2004 Toyota Sienna LX review from North America

At 65K miles my air conditioning compressor started to make a horrible noise. Turns out that the AC compressor needs to be replaced. It has now seized at 67K miles. Toyota has no sympathy.

I have read about there being an internal Toyota issued service bulletin that basically acknowledges a design defect and recommends adding an inline filter screen (to filter out all the remaining metal after the compressor chews itself to bits) when replacing the compressor. COMPRESSORS ARE SEALED COMPONENTS. THEY CANNOT BE MAINTENANCED, AND THE SHOULD NEVER SELF DESTRUCT IN UNDER 100k MILES!

Toyota does not want to help me. Even worse. There are no after market parts. The compressor is $700.00 and only available from the dealer and that does not include the clutch which is an additional $250. The drier is molded to the condenser. They have to be replaced as well. That is another $350.00, only available from the dealer, and does not even begin to cover labor. If I repair it (remember the old one has torn itself to pieces and I actually saw what was left of one at an AC repair shop the other day) it will not stay working for long as there is absolutely no way to guarantee that ALL the little metal particles will be flushed out and the new one will be destroyed by the first little metal particle that gets in. Not to mention that I have been told that the whole system is poorly designed from the start and won't last any longer, another 65K miles, if replaced.

I have spoken with the manager at my local Toyota dealer, and he outright told me that even though I had bought my last two Toyotas from his dealership, I was not a loyal service customer and therefore Toyota would not help me with this matter. The car is out of warranty by 35K miles. This was again reiterated by a customer service manager for the Toll Free Toyota complaint line.

This should not have happened! The van is now basically worthless for trade in value. It's not worth fixing. It has other issues as well, such as leaky front STRUTS that need replacing before the first set of tires even wore down.

This vehicle is a lemon! Toyota's attitude is horrible. I have spoken with 4 mechanics locally who have seen this same problem a total of 11 times in the past few months in my local area alone.

My email address is lengold@tampabay.rr.com

If there is anyone out there in the same situation or that can help, please contact me.

I loved it at first. Now it is the last Toyota I will ever own unless Toyota wants to trade this one in one that works at their cost. Like they should at this point.