2017 Sienna, XLE 5,255 miles.
I noticed a light whining sound during drive/acceleration about a day or two before the first breakdown. The whining sound comes on and you can hear it faintly with the foot on the gas. You don't need to engage the acceleration, just keep it on there lightly and you'll hear the whine, once you release, the whining goes away.
I took my first long out of town trip on Friday the 16th. We had no problem on trips closer to home, about 40-50 miles, but this trip was the first longest drive, 126 miles, for two hours. After we got off the freeway at our destination, at the first stop light, the vehicle downshifts and the jerked is felt. From then on, it started to happen more frequently, at every stop light, the downshifting jerks and pulls. Then it started to upshift too early, where the car didn’t have any power, then started slipping and not engaging in 3rd gear. Over the course of the next 30 minutes, all the skipping, jerking, pulling, clunking, every gear change. They were loud, and felt like we were hit by another car from the rear. Finally, it just wouldn’t go forward or backward anymore, then the check engine light came on with other warning lights, we broke down on the side of the freeway.
The car was towed to Stevens Creek Toyota for an overnight drop off. It took the dealer several days to get direction from Toyota on how to fix the problem, and a software update was performed on the Transmission ECU and a software update on throttle body.
I came back to town the following week to pick up the vehicle, it seems to be fine for all the short drive in town. However, after that long drive from San Jose back to Sacramento, as soon as we make the first exit to stop light, a ‘clunk’ downshift as the vehicle was slowing down for a stop. It was from 2nd down to 1st gear. This ‘clunk’ and harsh jerk was happening here and there, not every single stop like before. I drove the vehicle straight to Maita Toyota dealer in Sacramento, I just don’t want to deal with breaking down on the street again. The dealer looked at the car and said it’s fine.
To summarize all this up:
- 2017 Sienna 5,255 miles
- The bad shifting/clunking/skipping gear/missing gear seems to happen after a long drive 1.5-2hrs, after the transmission gets hot.
- First sign of problem is whining noise
- Second sign of problem is downshift into first gear, when coming to a stop.
- 3rd and continued sign of problem is more downshifts and upshift felt and noise
- After a few more lights of the continued sign, get ready to pull to the side and call for tow.
Contact me at
nguyenkeven@gmail.com if you need the service ticket number.
