Major drivetrain failure today

[Black Sunshine]

So, for a while we thought that our Sienna might be down on power. Not much but it was possible that it was down some. About three weeks ago it had an odd shake then we didn't notice it anymore. I did some regular maintenance and changed the oil and trans fluid.

Today it started having problems like it wasn't getting fuel. It had no codes so I assumed the ignition was OK. I changed the fuel filter. I had never changed it. I was saddened to see that it was still relatively easy to blow through.

I started it back up and it gave me a p0100 and a p0100. I checked the MAF connection and it was fine. I erased the code. I started it back up and it seems to be sputtering some. I revved it a few times. On about the fourth or fifth time I revved it a little over 3K. We heard something break. I was like uh, oh.

It makes a ticking sound like something is wrong in the head. After waiting a little bit I decided to F with it some more. I started it back up. I noticed that the revving was buttery smooth again. So I let it coast out of the driveway into the street. I put it in D and nothing, nada, oh man.

It revs up in all gears and doesn't go at all. There was no fluid in the driveway and it drove there under it's own power so I don't think it's a fluid problem. When I changed it I drained it and put a gallon back in which is what I've always done. I think it's a torque convertor or pressure plate issue because it's making the crazy ticking noise.

[Black Sunshine]

Sadly, I think that this will be the end of my relationship with our Sienna. We had a lot of good times abusing it, together as a family.

I'm going to go fishing on Craigslist and see if I can find a buyer. I'm thinking I'm going to list it as 'For parts or repair-$1500'. I wish we had just traded it in two months ago when it still ran good and could have brought us $3500 instead of whatever we'll get for it.

It has almost 238K miles on it.

We bought a Civic to replace it. We'll pick it up from the dealer tomorrow. It's a 2007 with 23K miles.

[blumonster]

Originally Posted by Black Sunshine

Sadly, I think that this will be the end of my relationship with our Sienna. We had a lot of good times abusing it, together as a family.

I'm going to go fishing on Craigslist and see if I can find a buyer. I'm thinking I'm going to list it as 'For parts or repair-$1500'. I wish we had just traded it in two months ago when it still ran good and could have brought us $3500 instead of whatever we'll get for it.

It has almost 238K miles on it.

We bought a Civic to replace it. We'll pick it up from the dealer tomorrow. It's a 2007 with 23K miles.

Very sad to hear.

Were you able to find out for sure what the problem was? Can it be something with an easy fix? Since there is no fluid leak...

You answered my questions before and now reading your post about your van makes me sad.

Congratulations on your new car and hopefully there is an easy/cheap fix for your van and you can keep it.

[Black Sunshine]

I got a friend of mine to push the van up the hill and into my garage (he's a big guy). Now it's sitting in there. It's actually got two months until pay-off (LOL). My wife bought it at CarMax just before we got together. She put 174K on it plus the 64K it had when she bought it.

I hardly have any time to work on things because I've been a full time student since 2009. I finish my bachelors degree in software engineering in the spring. I plan to mess with it some. I figure that if I can figure out how to fix it for less than $500 I will. I think that I *might* be able to get around $1500 on Craigslist from someone that aims to repair it. Otherwise it's only going to fetch me scrap price. If it was running again it would bring me around $3000. That's motivation to get it fixed but it's not going to be easy. I don't have much time and the van takes up almost all of the room in my garage so it's hard to work on. I only have parking outside the garage for three cars including the space in front of the house on the street. My son parks there so we have zero extra spaces.

We'll see what happens.

[SiennaDriver]

When we had the P0100 awhile back it was the MAF sensor.

Replaced it and all was well. Was going the junkyard route for another one, but found a good deal new on Amazon. What's your other code?

While it was malfunctioning, the car bucked and stalled and wouldn't readily start. And it ran well in neutral but usually stalled instantly when placed into drive. But when it got up to speed it maintained it well.

You can test the sensor with a VOM. Instructions are posted somewhere on this site, and elsewhere. Mine had no readings, nada, before replacing.

It's a part that presented a plethora of seemingly unrelated problems.

[Black Sunshine]

No the code was unrelated. The other code was the air intake sensor. It's built into the MAF. I only got the codes because I turned the van on without the sensor being plugged up.

The problem with the van is it won't go in any gear.

[movester]

Originally Posted by Black Sunshine

I got a friend of mine to push the van up the hill and into my garage (he's a big guy). Now it's sitting in there. It's actually got two months until pay-off (LOL). My wife bought it at CarMax just before we got together. She put 174K on it plus the 64K it had when she bought it.

I hardly have any time to work on things because I've been a full time student since 2009. I finish my bachelors degree in software engineering in the spring. I plan to mess with it some. I figure that if I can figure out how to fix it for less than $500 I will. I think that I *might* be able to get around $1500 on Craigslist from someone that aims to repair it. Otherwise it's only going to fetch me scrap price. If it was running again it would bring me around $3000. That's motivation to get it fixed but it's not going to be easy. I don't have much time and the van takes up almost all of the room in my garage so it's hard to work on. I only have parking outside the garage for three cars including the space in front of the house on the street. My son parks there so we have zero extra spaces.

We'll see what happens.

Sorry to hear that, at least you aren't upside down on your Sienna,
those 2 monthly payments are probably less then what you can sell
it for(parts or scrap metal)

[Black Sunshine]

Yeah, I think I'm right at break even on it.