My mom's 04 Sienna hasn't had any real problems...until she got into an accident with it, then a bunch of stuff had to be replaced, obviously. But other than that, everything seems to be working well with it.

The only 'problem' that I can remember her having is the 'maint. required' light came on while she was making a trip somewhere, and she got worried about it and pulled into the nearest Toyota dealer. They said when she got it serviced they just forgot to reset the light, or however it works. But yea, nothing bad has really happened to it (yet).

 

Could just be the oxygen sensor.

 

I doubt the O2 sensor will cause "weird noises".

Take it in, you got warranty: get it looked at ASAP.

 

ok well it turns out the engine turned it self off in our Sienna and the dealership cannot find anything wrong with the car, this is so weird.

 

Look at the lemon laws in your state. This generation Sienna is still pretty new (04 is the first model year), every new car has teething problems. Our 04 has had 0 problems. The reason that you see so many problems on the internet is because many people will not write about cars, online, unless they have a problem.

 

No problem with my almost 1 year old 05 Sienna.

 

Probably just an evap code.
The Sienna are kind of known more for their sqeaks and rattles then any mechnical noises.

 

take it to the dealer and have your mom bitch at them
they always like it

 

We have had a few niggling little problems with our 04 CE:

The sliding doors squeak to drive us nuts. Dealer has replaced both strikers and re-aligned the doors, was ok for a few months but the squeak is back.

The sliding doors freeze shut when it snows, have to run the van 20 minutes for the ice to melt.

The CD does not always eject.

It is about a 100 km drive to the delear, so these little things are starting to be a pain.

 

I believe that Sienna drivers are well informed people (typically younger moms and pops), that have no problem voicing there problems on these websites. Hence you will find lots of information about the "bad" things.

Being a 04 Sienna owner, with no problems to date (after 80 000km), I can only say that its still a great van.

 

the new sienna are bad there made by kits and if i was u or anyone who has the the new style i suggest u bring it back and check for any problems

 

Yes I know this is and old post; I bought a used 95 windsatar 85K w/rebuilt transmission.

With in 10 years went thou 4 transmissions @ $2,400 each and now heads and block are bad and the transmission going out again. Two weeks ago I just bought the 2006 Limited Toyota so far ok only have 500 miles on it, Its so much nicer than my Ford.

I looked at the Honda's and did not like the new ones I am a tall man and did not fit well in it.

95 windstar had to have its engine block replaced before it was a year old.

 

No problems so far with our 2004 Sienna LE at 14,000 miles (fingers crossed!)

 

Our 50,000 mile '04 LE has had LOTS of minor irritating things go wrong with it.

Power door is failing for the SECOND time. Push the button, listen for the "clunk" then hope it latches open all the way. Dealer won't service it properly this time.:headbang:
Trim missaligned.
You can pull things such as the shift surround off with your hand.
Eats brakes every 15,000 miles.
Exterior trim falling off.
Steering clunking.
Transmission hessitation issues.
Squeaks and rattles already.
Passenger rear seat requires a SLAM to latch it down.

And those are just the things that have gone wrong. Not counting irritating things such as the weight that is required to shut the rear hatch, the junky slam that the doors make now when shut, etc.

 

2004 Sienna problems

Hello, all.

I posted the problem I'm having w/ the rear lift gate on another thread: search "liftgate."

We have engine hesitation and occasionally get the VSC light coming on w/ check engine and various others. Goes away after a while. I'm going to an independent mechanic w/ a good rep soon to check it out. Any experience w/ these things?

Kaz

 

We have 72,000 trouble free miles on our 04 Sienna Limited AWD. We love it and want to get a newer Sienna in the next year or so.

 

so far my sienna has electrical problems and some mechanical problems

1) Radio doesnt seem to work sometimes the screen goes crazy and flips its own channels the volume knob makes the volume go one up and one down basically stayss the same when turning it...

2) The bulbs on the homelink thing is gone my 85 truck has all its lights working still! OEM lights haha

3) Brakes squeak even after replacing the rotors and pads 2 times, could it be calipers? but also squeaks when going slow into the garage when not applying brakes

4) Engine squeaks or makes squeaking sounds when in gear

5) interior gets really hard to clean, it attracts dirt!

 

I'm having a problem with both sliders freezing on my 04 LE. I just created a new thread regarding the problem.

 

04 LE with DVD enternainment with 52m on the clock. Had some minor issues in which all work was done either under warranty or manufacturer recall.

Finally own it clear and free and my wife and I looked at the 08's and decided since it's running so well we will just keep running her. Had a our mechanic look at it and said beside some brake wear she should be fine for another 52m miles.

I have had quite a few vehicles, all domestic and this is by far the most reliable i've owned. I would rather by domestic, but until the reliability factor comes up on them I will stay with foreign.

 

I have 180,000KM on my '04 Sienna. It has had its share of problems: brakes seem to last only 50,000km and ALWAYS need new rotors. The control arms had to be replaced (that was $1000plus) and the power door stopped working, although the dealer eventually fixed it for free under a secret warranty (it was well outside the warranty at the time). The inside of the driver's door showed some serious rust - this was repaired for free under the rust-proofing program I paid for when I bought it.
Now there is a clunking noise in the steering, so we'll find out what this will cost this week!

 

What was the "secret warranty" my power door just broke and they want $1800 to fix. The mechanic said there are known power door problems on the 04 & 05s.

 

If you bother Toyota enough, they may fix your door under what appears to be a non-public warranty. They know that the door is a problem, exacerbated by the fact that the motor in the door (which is weak) cannot be replaced without replacing the entire assembly, including the cable. A stupid design for sure. The motor is probably worth $10 !

 

THANKS. I had the dealer cut the cable a few weeks ago so the door would operate manually and it did until last night. I called the dealer this morning and they are going to fix it for FREE. THANKS AGAIN!

 

We have run into just a few problems with our '05 XLE Limited:

- Driver side rear view mirror cracked at the plastic base housing. Looked like either the material was sun-dried too long under the FL sun, or someone pushed down the rear view mirror assembly (highly doubtful). Currently the crack is epoxied and sealed by my dad (looks stupid IMO) since it's hard to source out a replacement part for that.
- Power sliding door function occasionally doesn't work
- The Bridgestone Potenza tires tread only lasted 20K miles. Note to self: Never ever purchase a car with Potenzas; they just don't last long as other tires.
- The hood prop broke off at the base. Replaced in the dealer at our expense

 

We have 60,000 miles on our '04 XLE. Here are our main problems:

- Came from the factory with a bad alignment, the original tires only lasted about 25k. They refused to fix the alignment. We have just put on 3rd set after getting a full alignment (the car drives much better - for a mini van), and they seem to be wearing better.
- Both automatic doors stopped working around 35k, they were fixed. Just out of warrenty.
- Driver's side automatic door is broken now, if you are on a hill with the front of the car pointing down, the door will not stay open. I can live with this, I will either sell the car (can't wait) or fix it when it completely stops working.
- The steering column had to be replaced around 45k....WTF! The front of the car was wobbling (like having the tires out of balance). This started happening after having the tires rotated, I think they messed something up at the dealership.
- We are now on our third battery, another WTF! The last one died last weekend, had to tow the car in - bad cell. They have all been covered by warrenty.
- Getting the middle passenger seats in and out can be a huge hassle, the catches seem to have a mind of their own. Sometimes they release, sometimes they don't.

We will be moving our family of six to an SUV as soon as the younger kids are out of baby seats.

My 2 cents...