supposedly for the better engineering) and now with just 2500 miles the same rough transmission shifting has appeared. WHAT's THE SOLUTION!!!

I also have a small vibration in the wheel at 65mph. The dealer rebalanced the wheels but its still there

I had been a Chrysler owner for the past 15 years...now I'm sorry I switched.

jm38

Just a question about the MP3 player in the new Sienna (I have an '04). When you turn the van off, does an iPod stop also? My iPod has an iTrip so when you shut the van off, the radio goes off but the ipod stays on and running.

stuartr

I have the same problem with my 2006 Sienna. When I took it in to be looked at the service manager showed me that if you change throttle positions (move your seat forward) so your foot was pressing down at a different angle the problem went away. Apparently this is a known problem. I find it very frustrating that I have to alter my driving position because of an apparent design defect. I have not heard anything about Toyota planning to adress this problem. Frustrating especially after spendink $42,000 on a Limited AWD. I have had many Toyotas and expected more. My van ghas 5000 miles and the radio just went out on it also.

cvis

I owned a 1999 Honda Odyssey entry level, 'LX' I think, and had nothing but problems with it. The front R wheel bearings went at 5K, I had a noise appear from under the hood I complained about at around 40K, had vibrations coming up through the steering column into steering wheel since I bought it, and other annoying 'milk truck' noises, creaks and groans. Turned out that the noise I reported at 40K from under the hood was in fact, a transmission problem which was conveniently identified at 115K, just shy of the 100K warranty. Thankfully because of similar ongoing problems, Honda replaced the transmission at no charge to me. DUH! I sold it shortly after and bought a 2004 Sienna. I do miss the interior of the Honda because it was sleek, low and wide, but love my Toyota. I have to admit, though, I know of several friends with 2000 plus Oddyseys, and they had no trouble whatsoever. However, another friend with a 1999 Odyssey also had the same trouble I had, then some. Perhaps it was the year of the model change that was the problem. In future, I will wait one model year for the bugs to get ironed out before I buy. Good luck.
By the way...I am experiencing the same lack of cool temperature with my sienna. I plan to get that looked at this week. Let me know how you made out with yours.

user777

aparently, people of other toyota makes reporting problems with their vehicle's delaying acceleration and shifting behaviors have mitigated the problems by changing the amount of their foot being applied to the accelerator pedal.

this might suggest that the accelerator assembly has too much mechanical compliance and unless applying force in a different manner, a range of motion results in negligable change in accelerator / throttle demand...

if your more of a toe-tip driver, try moving your heel closer to the accelerator so more of your foot is in contact with the pedal and see if that helps.

03gtiturbo

We just bought our 2006 Sienna LE about 3 weeks ago and took it on it's "maiden voyage" roundtrip from Orlando, Florida to Ann Arbor, Michigan. We only calculated fuel economy on the drive north, but I was impressed. We left Florida with about 400 miles on the odometer. We filled up the tank 3 times on the way up, always filling up at no less than 1/4 tank. The first tank from Florida to Georgia averaged 24.5 mpg. The second tank from Georgia to Kentucky averaged 25.5 mpg. The third tank, from Kentucky to Michigan averaged 28.5 mpg for an overall average of 26.16 mpg. Can't complain about that at all. We had traded in a 2004 Honda CR-V AWD that could barely get 15 mpg downhill with a 30 mph tailwind. Needless to say I was very impressed with the fuel economy we averaged (and that was with the A/C on most of the time).

rich31

I have a 2004 Sienna XLE AWD with 19k. I noticed this winter that the finish on my alloy rims was bubbling up on all 4 rims. Now it is flaking off and the rims look terrible. I complained to the Toyota dealership where I bought my Sienna new in 2004. They had a Toyota rep look at the problem, only to say that they wouldn't cover the problem. I feel that this is something that they should cover and replace the rims. I keep the car and rims clean all the time and feel that this is to early in the life of the car to have such problems. I have a 1997 Chrysler Town & Country 120K, with alloy rims that look better than the ones on the new Toyota.
Has anyone had a similar experience with their rims ? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks

master1

Call or e-mail Toyota headquarters. They may or may not help.

ohres

I have a 2004 Sienna XLE AWD with 20k. I noticed the same problem at 15k and asked the dealer to look at it. The dealer wrote a note on the record that it may have been caused by the use of cleaning chemicals? I never used chemicals that can damage the clear coat. I guess that the bubbling will eventually crate a slow leak, once the inside of the rim starts corroding.

I have a 2000 T&C Ltd AWD with 100k+ that had some problem with the corrosion that created slow leak at around 80k. The leak on one wheel was excessive such that I had to unmount, clean and recoat the rim to correct the problem. The other wheels were working fine by using the bid sealer.

I am wondering if anyone with 2004 Sienna XLE FWD experienced the same problem.

I have no suggestion at this point since I did not do anything to solve the problem but I will report this problem during the lemon hearing set in September.

rich31

I first noticed the bubbling on the rims at 10K on my 2004.
I never used cleaning chemicals of any kind on my rims. The dealer told me it was caused by brake dust. You would thing that they would take into consideration when manufacturing the rim that it would come in contact with brake dust. I don't think that it will cause a leak, but it sure looks ugly when the finish flakes off.
How's your gas mileage on your 2004 Sienna XLE AWD ?
I'm not happy with my gas mileage. I've only once gotten to 20 mpg on the highway.

ohres

I did not actually measure the gas mileage but the trip computer says it is about 17.3 mpg. My T&C AWD was about the same, before getting a new engine.

I am wondering if the uneven wear on the RFT and the resulting extra vibration/stress on the rim created unusual amount of fatigue on the protective coating. This is a wild guess but mechanically possible.

dobber1

Also Having bad hesitation problems with my 2006 Sienna Toyota are admitting nothing(opened case file) except service tech told me they have had a couple of sienna vans in with the same problem and highlanders and camrys. Also-bad whine when the dvd is playing through the radio.2nd dvd in it now.

user777

don't know if you've been reading the forums associated with the drive by wire transmission hesitation in a number of models...

this has supposidly helped several people: place your foot next to the accelerator pedal such that more of your foot is now in contact with the pedal... specially if you were more of a toe-tip driver, or sit very far away, or angle your leg/foot. (i'm not sure about this, does your toyota have adjustable pedals - if so try adjusting their position).

anyway, it looks like some people experiencing hesitation have an issue with the accelerator pedal itself having too much compliance and not registering change in demand on the low-end of travel, depending upon how it is depressed with the foot.

if this substantially improves the operability of the vehicle, if it were me, i'd probably request the service department replace the pedal assembly (pedal and sensor).

ena27909

I have a 2004 sienna le with 23,000 miles and the tail lights won't come on when lights are turned on, but brake lights work. I think it's the fuse but can't tell which one, also rear a/c when turned on sometimes cuts off then turns on again by itself. please help.

kjmuncle

I have a 2004 sienna. My van won't come out of park. I keep blowing out the fuse. I lose my brake lights and the abs and vsc and trac off lights come on the dash. Any one ever have this problem. I had the brake switch replaced but that didnt solve the problem. help.

dudleyr

Read the manual. I seem to recall that there is a button to release the shifter underneath a small tab by the shifter.

nichrome

On my 2006 Sienna XLE the driver's side wind noise problem was apparent within the first 75 miles. To confirm that there was a real problem I sat in the passenger seat while my fiancé drove the Sienna. A noticeable difference. Then I drove and had her
sit in the passenger seat. She said it was considerably quieter. The wind noise seems to be emanating not from the driver's door window but from the weather stripping between the driver's door and sliding side door. I took it back to the dealership but
they denied there was any problem. My service advisor actually attempted to tell me
that the wind noise is a result of the shape of the minivan. "You're driving a box" is how he put it. He also incorrectly deduced that because I had taken out all the back seats
I had decreased the vehicle's sound absorption capability. Wrong! The noise was the same when all the seats were installed. What made me more suspicious of the service
department was when they also dismissed the vehicle's hesitation problems. "The vehicle actually learns from how you drive it." So when is the vehicle going to learn not to hesitate when the accelerator is pressed? (By the way, thank you to the forum member who posted the advice about the accelerator assembly and sensor replacement.) This dealership even denied that the parking brake needed adjustment. Bottom line. Some dealerships just do not want to deal with warranty issues. Meanwhile all my so called "phantom" problems still persist and I have less than 5,400 miles on the Sienna. I am taking it back one more time and if they still deny these problems I am contacting Toyota and heading for another dealership.

jb_shin

What a bunch of BS from the dealer. I drove our XLE LTD at speeds of up to 80-85 and the "box" did not make any more wind noise than at 55-65 mph. I am sick and tired of dealer incompetencies at the Toyota dealers in the area that I will do my best NOT to buy one again.

nc_tom

We apparently have an issue with a solenoid in the transmission of our 2000 Siena, but the symptoms don't match what I've read from others. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions. So far it has only been to my regular mechanic, who read the codes, but he doesn't work on transmissions.

Our check engine light came on while on vacation one day when we first started it up. We have since driven 1500 miles, and it is still on, but there are no noticable symptoms. The light did stay off two times when we first started it up, but came on later. My mechanic said it was a PO771 code, which is the transmission solenoid. The van accelerates fine, shifts gears smoothly, shifts at approriate RPMs, shifts up and down OK, and has no issues that i can tell.

Any danger to letting this go if it turns out to be an expensive repair? I'd hate to start having things changed that maybe won't fix it, when it runs fine. I don't want to lead to a costlier repair either though. At first I was hoping it was just a sensor.

It has 98K miles on it, and I changed the transmission fluid once at around 60K.

Thanks,
Tom

nichrome

Thank you for your support. I am not ready to give up on Toyota just because of the wind noise or a single dealer's lack of concern. There are many things about the 2006 Sienna that make it superior to all other minivans. And to be honest, what would I buy instead, a Chrysler? I already have a 1993 as well as a 2000 RAM Van. I will never buy another Chrysler product. I don't care how many times Dr. Zengele appears on TV attempting to assure me how much better Chrysler is now that Daimler is cracking the riding crop. How about a Honda? Did you hear about the recent design flaw in the Odyssey involving the air-conditioner compressor's location? Some are predicting a class action lawsuit. Still, when there is more wind noise in a 2006 Sienna than in a 1993 Grand Voyager with 207,000 miles on it, something is definitely wrong. Now I just have to convince a Toyota mechanic of that fact

jb_shin

I agree with you that there are issues with others as well. I think the product itself is quite good, despite some annoying problems like the NAV dying the in the first 2 weeks, rattles, squeaks, and etc. It is the dealer service and the corporate response (not unique to Toyota, by the way) that the dealer is an independent franchise and they cannot intervene, and so on that makes me frustrated.

I am well aware of the Honday's weak automatic transmission (some manuals, even) and AC (on both of my parents Accords). It is really the service that differentiates the good from the bad. I can live with an ok car if the service is there to back it up. Sometimes I *almost* wish Lexus sold a minivan. I'd pay a premium for their service.

user777

well maybe its time to change the ATF again. I'm planning to do it a second time in my Honda at 60K or so. It's possible the solenoid is a tad slow.

i've tried googling the specific error code, but don't get too much additional information. perhaps asking a transmission shop or perhaps independant repair shop (specializing in Hondas and Accuras) could be consulted.

jess14

We leased a 2006 Toyota Sienna in end March 2006. We have approx 5,000 miles on the odometer at this time and have had multiple problems with the vehicle.

In early June, the car would not start in a plaza and had to be towed to the dealership. The dealer ran some tests and informed us that the fuel pump and assembly had failed which was replaced under the warranty. The van was at the dealership for over a week because parts had to be ordered in and where on backorder.

Fast forward (July 3rd) - at this point the van had only done an additional 500 miles and would not start in a plaza once again. The van was towed to the dealership and the dealer has been trying to diagnose the problem but has not been able to. Changed the onboard computer, immobilizer, and a lot of other parts but the van still won't start. They mentioned to us that they had never had a problem like this before.

The Customer Service at Toyota Canada has been most unhelpful. Today, the van has been towed from the dealership to the Toyota Head Office in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. Wondering if any of you Sienna owners has had these problems and if so what is your recourse. At this point, Toyota is refusing to buy back the van and replace it. Its to a point where it is totally unsafe to drive this vehicle. Even the dealership agrees that they should do the right thing and replace this van. The van has not even gone in for its first oil change.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

This is my first Toyota after having Chyslers, Dodge, Nissan, Honda and Fords which incidentally never gave me any problems.

Thanks,
An unhappy Toyota owner.

ratamacue

Hi,
Driver side air conditioning vents (left center vent and driver's side door vent(near the door) only) have intermittently been delivering non-cooled air. Passenger right-center vent and passenger side door vent and rear A/C are all normal. We thought it was permanently non-functioning, but we found out when we went to the dealer, that it was intermittent (they did not see the problem until I made them run the engine for a while and then it was more apparrent.) A Toyota factor rep was conviently present at the time I picked up the car, and he could not find any record/report of this type of problem. The dealer talked about leaving the car, removing the dash so the tech could drive it home and then back the next day to re-create the problem and see what is not working. He also said that the interior would probably have more creaks after replacing the dash.
My guess is that the method used for mixing hot and cool air to regulate temperature is going into fail mode - sensors, vacuum or electric actuators to control doors for mixing, etc. Does anyone have any similar experiences or can direct me to a place where I can see the mechanics of the temperature control and heat/cool mixing? If I know how the system is supposed to work , I can probably figure out what is wrong.

vanshopper

We purchased a 2006 Sienna LE in June, and we are having an intermittent problem with the LCD display on the factory stereo. Occasionally, the LCD shows garbled characters or goes completely black (the audio works fine, though). The only fix is to shut off the van and restart. It seems to happen when it rains, but it doesn't happen every time that it rains.

We actually switched vans at the last minute when purchasing it, because the van we were going to buy had this problem on our final test drive (it was raining then, too). So, that makes two vehicles with the same problem.

Has anyone else heard of or seen this problem?

nifer76

Ok, went window shopping at a Honda dealer and than Toyota to look at vans. At the Toyota dealer we noticed one of the vans had obvious body work. So we started to pay more attention to the van bodies and we noticed that the bumpers really didn't match the paint on the rest of the body. :surprise:
The only ones that we didn't see much of a difference was on the black and white vehicles. And I say vehicles because it wasn't only the vans that had bumpers that didn't quite match. Did anyone else notice this on their van? Have I just never noticed that body color bumpers just meant "close enough". :confuse:
Went to Honda dealer first didn't notice on the Odyssey but will definetly be checking when we return.

smae

Could you please tell me how you got this covered under warrenty. I had the dealership disconnect the cable because of the same problem. I would like to go back with information on the warrenty

beernut

Mine's perfect. Blue Mirage Metallic.

monty6

I have 2006 Salsa Red Sienna, one month old. I too noticed the front bumper was slightly darker red than the rest of the vehicle. Wondering about that. I saw a gold Acura MDX with this problem just the other day. I highly doubt there is anything that can be done, but I may give our local dealership a call on this (Leesburg Toyota - Virginia). On a recent trip to NY, a tire monitoring system said I had low tire pressure somewhere. After checking the tire pressure within a few miles of the light coming on, all tires were at 35 psi. My wife read the manual to me about resetting the light. It came on again about 30 minutes later. Once in NY, I called a local dealer, and he lead me through a slightly longer resetting procedure. No problems of any kind since.

jb_shin

I remember my friend who sold Acuras and now MBs since the late 80's telling me that dealers so not have to disclose damage up to certain amount. I think he said it was $800. His MB dealer still has a contractor coming in 3 times a week to fix minor scratches, dents, and paint work on new and used cars.

beernut

The threshold of when they have to tell you of damage is usually a percentage of the car's value. Perhaps someone who knows for sure could tell us, but its usually a pretty big number.

Consider this: The amount spent to repair a car that determines whether they have to divulge it is the dealer's COST, not market value, and HE determines the worth, often being able to hide or otherwise not include costs such as labor. AND... they don't have to include any work that might have been done by anyone else prior to their recieving it.

Lets say there was a Chevy dealer in Chantilly, Virginia, say.. Pohanka Chevy, and lets say they were trying to sell a white Chevy S10 truck with 6000 miles on it as a "new Demo". Lets also say that it was wrecked to the tune of a new cargo box, rear bumper, tailgate, right door and fender, but the parts were bought used and wholesale and the work done by salaried bodymen. Lets also say that it was not previously sold but leased to a company who's drunk employee wrecked it so it was never really titled to anyone. Would it still OK to call it a "new demo" and not report but in fact deny that it had had work done to it?

drajkuma

I've experienced the same problem.

It seems to appear whenever the AC is set to MAX and the vehicle is not moving for a while. It goes away once the vehicle is turned off and on again immediately. I had to wait until it appeared and then without turning the vehicle off, took it to the dealer. They switched radios and everything looked good... Until today. It reappeared in the new radio which is hardly 2 weeks old. I'm gonna have to try and replicate the issue and take it to the dealer again. Sure it would happen again. Sucks. Would this qualify under the "lemon law" if it happens 3 times in a year?

I switched from Honda to Toyota and have had nothing but problems.

Dan

master1

The radio turning off does not qualify for the lemon law. The car has to have an actual problem that effects driving.

alanstone

I recently had a horrible problem with my power hatch. Mine is a 2005 and only had 13,500 miles with extremely light use of the hatch. It came down on me while I was loading the back. Worse yet, it did not reverse as it should have. I was lucky enough to be able to free myself, but it caused serious injuries.....ruptured discs, nerve damage/paralysis as well as muscle/tendon damage. Had it been another family member, I am sure it would have been worse.

I have reported the incident to NHSTA, but my report doesn't show up on their website. I have talked to a NHSTA safety engineer who stated they have received other similar complaints, but he would not divulge how many, when or if they were all Siennas.

Toyota denies this have ever happened before and the local dealership is now antagonistic towards me.

What was your experience? Has this happened to anyone else out there? Has anyone ever noticed their remote opening anyone else's hatch (I haven't).

Thanks

user777

going out on a limb and guessing what may be happening:

it sounds like perhaps there is inadequate handling of the condensate from the evap coil. do you have an issue with the passenger or footwell being damp?

if so i'd say maybe the condensate isn't collecting in the pan and exiting via the drain tube.

another possibility is there is some poorly fitting duct work between the evaporator and the vent and the fan is pushing very moist air onto the radio.

this I could see causing the radio to shutdown as a self-preservation tactic. water/moisture and electronics don't mix.

maybe the dealer should try looking for a poorly connected vent, then perhaps placing a shield of some form behind the radio such that condensate when the AC is running hard doesn't hit the radio.

drajkuma

I would buy that argument that there is some condensation issue or other drain issue if the problem continued upon shutdown and restart. But I only have to turn off the ignition and turn it on immediately and the problem goes away. I'm baffled and so is the Toyota engineer. Matter of fact, the Toyota guy first wrote down "Condensation problems" then after I showed him the shutdown/restart routine, he struck it down and wrote down "Radio in-op".

I thought that mine was a freak incident, but after the second occurrence and the posting of a fellow member, I'm not sure what it is. I'll leave it to Toyota (or enlightened posters) to figure it out as I neither have the inclination or the skill to fathom the cause.

user777

ok - i'm a computer and systems engineer and have some experience with electronic circuit that experience a power surge, or are forced into an invalid state.

if you have a condensation issue, it's probable that traces (fine layers of conductive material) or component pins/leads on the motherboard of the radio will short together, and it's then probable that the central processing unit (CPU) will go to some odd-state, and in a means to protect itself, go into a power-safe state and shutdown the amplifier and tuning sections, and gosh knows what else.

so much is computerized these days. that said, if you had a very old analog radio, condensation would probably short something, and perhaps draw a lot of current, but with the circuits all powered up - cause a little heating in the way of a fire. nice huh?

a restart of the vehicle - much like CTRL-ALT-DELETE (or the "three finger salute" is akin to cycling power. most CPUs (central processing units), otherwise called MPUs (multiprocessor units) will sense the power cycle and boot-up or re-initialize themselves to a good state (one where things work again).

i know it seems crazy but it fits the observations. the toyota engineer was on the right track i believe, but didn't test the theory.

one way to test it, is to physically remove the radio from the dash, but leave everything connected. i wager the radio when turned on keeps working and working and working when moved from it's close proximity to the A/C / Fan / VENT.

OK - that experiment is a bit hard on ya right? here's an even harder one if you are in a hot / humid climate. run your radio for a few weeks but leave the A/C off. Does it continue to work as designed? If so, what changed? :surprise:

drajkuma

Quoting the PA Lemon Law verbatim:

"Nonconformity."
A defect or condition which substantially impairs the use, value or safety of a new motor vehicle and does not conform to the manufacturer's express warranty.

I guess radio not working can be construed as impairing the value of the vehicle, but I'm jumping the gun here. Let's see what my Toyota dealership says about this issue.

Thanks
Dan

ohres

Sorry to hear the problems.

I had a similar problem with the automatic rear hatch on my 2004 Ltd AWD and received a service few months back. The door stayed up ok but was not opening up all the way in cold weather and the safety (reversing) system was not working at times. The system needed a major resistance to create the reversing too.

I also experienced the kind of pinch you illustrate. I thought that the reversing mechanism will kick in if I block the move, while picking up a stuff after initiating the closure, but it was not.

After the service, it seems working fine.

The safety system for the automatic doors, however, seems not designed for young kids or babies. We are extra careful to make sure that our 4 year old twins clear the area around the automatic doors (in & out).

alanstone

Thank you for your reply. Toyota insisted mine was the only complaint and has tried to evade all responsibility. What did your service report state as the cause? And did you file an incident report with NHSTA?

I will be having an independent automotive engineer evaluate my vehicle, it would be nice to know how other failures occurred.

We have friends who are very wary of the power doors with small kids, but we don't know too many with power hatches.

beernut

You sound interesting and well informed, 777, and your entry is a good read. But I still like the Toyota mechanic's explanation better: "Radio in-op"!!!

user777

Thanks for the kudos. If only my wife found me "interesting" .

Hey, there's noone else responding to your request for help, so I thought I'd wag a possibility. It is only a possibility to help you locate the root cause. I know free advice from a forum like this. Go figure.

However - I've provided two ways you can test my theory. The first was to pull the radio and leave it out of the dash. Cosmetically and theft non-centric I agree. The second was to try to survive the heat wave and avoid using the A/C. If the radio keeps working for a month with no issues, well that's a good sign you've determined a causal connection. It doesn't rule something else out, but its a good piece of information to have which currently you do not.

If the radio dies without the use of A/C, i'd be inclined to think the voltage regulation from your alternator isn't very good, and sometimes you are exceeding rated output; radios will also shutdown when provided a voltage supply that strays pretty far from nominal.

Sincerely, besides the fact I am an EE - I have seen moisture cause problems like this with computer systems over the past 2.5 decades.

But I had another reason motivating my post - first-hand experience.

I've actually witnessed what can happen with a clogged evaporator pan drain in a Honda Accord which I owned. When the level of the water topped the pan, the fan blew enough water droplets that they hit the radio, and yeah, the radio would go out. Happened 3 times in 3 days before I got the pan drain unclogged. Each time, restarting the car temporarily reset the radio until the next blast of water vapor. See, the pan would empty into the passenger footwell on hard left turns.

I am lucky the radio didn't permanently die, huh?

I'm glad you prefer and trust in the Toyota mechanic's explaination.

If he / she replaces your radio a second time and if it does it again, perhaps you'll try the theory for the heck of it.