Vaporlock 2011 Sienna requires entire new engine with cost of over 10k

[skinny2]

The intake is basically under the edge of the hood and fairly well protected. It would take a strange set of circumstances to suck water in there. I suppose it could be possible if a passing vehicle was blasting through and throwing water at just the right angle.....but it looks like it would be hard to get a direct hit given the way the hood closes. Maybe if the hood was popped open.

[bepperb]

I agree, looking at our 2011 Sienna I don't think driving in 8" of standing water would do it since the intake is probably 20" above the ground. That being said we have

A person driving in 8" of water and the engine stops and won't turn over
A mechanic saying the engine is Hydro Locked
An insurance company agreeing

So that's certainly what it is. I'd say it's a freak misfortune. Must have been a splash/wave. As I said earlier, it doesn't take much water to do it. Hopefully the original poster's insurance takes care of them.

[WISHYWASHY]

as for the dealer saying the vehicle being not certifiable, I think it makes sense for a water damaged pre-pwned vehicle not to be resold as certified pre-owned? while i normally try to avoid deep puddle, when I have to deal with one, i normally try to give myself enough distance between the car in front so i can go thru the puddle without stopping at a constant pace and not letting my foot off the gas pedal, does this even help?

[lecontreras]

Hi everyone,

We had the same exact problem with our Sienna 2012. My wife was driving on the parking lot of the mall and there was about 12 inches of water after a raining day, she was with our 2 months baby, and suddenly the engine stopped, with no control on the vehicle, fortunately there was no traffic. We towed the Sienna to the Dealer and the gave us the very same diagnostic, the also said that because they were not able to turn on the engine they couldn't check with the computer all the damages. The insurance already approved to change the engine, but we are not sure how much we will be paying. Anyway, the point is that may be a problem in the Sienna design, and if something like this happen in a highway the consequences may be worst.

I called Customer Service at Toyota, and they said they can do nothing because "they have no reports about this problem and thanks for calling". Is there anything else we can do, in order to prevent this situation to happen again?

[skinny2]

Originally Posted by lecontreras

Is there anything else we can do, in order to prevent this situation to happen again?

Short of not driving through deep water...probably not. Was anyone passing your wife and could have splashed water toward the front of the Sienna? As mentioned above, the way this van is designed it looks like there should be no easy way to hydrolock the engine without driving through 20+" of water or getting water thrown at the front of the car at just the right angle.

[lecontreras]

Thanks for your prompt replay.

A car was driving in the opposite direction but also at low speed, there was no splash.

[bepperb]

Maybe we need a sticky in this forum that the Sienna can't drive through a foot of water??? Would seem common sense to me.

It would seem to me that yes the intake is 20 inches high but the front bumper is going to have a bow wave (like any boat) that will push water up that way (it needs to displace somewhere and it can't go down). People seem to think the engine can take in a lot of water. It can't. It's a 3.5 liter with 10:1 compression so that's .35 liters... but that's across all six pistons. So really it's about two ounces of water could (under ridiculously ideal) do it.

Moral of the story, don't drive though a foot of water. Google Hydrolock. It's not just Siennas that have it. But it always involves driving through more water than a vehicle can handle.

[skinny2]

Yes I would say if another car was passing, likely the wave pushed some water where it shouldn't. You could surely get through much deeper water if the conditions were perfect (not other cars, standing water, drive slowly, etc) but it's just not common to have those ideal circumstances. It appears the Sienna is very suseptible to this given that we've seen this happen twice now. I've been on many forums of other vehicles over the years and never heard a single complaint...so agree...perhaps a sticky would help although my guess is most folks show up here looking for info AFTER the fact. Still if there's a design flaw that makes the Sienna more suseptible than other vehicles, perhaps we should be vocal about it. Our previous Odyssey had exposed AC plumbing on the '05 and '06 models however after numerous complaints of rocks hitting the lines (and destroying the AC system), Honda updated the '07 model with a rock guard that many of us had built on our own as a precaution.

[DAN_C]

Originally Posted by lecontreras

I called Customer Service at Toyota, and they said they can do nothing because "they have no reports about this problem and thanks for calling". Is there anything else we can do, in order to prevent this situation to happen again?

I'm sorry, but driving through a foot or more of water is irresponsible. The owners manual of every single car says not to drive though deep standing water.

What you can do to prevent the situation is not drive though deep water. What may look like a foot could have been 2 feet, I'm sure nobody got out and measured.