5.0

fairly significant
Typical Repair Cost:
$2,380
Average Mileage:
33,500 miles
Total Complaints:
2 complaints

Most Common Solutions:

  1. not sure (2 reports)
2007 Toyota Sienna fuel system problems

fuel system problem

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2007 Toyota Sienna Owner Comments

problem #2

Mar 222010

Sienna LE V6

  • Automatic transmission
  • 34,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Had the same exact problem as Mike but did not drive it. You are never to drive a vehicle with the engine light flashing. After the initial problems that morning, I turned the van off and back on and then everyhting went back to normal. Dealer told me they never heard of it b4 and said that once it is back to normal, the check engine light history is erased.

- Alan B., Mechanicsburg, PA, US

problem #1

Apr 252009

Sienna LE

  • Automatic transmission
  • 33,000 miles

On 4/30/07, I purchased a brand new 2007 Toyota Sienna minivan from Bay Ridge Toyota in Brooklyn. I've had no problems with the car until now.

On Saturday, 4/25/09 around 2:00 PM, my "check engine" light came on as well as the vehicle stability control (VSC) and TRAC light warnings. I was still able to drive it the same day and even drove it from Brooklyn to New Jersey and back (over 60 miles) on Sunday. As I was driving to work on Monday in Long Island (about 26 miles) I called Bay Ridge Toyota to schedule my vehicle to be brought in the next morning, Tuesday at 6:30 AM. About 3 miles away from my work place, the vehicle did not accelerate. I immediately pulled over to the curb, shut the car, waited a minute and started the vehicle again. When I put it in the "D" gear for drive, it still did not accelerate. When I shifted into gear "4", it was able to accelerate so I drove it to my work place. I did not want to drive it back to Bay Ridge Toyota in fear of the vehicle "conking" out in the middle of the highway so, I looked for a local Toyota dealership in Long Island and found Millennium Toyota, which was only about 3 mile away from my office. I called them up and told them of my problem and they told me to bring the car in for a diagnosis. Since the car was only 2 years old, it was still under the factory warranty. I called AAA tow truck services to have my vehicle towed from my office to Millennium Toyota. When I got there, I dealt with a service advisor named Frank Pantaleone. He said he would check the car out that day (Monday) and call me to let me know the problem. He called me back in about 2 hours and asked if I had recently purchased gas for the vehicle. I told him that I did, when I was in New Jersey on Sunday. He then said that I may have purchased some "bad" gas which may have damaged the fuel line. He stated that, if this is the case then, the vehicle is NOT covered under the warranty and the repair costs would be "out of pocket". I then told him that the warning lights all came on BEFORE I purchased the gas AND that I was able to drive over 60 miles with the lights on. He sounded surprised and said he would check with the technician again. From there on out, I felt that they were trying to wiggle there way out a warranty issue so they can charge more. He called me back towards the end of business day and said they were still diagnosing the car and needed another day. I did not feel comfortable with this dealership at all so, on Tuesday morning, I decided to pay the $101.00 diagnosis fee and pay another $200.00 to have my vehicle picked up from this Long Island Toyota dealership and brought to the Toyota dealership in Brooklyn. I figured that that's where I originally purchased the vehicle so, they should take care of me better, right? WRONG!

I called Bay Ridge Toyota and spoke to a person named Ray who said he was my service advisor (He did not give me his last name). He said to bring the vehicle in and that he would take care of me and check the car out and let me know what the problem was. The car arrived Tuesday (4/28) afternoon about 4:00 PM and I met with Ray. He said he could not check the vehicle out that day because it was too late and the techs leave at 5:00 PM. I told him that that was fine and to let me know tomorrow, what the diagnosis was. Ray called me back on Wednesday morning and said that there was a fuel injector that was �mis-firing�. He said that he received the OK from Toyota to replace the �bad� fuel injector meaning that it would be covered under the warranty. I was relieved. He said they ordered the part and that it would arrive the next day, Thursday. They then would install the part and call me on Thursday for the status. Ray called me on Thursday morning and said that another (2) fuel injectors were bad and it was most likely caused by �bad gas� in the tank. He said that since it might be bad gas that, the repairs would not be under factory warranty. He quoted me a price of $1,100.00 to repair. I was definitely, not happy with this and believe that they got in contact with the other Toyota dealer in Long Island to collaborate their stories so this doesn�t �bite them in the ass� if they had 2 different diagnosis. They then proceeded to order the parts and on Friday, will start to install the (2) bad fuel injectors and let me know the status of it on Monday (5/4). Ray said he felt bad that I had no vehicle for all those days and the weekend that, he would try and get a loaner car for me to use for the weekend. I haven�t heard from him after that conversation on Friday and did not get a loaner car.

On Monday (5/4), Ray calls me in the morning and said that they installed the (3) new fuel injectors and it is working but now the other (3) fuel injectors are now bad too and would need to be replaced. I was totally upset and said, how can you first diagnose a vehicle and say that there�s only (3) injectors bad and it will cost $1,100.00 then, turn around and say that (3) more injectors went AFTER you replaced the (3) new ones and upping the cost to $2,300.00. Could these 3 have been damaged by the dealership and making the client pay for it. What am I supposed to do now? Say not to do the other (3) bad injectors, pay the $1,100.00 and have my car towed to another mechanic to fix? I felt tricked into fixing the car and them wriggling there way out of a warranty repair. When my wife and I went down to the dealer to speak to Ray on Thursday (5/7) at about 6:00 PM, he was not available so we spoke to another gentleman by the name of James. We explained to him the situation but he was well aware of our situation. He said he was present when they were working on my vehicle. We told him we were not happy with the handling of the diagnosis and the price of $2,300.00. We asked him, �Why did they find out the other (3) injectors were bad only after installing the (3) new injectors?�. He said that it sometimes takes time to get bad. My friend who is a mechanic and has been working on cars for over 20 years, says that it does not take 60 miles to damage a fuel injector with bad gas. It would happen within 5 miles or 10 minutes of driving. I also asked James, �When you tested these newly installed injectors and found that the other (3) were bad, did you already take out the �bad� gas and test it with new, un-tainted gas?�. He said, �No, because we didn�t want to take down the tank and drain it if it wasn�t a �bad� gas problem.� I then proceeded to ask, �If you tested the (3) newly installed injectors with the �bad� gas, aren�t they damaged now?� and he couldn�t answer me and changed the subject.

So, I come to the conclusion that either: 1) There never was any bad gas in the vehicle and they did not change all these injectors, fuel filters, spark plugs and whatever else they claimed to have changed and perhaps just fixed a minor problem that would have been covered under the 3-year/35,000 mile factory warranty. Instead just making all this stuff up about �bad� gas and knocking me out of the factory warranty coverage just to over-charge clients and make a penny or two in this suffering economy.

2) Perhaps there may have been �bad� gas, giving them the benefit of a doubt, and there was 1 maybe even 2 bad fuel injectors when they initially diagnosed it. Testing the newly installed fuel injectors while using the same �bad� gas is pretty ironic and defeats the purpose of putting in new injectors. They may have damaged the other existing fuel injectors as well as the newly installed ones. How do I know now, that if I drive my vehicle, that the new fuel injectors are not going to fail on me again because the bad gas was used to test them. Does not make any sense at all.

That is why I am writing this complaint and following through with a possible lawsuit. Thank you for your time.

- Mike C., Brooklyn, NY, US

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