What would you do, repair or dump it?

[wdn]

It sounds like you purchased a vehicle that perhaps was not well maintained when you bought it.

I would not worry about a slight valve tick on cold starts. Unless there are actual drivability issues. I agree with others if it bugs you, go up one notch in oil viscosity.

To me the transmission is the only wildcard here. A certain percentage will fail young no matter how reliable the average is. I agree do the old school drop pan and change transmission filter first. You sound pretty handly.

The rest of it though is just wear items tires/brakes all cars have these. The spark plugs are work on them but then you are good for another 100,000 miles. Your maybe can go quite a bit longer. Unless you are getting CEL light or drivability problems -- keep the spark plugs for a year. Tires and brakes as we know, are wear items on all vehicles. No getting around it. That should not factor in because you are going to pay for tires and brakes one way or another, both in lower resale value and your having to pay more for another car that costs more money but has newer tires and brakes. Anyway you can do breaks and exhaust yourself and you already did the timing belt/water pump.

I would keep it especially if you are underwater on it.

 

[Huie83]

Lots of good advice and opinions, thank you all. I've been thinking about it and I think i'll DIY all the smaller stuff and roll the dice on the transmission. Unless we buy new we'd be getting into the unknown with a used van again anyways. I don't really want to drop $30k on a new van right now.

The A/C isn't a huge deal, it's MN after all and the front can keep up with cooling the van when needed. Same on the tune up, it runs fine and i'll Deal with that later. We have winter tires for this winter as well, new tires will be next spring.

I already have the midpipe and rear brake parts, picked them up a few weeks back off Rock Auto.

For the trans i'll Just drop the pan and replace the filter/strainer and see how it performs. I found a local trans guy with great reviews if it comes to that.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Go for it! Keep 'em alive!
Bravo!

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by maxdustington
Paging clinebarger



There are 4 Linear(PWM) Pressure Solenoids that give problems on Aisin U151E/U250E units.

*SL1, SL2, & SL3 (TRIM) solenoids control clutch apply pressure.
*SLT solenoid controls Main Line pressure.

If it had a burnt clutch pack.....It should effect other ratios, For example the 2nd Brake (B1) clutch comes on in 2nd & 4th, The Direct Clutch comes on in 3rd gear & stays on in 4th & 5th gears. Though low MAIN LINE can distress every friction in the unit & a malfunctioning TRIM solenoid will affect certain clutch packs in certain ratios.
*Lets say SL3 solenoid/Valve is sticky & causes low/slow pressure rise to the B1 clutch.....It will slip/shudder on the 3-4 shift but not effect the 1-2 shift (Until the B1 clutch suffers enough damage).
*Emphasis on the B1 clutch because it's the "Dynamic" clutch for the 3-4 upshift.

As was already stated in this topic.....Make sure it has the latest TCM software update installed!! Aisin along with other manufacturers can't/don't know exactly how a EVERY unit will wear in service. Will the solenoids get lazy? How will increased clutch clearances affect shift feel & performance? How will sheared/contaminated ATF affect the performance of the unit? The update may include a passive cleaning cycle of the linear solenoids!

With that being said......Are the specified clutch clearances, Machining tolerances, End-play specs, etc, etc, followed during the assembly of every unit. The answer is.........ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Doesn't seem to stop manufacturers from wanting Tech's in the field to diagnose & build a perfect unit for a lower wage than he would make on a customer pay job.

I usually don't reply to Toyota/Aisin transmission trouble post as Toyota owners in general believe that their vehicles are infallible, While Aisin engineers some really good units & their QC is impressive......NOBODY is perfect when you start pumping out complex components at scale!

 

[dlundblad]

I'd try to fix it, but they say I'm more handy than handsome too.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted by wdn
It sounds like you purchased a vehicle that perhaps was not well maintained when you bought it.




Bingo! I would bet a month's salary that's the case...

 

[Andrew1972]

Drive it till you pay it off trying to fix minimum.Don't roll into another loan and end up more upside down.

 

[Rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Huie83
Our 2006 Sienna that we purchased a few years back is starting to . The value of the vehicle dropped like a rock this year. I recently saved up the difference to pay it down plus a $3-5K down payment on a different vehicle if we want.

- The transmission has started to flair between 3-4 upshifts when warm. Also feels like it misses shifts sometimes, will rev up and then into gear a few seconds later. The fluid is clean ( i've done 4 drain/fills from 85K to 100K) and at the correct level, running Toyota T-VI. From the research I've done, it needs a rebuild.

- It needs a midpipe on the exhaust, the expansion section is rusting out and rattling.

- It needs rear brakes

- It needs tires in the spring

- Due for spark plugs

- Has a valve tick on startup for a few seconds. Sounds like it needs a valve adjustment which is a big feat on the 3.3. I use Toyota filters and Castrol Edge in it so it's not oil related.

- CD player quit working

- Rear air only works 25% of the time. ( charge is at the correct level, front blows cold)

- Total for all this work i'm figuring ( I'll DIY the exhaust, brakes and other little stuff) is ~ $4-5.5K.

At this point I think it may make more sense to just pay off the difference and trade it in on something new(er). I mean, it runs fine and I've kept up with other maintenance. I did the timing belt with water pump etc last year and kept up on oil changes etc. I'm just having a real hard time with sinking that amount of money into it. It is also our family hauler for our 3 kids, I want something safe and reliable.

Thoughts? What would you do?


You can buy good working cars that need nothing for $2000 or less around here

If your on the edge financially it probably makes sense to suffer a little and get something that is cheap and simple to maintain and unload the van.

We are in an odd place though in the car market, there are some car dealers that if you trade the van in for a reliable but unpopular new car (not suv or van)
you might be ahead, I know a few people that got a very good deal when trading into a new car as strange as that sounds, but you don't know unless you look around.

In any event I would set a fixed budget and sell or trade down, unless you can find a cheap cooter that will fix the car to drivable for a fraction of what you quote

Good Luck

 

[ndfergy]

It's all about risk reward. More so with the length of time being upside down on your loan.

Let's do the math. I'll use some educated guess numbers as an example:

Principal/interest/term/payment: 10500/5/48/242
No. of payments made: 24
Remaining Balance: $5506
Interest paid to date = $815
Interest remaining full term = $301
Wholesale value (Black book) in good condition = $3500
Minimum cost of repairs including new used tires: $1500

Scenario 1: Sell the car now as is
Net loss = $3506 (5506 - 2000 retail value)

Scenario 2: Sell the car now after certified
Net loss = $2006 (5506 + 1500 - 5000 retail value)

Scenario 3: keep car full term of loan then sell
Net loss = $3268 (4968 +1500 - 3200 retail value)

Scenario 4: keep car full term of loan + 1 year then sell
Net gain = $5464 (2904+ 2560 retail value)

20% depreciation used year over.

Scenario 5: Catastrophic Failure
At any point in the time line while still making loan payments and a major component fails with the cost to repair exceeds the retail value they're in trouble. The highest risk is on or near their loan discharge. This could represent a net loss of over $6,000

This case has two choices:
1) Certify and sell your car now minimizing loss, or
2) Keep the car for at least another 3 years. This has the greatest reward but the highest risk.

 

[ndfergy]

Further to my last post I'd like to add:

If you decide to sell do it privately. You get absolutely clobbered by the dealership where their trade in value is wholesale less prep and profit. Think $500-1000. It's a bit of a pain but it's well worth the thousands you'll save.

When getting another vehicle I would strongly consider a 1 year old used on a max 48 month loan. You get the benefit of ~19% depreciation greatly reducing your financing amount. Further, your loan is paid off at the end of your warranty period without the risk of being underwater. Especially on those 6+ year loans.