We have classified the 6 complaints from 2000 Toyota Sienna about POWER TRAIN into the following categories.
With 100 miles on new vehicle, the engine sensor indicated faulty torque converter. dealer said if sensor light came on again, bring the van in. sensor light came on again. after waiting two weeks for new torque converter to be delivered, dealer replaced it. next day, the transmission could not be shifted out of "park". shift lever moved, but transmission remained in "park". problem was defective clip. clip is of different design than that of previous years' models of same vehicle. mechanic said that the design of clip was terrible and insufficient. dealer ordered new clip and will install it upon arrival. toyota service advisor acknowleded broken clips occurring on other model-year 2000 sienna vans. if so, then why did the dealer not put new clip on my vehicle when the torque converter was replaced? why has not toyota issued a recall on this clip? the dealer knows the clip is bad and i bet the manufacturer does also..
Subsequently informed by dealer that metal fragments had contaminated the transmission fluid and that the vehicle should not be driven because of possible uncommanded down-shifting.
Malfunction indicator lamp (check engine light) came on at 64 miles and remains on. gas tank not empty and gas cap is on securely. dealer service center advised that this is due to an inaccurate transmission code being thrown, and i should continue driving the vehicle while they wait for a tsb from toyota.
Vehicle transmission was in park, the engine was not running, the key was in the ignition, the parking brake was not set, and nobody was in/near the vehicle. the vehicle was parked on a very mild decline on cement/asphalt surface. vehicle rolled backwards, dropped off an 18" ledge and came to rest against a storage shed, which the vehicle pushed back about 5'. vehcile was taken to dealer where 2 men tried to physically push the vehicle with no luck.
The first transmission failed on an interstate highway going 65 miles per hour. the out of state toyota dealer, toyota west, in statesville, n.c., completely replaced our transmission and converter assembly. within two and a half months the entire assembly failed again. our local dealer, koons toyota, replaced the transmission and converter again. this time they did not put a new transmission in but a rebuilt one. we were told no new transmissions were in the united states!
At 70 mph on a major freeway, the transmission completely gave out. no gear worked, the tachometer raced. a truck almost hit me in the rear end. with incredible luck i managed to get the car to the side of the road. several more such failures over the next several miles caused me to get off the freeway and have the vehichle towed to the nearest toyota dealer. with a great deal of luck, i am alive to file this report. it was very, very dangerous and scary and must be investigated. service mangager reported that others have had similar problems. *ak
Complete and permanent transmission failure. vehicle suddenly and permanently lost ability to accelerate/transmission disengaged while traveling on interstate at 65mph. barely coasted to side of road while trying to avoid traffic bearing down on us (two adults and three small children). we have now discovered that this defect with siennas, was known as early as june 2000. this defect usually causes complete transmission failure during sustained highway speeds. toyota was negligent in not warning owners of this extremely hazardous defect. our vehicle is now about 300 miles from our home, with no fix currently available from toyota. *ak
We are very unhappy with this van and the little service we receive we wished we never purchuse this car..... unsafe & defective. *ak
Location-parking lot, raining, tires lost traction and accelerator stuck on full, brakes would not function. the vehicle propelled forward glancing off the back of a full sized pickup and deflected into a suburban where it finally stopped. no one was hurt but this situation could have been very serious if anyone had been near because i had very little control(steering only). *ak