2010 Sienna needs a new trans. Now what?

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tpattgeek

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We bought this vehicle brand new and it currently has 23k miles on it. It is our family vehicle, so it's rarely driven over 70 or sees rapid acceleration. A few days ago we're driving out of a parking lot, decelerating to a stop from about 15mph, and we hear a slight "clunk". We had a short ride home so I figured no big deal, but when we got on the road, it sounded like we were dragging a box underneath the vehicle. It was a rubbing sound almost like a wheel bearing (metal on metal) and was very audible when decelerating. As soon as it slowed down enough to jump out of gear, the noise went away. What was really strange was that when you were "cruising" or just putting little pressure on the accelerator, you could hear a whistling sound or constant chirping that was very noticeable in the driver's seat.

I brought it to the dealer the next day, yesterday, and they road with me to confirm the sounds. They checked it out today and said it will, in face, need a new transmission. They wouldn't be able to tell me what the actual problem is until they send it back to Toyota for break-down and inspection, but they'll just be replacing the whole trans.

Anyone know what could have possibly been causing those noises? Will this be a re-manufactured transmission or should it come new from the factory? Any special considerations when dealing with a new transmission? Thanks for any information.

P.S. The whole radio is getting replaced as well because on my way to the dealership, the whole display was flickering on/off even though sound was coming out. Gotta love 21st century Toyota quality...
 
Gotta love this quality on any 21st century vehicle...

Warranty replacement will likely be remanufactured since it is a major component.
 
Originally Posted By: LargeCarManX2
I often wonder if Toyota is cutting corners to save money in light of the past failures that cost them so much?


I would have thought it would've been the same trans from the 2007 model (first of the generation) which was before the other failures, right?
 
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Originally Posted By: tpattgeek
That's nice... any way I can request a NEW one?

I doubt it. A lot of engine/trans replacements are remanufactured units, from what I understand, especially if that design has been around for a while.
 
Originally Posted By: tpattgeek
That's nice... any way I can request a NEW one?


They might not have new ones anymore. I know with Ford you can only get new powertrain assemblies for the current model year, everything else is a reman assembly.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: tpattgeek
That's nice... any way I can request a NEW one?


They might not have new ones anymore. I know with Ford you can only get new powertrain assemblies for the current model year, everything else is a reman assembly.


+1

True with most makes..
 
Look on the bright side. Factory reman often get more attention than the new units.

Its mass production they are going to have some failures but they have to be minimal. You cant afford to do $4000 repairs on every new car you sell and remain competitive not to mention the customer loss.

Statistically cars are better today than they have ever been.

Just guessing but partial torque converter failure.
 
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Now, now. Come to think of it: automobiles are mass-produced units, so no matter how much you want to go through strict quality control, there's still that 0.01% probably of it suffering from a failure(manufacturig defects). Granted: Toyota sold millions of automobiles over the many decades or so here in NA, so 0.01% (just an example) times 1,000,000 works out to 100 failed vehicles per million.

So, if you fall into that 0.01% failure rate group then count yourself unfortunate.

If you aren't very happy with the deal(RE: re-man trannie), my advice is to discuss this matter with your dealership or escalate it up to regional Toy rep. and see what they can do to make you a happy customer.

To those avg joes out there (who wants to participate in brand bashing on here): if you have studied quality control and mass-production, you shall realise that it's not easy to achieve 0.01% failure rate, esp. from a component quality control (from your supplier) perspective.

I'm not necessary pro-toy or any brands here: just trying to get the facts across.

Q.
 
Yeah, only reason older cars seem so good is all the bugs are worked out.

I'm sure even back in the 80's people were grumbling about how "in recent years the quality has really gone downhill".
 
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Given the choice between a brand spanking new automatic trans and a rebuilt unit from a reputable supplier I'd take the reman any day for two reasons. One is that the new trans is likely to be old stock and doesn't have a few dozen reliability updates that a reman unit will have. The other reason is that final assembly of the reman unit was probably done by one person who is responsible to some degree for the quality of the unit and who probably also had to take some measurements on the spot instead of relying on upstream QC.
 
It isnt just Chrysler minivans that go thru transaxles,but the way everybody hypes it,no Japanese vehicle has ever needed one....they last forever.The truth is,they have every bit the problems of an American vehicle,some even more.
 
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
It isnt just Chrysler minivans that go thru transaxles,but the way everybody hypes it,no Japanese vehicle has ever needed one....they last forever.The truth is,they have every bit the problems of an American vehicle,some even more.


Huh? No Japanese vehicle has ever needed a transmission? You must be missing all of the Honda transmission posts...

They all have issues. Overkill told about a friend who had a 2010 or 2011 Chrysler minivan that lost a transmission. It happens, even on new vehicles. As others have stated, failure rates for major components these days is likely the best it's been ever. Some will still be unlucky. The fact is, these vehicles are designed by humans and built by humans. Imperfection does exist.
 
Thank you to everyone for knowledge and opinions. I really didn't want to turn this into a brand war, as we were considering other similar brands when we made our final decision on this one. I guess this just shows how unlucky we really are...

I was thinking I probably wouldn't mind the re-man trans since, like you've said, it's probably built with more attention to detail and likely has less of a failure rate. Oh well, I'll just go with the flow. Besides, I really don't mind putting mileage on the 2012 temp Camry we're in now.
smile.gif
I surely don't mind the extra ~10mpg.

P.S. I believe Hokiefyd was being facetious when he stated no Japanese vehicles have needed trans. Any Honda fan knows about the early 2000's Civic's and Ody's...
 
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Suggestion: if the torque converter was the culprit, or any component that would have created bits and very fine pieces, ask/insist the dealer to replace the radiator, too.

That's SOP for situations like yours, where the tranny cooler section in the radiator can have small bits that later can lead to a shorter life of the replacement unit. The filter may not catch them.

If they won't, consider installing a Magnefine inline unit.

Just my dos centavos.
 
Quote:
I guess this just shows how unlucky we really are...


You'll be fine with a remanufactured transmission. Consider yourself lucky that you were still under warranty. Just make sure the remanufactured transmission is warranted as long as the rest of the drivetrain-no separate, shorter warranty.

Back in the days of 12 months/12,000 miles my parents had a 1966 Ford Galaxy. Shortly before the end of the warranty period the transmission failed and was rebuilt under warranty. A week after it was rebuilt it again failed, and then a couple months after the second rebuild it failed again. Finally, after the second rebuild it lasted until the car was sold a few years later.

Each time it was rebuilt the dealership had the car a couple weeks, and in those days they didn't have loaner cars.
 
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