How to Prolong the Life of Your Toyota Sienna Sliding Door Cables I looked into the cost of having a dealer do the repair and it is over $1,000. I purchased the part and repaired it myself. This repair costs between $1,600 and $1,800 depending on where the dealer is. This again remains a major product flaw that Toyota has yet to acknowledge. It's a big money maker for Toyota. The Sienna has major 'door' issue, as evinced by the recall on the rear hatch and on the driver's side door.
The handle broke on our 2000 Toyota Sienna minivan. To open the sliding door, we had to open the front door and reach around to the inside latch. Inconvenient, but we lived with it for a year. Why? The part is impossible to find except at the dealership, and they wanted $90, plus another $300 in labor to install it. Obviously, if it's that expensive, it must be a real hassle to replace, right?
Last week the rear handle also broke. And the dealership wanted another $390 for that one! Stupid plastic parts! But I found a website showing how to bolt the broken piece back together. It also showed exactly how to disassemble the door - only 3 nuts, 5 screws, and a few plastic clips.
A few hours and one trip to the hardware store later, and I had it fixed! Better than new!
'Surely,' I said, 'the sliding door can't be much harder!' Turns out, it's even easier! A grand total of three screws and one panel held on by plastic clips are all that separate you from a fully functioning handle.
This same procedure should work for any of the Siennas made around the same time.
| 110700 mi | Passenger side door would not close, replaced motor |
2011 Toyota Sienna 4dr Minivan, ext.
266-horsepower 3.5L V6 6-speed shiftable automatic FWD
49800 mi
C $450 | Fan motor very noisy at all speeds. Fan was replaced |
| 81700 mi | Sliding door control unreliable. Dealer replaced. |
| 83000 mi | Hum coming from radio/CD unit when ignition in accessory mode. Dealer replaced. |
92800 mi
US $50 | Motors, and related parts for both sliding doors were replaced under extended warranty. |
92000 mi
US $79 | 3rd battery in 18 months. |
35300 mi
C $750 | accessory electrical plugs not working |
51100 mi
US $450 | Rear lock alarmed constantly. |
| 25000 mi | Satellite radio inoperative. Blue tooth connection inoperative. Dealer has ordered new satellite antenna. |
| 27000 mi | Blue tooth would not connect to cell phone. After a new satellite connnector on the roof was installed the problem persisted until everything was erased and started over for synching. Sat radio and blue tooth work fine. Side door still pops. |
60000 mi
US $75 | Security system going off when car was sitting parked (when it shouldnt) Found faulty hood latch switch. Hood latch and switch replaced. Now no more false alarms. All is A-ok. |
| 100000 mi | Had recall performed to side sliding doors- repair took most of day to replace wiring harnesses to doors |
| 158000 mi | Takata airbag recall...passenger airbag replaced |
| 74000 mi | Center screen would go blank or all white. Total replacement under ext warranty. |
| 125000 mi | Replaced under recall/extended warranty the power door switches in the overhead console |
119000 mi
US $450 | Overhead control to open the side doors was not working properly. It was replaced by dealer under extended warranty |
172550 mi
US $18 | License plate bulb |
| 83080 mi | Rear sliding door issue. I don't recall what they were but two were recalls and two were extended warranty. The repairs mean that one of the sliding doors no longer fails sporadically. |
| 72000 mi | Overhead buttons for the power doors became very hard to activate, left button stopped working entirely. The dealership replaced the overhead button assembly under a warranty extension. |
| 103000 mi | Takata passenger airbag replaced under warranty |
| 104000 mi | Sliding Door Recall Completed (full day repair) |
81000 mi
US $280 | Blower motor making lots of noise .. was replaced with new one |
78000 mi
US $5 | Left front turn signal flashed rapidly. Reset bulb. Problem recurred a few days later. Replaced bulb. Problem recurred next day, new bulb was defective, replaced bulb. Turn signal has been working fine ever since. Operating a tire inflator resulted in fuses operating the front power sockets to fail. Same tire inflator had been used several times before on the van with no issue. Swapped out 2 15A fuses that operate heated seats (van is not equipped with heated seats) for the 2 bad fuses operating the power sockets. Power sockets worked fine after swap out. |
85000 mi
US $1 | Driver seat motor for fore/aft adjustment inoperable |
| 88000 mi | A/C light on dash flashing while driving through rainstorms. Fix is to turn off the A/C and then turn it back on again. |
40000 mi
US $1500 | Automatic door motors. Doors are slow to operate. but functional. |
| 39000 mi | Tire pressure system controller was faulty. At first they replaced a single sensor in a wheel. 2nd trip back they replaced entire main unit. |
| 53500 mi | Electric switch above rear view mirror that controls both sliding rear doors worked intermittently. Dealer replaced entire unit. Now works without issue. |
| 26000 mi | Couldn't open the passenger side sliding (power) door from the overhead console switch. |
81900 mi
US $480 | The relays in fan blower motor were malfunctioning. On cold mornings, when the car would be started there would be an alarm kind of sound that would last for few seconds to minutes and stop when the fan was turned off. Replaced motor |
| 8000 mi | Power door repair, was making a loud noise. |
| 6000 mi | Bluetooth connection stopped working |
| 13000 mi | Sliding Doors make popping noise when opening. Dealer lubed door. Noise back the same day, lubing had nothing to do with it. Sliding doors make popping noise when opening. Dealer ordered new motors. Sliding doors make popping noise when opening. Replaced door motors. |
| 31000 mi | Sliding door motor replaced drivers side |
| 16740 mi | Overhead console button to open power doors. Button failed to work. Replaced as warranty. |
| 18380 mi | Replacement overhead console buttons did not work. Needed to replace again |
| 20460 mi | Rear window defrost fails to operate |
| 26660 mi | Rear defroster repair. Electrical leads were not connected properly to the glass with the conductive glue when window was replaced earlier in the year. |
| 39260 mi | Passenger fan motor making loud noises and not blowing at full speed. Fan was replaced under warranty, which corrected the issue. |
| 45000 mi | Passenger side seat cannot move. Passenger side safety belt sensor malfunction. Drive side seat move but not continuously. |
| 20300 mi | passenger rear auto door not working |
55800 mi
C $350 | windshield washer pump sensor or float wasnt working. replaced reservoir. |
70000 mi
C $500 | Both rear a/c lines have cracked, despite one having been replaced in 2013 under warranty. Requires $2200 in parts and labour to replace, or I can cap off the lines and just have a/c to the front. Haven't decided what to do yet. EDIT - I had the rear lines capped and now just have A/C in the front. Interestingly, I noticed in my repair records that the dealer already replaced one of the rear A/C lines when the vehicle was just 3 years old, meaning Toyota's A/C lines are only lasting about 3 years before wearing out. Great quality, Toyota. |
108300 mi
US $105 | It's been hot and the A/C was having trouble getting sufficiently cold, but it was still cooling. I had the system recharged and a dye and some oil added to check for future leaks. |
100000 mi
US $87 | Floor heating was checked, and they thought it was fine, but I still do not find the blower effective or even blowing. The blower works for the mid area and the defrost. |
136300 mi
US $276 | Blower fan (heater fan) replaced because the bearing were worn and the unit squealed when on. |
Sliding Door Hardware
2011 Toyota Sienna 4dr Minivan, ext.
266-horsepower 3.5L V6 6-speed shiftable automatic AWD
| 85000 mi | Power sliding door buttons in overhead console would not work correctly sometimes. Overhead console replaced under extended warranty. |
| 148000 mi | Rear sliding door was not working properly, dealer found a loose connection. Problem occurred after recall repair was completed on the same doors. |
| 18700 mi | sliding door jams on occasion |
| 63860 mi | Both door motors are replaced, under a recall, due to large banging noises. |
| 54100 mi | buttons for automatic doors, tailgate and sunroof was unreliable. |
| 20000 mi | Driver's side power door functioned intermittently when using outside handle. Service writer immediately said he'd replace motor since lubing the door track didn't solve problem long term. Gave me a loaner, car fixed the next morning. |
| 50000 mi | Overhead console power door switch failed for driver's side sliding door. Part replaced under the extended warranty I purchased. |
| 55200 mi | Passenger side electric sliding door operating intermittently. Replaced door drive motor under extended warranty. |
| 92000 mi | Dog getting stuck in closing power doors. Doors would not reverse. Dealer checked doors, and could not repeat problem. |
| 130000 mi | Power doors under recall by Toyota with no fix reported available. They don't work reliably anyway. Guess these vans were designed to last for people who lease. |
96000 mi
US $150 | Car seat driver side stopped working motor was replaced |
| 55000 mi | Power door switches stopped working |
70000 mi
US $762 | replaced control module for opening slider doors and rear door. |
62000 mi
US $200 | TPMS sensor replaced |
| 6000 mi | The power doors occasionally became stuck and needs to be closed again to open. |
| 68000 mi | Console switch for sunroof defective. Toyota have extended the warranty on this. |
| 36100 mi | The vehicle has a 21+gal fuel tank. When showing empty,would only take 14-15 gals. Dealer replaced fuel sender, gauge assembly. No change. Vehicle continues to take only 14+ gals after driving past zero 'miles to empty'. |
2011 Toyota Sienna 4dr Minivan, ext.
Cost To Repair Manual Sliding Door On Toyota Sienna Not Working
187-horsepower 2.7L I4 6-speed shiftable automatic FWD
Toyota Sienna Sliding Door Cable
| 32000 mi | Battery would not hold a charge. Roadside assistance jumped started the vehicle and then dealer replaced the battery under warranty. |
46000 mi
US $25 | Replaced headlights. One failed and about week later the other failed. I drive with them on because my model doesn't have automatic headlights, so I do expect them to wear out more quickly than normal. |
46000 mi
US $5 | Changed bulb in rear tail-light. Difficult to get to -- had to partially remove plastic panel to get to the back of the fixture. Luckily no pieces broke off and it snapped back into place easily. |