Hello everybody! Good day to you! Welcome back! Glad you guys are here I know I am super duper glad to be here. um I Must confess: I've actually been in a funk for uh, about a week or so and my my head hasn't been right and uh I I'm starting to feel normal again I've I've uh I've gone through some existential, uh, personal self-discovery so to speak. I guess and uh and now I feel like I'm back in Action today. So uh, we are hopping into this.

Toyota Sienna Miniature people hauler van. It has 197,198 it thing. H I wonder how we're going to go about this? It's got a check engine light turned on. that's the money light right there.

but we are moving forward in. Reverse Oh, here we go here we go. I'm giving it throttle and it's not going anywhere Okay now I see what we're talking about? So this van doesn't go anywhere more throttle. it kind of rocks forward.

it lurches a little bit. doesn't want to do anything. My guy said that if you let it warm up some uh, it will begin to go forward. So let's back her out of this parking space right here.

At least try to nose it into the shop. Let's go check the fluid, check the level, all that good stuff, and see if there's an easy fix to this situation or if this, uh, this thing is dead. Yeah, we got motion on the tack, but you can see we're not going anywhere there. We go.

4,000 RPMs yeah I think uh RPM I think this thing's junk I'm going to let us sit here for a minute and come up to Temp we'll let her run, come up to Temp in the meantime I'll head back into the shop, grab the scan tool and we can see what those Dtcs are about and then go from there. So stay tuned cuz hopefully I can make this into a very good video uping the hood. look who that guy is. So we have a problem.

the scan tool is in this Equinox and the Equinox is in the air and I cannot disturb Dave cuz he's working. So we're just going to climb up into this unit and INF fetch the tools. so it's kind of a acrobatic cont: portioning act so to speak. but uh, we're going to get in there.

Oh squeeze I'm squeezing gravity of some sort. There's our scanner. Let's power you down. scan tools coming with us just like that.

Super easy. Now we move this out of the way so it doesn't get smashed and we are back on track now. earlier. I had stated that hopefully I can turn this into a good video and that is because I do not know how this is going to turn out I uh I do not script my videos and I do not pre-plan them I walk out and uh, we kind of go through this uh as the situations unfold.

so I don't know I can't can't guarantee success on that, but we're going to try aren't we? Let's uh, close up out of this menu here. My scanner's Frozen Let shut it back off, turn it back on. Powering off, Turn off. Now there we go.

Power back on. Beep! Had to had to reboot it. Let's see if we have any. Forward Motion Nope.

I Mean it goes at like 3,000 RPM But uh yeah, that's all we get. Scan Tool: Let's pull up the codes and see what we have here we are looking for. Toyota Loading data satellites linking up and outer space communicating automatic identification protocol initiated sound effects. They're fun I Like to have fun here? Yep.

see what did I tell you? I'm starting to feel normally again I'm making the goofy sound effects to pass my time. That's the best. So we've got an ' 06 Sienna 3.3 L V6 Engine odometer did not show up, but I don't care. Oh, didn't mean to do that.

not going to enter the odometer. Get out of here. What are we doing? Click. Okay, let's pull up our codes.

We're going to go straight for transmission, see if there's anything uh, stored regarding shifting or torque converter or things of that nature. and the survey says reinitializing Communications Again, waiting, waiting waiting waiting There we go. No communication pish. POS lies all lies.

Let's go into engine. we'll check the ECU and maybe it doesn't have a separate transmission control module I Don't think it does. So we're going to go into the ECM and our trouble code list is going to tell us something. Come on computer.

Yeah, this. uh, it's not wanting to talk. very fast. Current codes, cam crank position, sensor, catalytic inverter efficiency, and an EVAP system.

So I've got nothing regarding transmission activity in the ECM. Let's try to go back into the TCM one more time. I Don't know why it wouldn't talk to it. Maybe we have an issue with the module I don't know.

Reestablishing communication All right. It went in codes. come on with it please. No comms.

Okay, all right. well I'm going try to limp this thing back into the building and we'll start with a fluid check and then kind of go from there. I Think this transmission's smoked and it's just burnt up to nothing. Yeah, it's taking there.

We go 4,000 RPM Now we're rolling I Wonder how often it's been driven like this? We have no forward. Come on with it. Almost there. Limp it in.

Uhhuh there we go Now Now we're hooking up. It's starting to go a little bit better. Okay, yep, you get a little bit of heat into it just like my customer stated and then it starts to work again. All right.

Uh, let us find that lever there it is popping the hood. Let's Get Down Below Check our fluid level to start with and condition and then we'll go from there. let us see what we can see. 3.3 L of V6 Toyota horsepower see Hood Prop Uh, disconnected Hood Prop Hang on here.

Put that back in the hole. It looks like the little plastic uh, bushing thing broke off of it. No matter. So here's our trans fluid dipstick.

Pull that good stuff out and it's in good condition. Yeah, the fluid color is not terrible. Okay, all right so we kind of skipped ahead again I Went back into the uh the scan tool we're in transmission menu and I did get it to pull up some trouble codes and what we have found in here I just backed out went back in. What I just found is the TCM is registering the exact same okay lost com.

Again, it was registering the exact same Dtc's as the ECM so it had a cat con cataly converter efficiency an EVAP and then that crank position, business or whatever. Uh, none of which have anything to do with the shifting or the transmission. y. There we go.

There's our codes again. so catalyst efficiency, cam, crank correlation, and evap sensor. So none of that has anything to do with uh with our shifting. So uh, my scan tool is not going to give me much help.

You guys hear that that clunking suspension flopping business down there? Something's something's falling apart on this car. That's probably worse than a transmission. See that wheel moving when I hit the brakes? Yeah, Something's damaged. Well on the bright side, it seems to be wanting to go forward.

Now it's reached operating Temp and we put it in gear and now she wants to go interesting so it doesn't want to go on cold fluid but it will start to go on warm fluid. Interesting. I say I Think what I want to do is uh, we're going to lift this up and I'm going to pull the pan down and we're going to look for some destruction inside of the pan powering down. Let's get the rack set up.

We'll get her up in the air, pop that pan loose, and see what's going on down below. All right folks, the rack is set back to our subscribe buttons moving on up. see how this thing looks on our underneath car. So I had uh I mentioned earlier when I started this video that uh I've kind of been in a funk or whatever lately.

um I probably shouldn't even really be talking about it. But since I open the door I might as well tell you guys. uh I've got a there's an issue going on um in my life? uh with a uh, an ex family member? Well, I mean I'm still related to the person, but they're no longer part of our lives and uh, and this person is systematically doing everything that they can do to cause damage to the family. And it's uh We've we've discovered the treachery and it's been remarkably painfully impactful and I've had to process and digest that.

and it's It's been quite a challenge. So that's what I meant. Uh, when I said I'm kind of going through some stuff right now. um, it's making my brain hard to.

It's making it hard for my brain to function properly. There we go because I'm distracted and it's hard to maintain. Focus Uh, after having to have dealt with trauma and and we're dealing with some trauma on the home front right now, just like this: Uh, Toyota's dealing with some trauma. Look, there's transmission fluid and it's leaking.

She's broken. Something's going on here. Yeah, I believe that's leaking. maybe a little bit up here at that CV axle seal.

but but it could actually be leaking through the case. like there's a split case right here. and uh, we might have a leaker in between the two. Um, I don't really care for that.

I'm not going to pull this pan down. not after having seen what I have just, uh, recently seen. My issue is is getting to that bolt right there cuz there's a subframe in the way and I I'd like to go in there and look for some metal but I don't think that's in the cards really? Um, yeah, that's a pretty profession leak and we can see somebody has pieced these two halves of this case together with what looks to be orange. RTV sealant.

uh, that's it might be Factory I Don't know, but I I I Frown upon the orange. orange is a uh, it's an indicator of somebody just bought whatever they had on the Shelf at the part store. Yeah, this. this old boy is pretty rough here.

Look, we got a AC compressor covered in engine oil. There's valve cover gaskets up at top of this. 33 Dumping oil on everything. you see all that up there and then of course it doesn't really want to shift.

Um I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to pop this, uh, drain pan plug out and I just would like to see if there is, uh, any metal shards stuck on the magnet. That's that's really all we can do until. uh, we have some kind of authorization to do an invasive diagnostic. which, uh, we're not doing that at this point.

We're just trying to get a good direction and determine if this is a decent path to go on here. Need a half inch ratchet? over to the halfin drawer? I Choose I choose that one. It's a great neck ratchet from Autoone I Received this once upon a time when I was like 19 years old. Someone gave this to me.

oh, it's broken. Yeah, never mind. Yeah, somebody gave. A friend of mine gave me this uh in exchange for doing a brake job on his Chevrolet Cobalt And it's no, it's still not broken.

It works sure. Unclick. That spilling went too far. didn't want to do that.

Let's get the drain pan real quick. Like come on. drain pan. Oh Dave Emptied it too.

That's Grand So what I'm going to do? We're going to pull that drain pan out. Uh, perhaps I'll collect a fluid sample just to, uh, analyze and take a look at that and then, um, we'll check that plug for metal debris and we'll check to see if anything has come out of the pan. and uh, then we'll refill it and see what it does. That's really all I can do at this point with this car.

All right. back in with the wrench here. pull this plug out. So basically what we're doing here is a transmission drain infill.

It's probably a futile effort. That fluid's okay. it's I wonder if they've been changing it, doing spill and fills on this, just to, uh, maybe keep it going again. I Don't see any metal or debris floating through it on my finger here a lot of times.

if you get a like a light film of fluid, you can see through it and see if there's any contaminants which I am not identifying Currently it's a little bit nasty stuff going on and the drain plug? Okay, well you know considering this has 190,000 Mi on it, it has a shifting problem. The transmission fluid looks good I am wondering if it even has the correct fluid in it. We don't know. So I think uh I think what I'll be doing here is we're going to let that drain I can fill it up with some new fluid and I might throw in a can of conditioner or whatever just to help it.

and then um we can give the the unfortunate news that this thing it needs a lot of work and it may not be advantageous to repair because there's always cost to to factor in. and plus it has all these other problems. so we're going to see if maybe I can Band-Aid this thing back to life for a little while. but I I'm of the opinion we're going to need.

Uh, we're going to need to pull this unit out or uh, take some things apart and inspect a little bit further. Where's my wrench? there? she is. See, this plug wasn't as tight as I would have uh liked it to be either. They're usually a lot tighter than that unless they've been uh removed before.

So I do believe someone has been in this unit once or twice that take my flashlight. Let's go ahead and let this thing down and uh, we'll throw some conditioner and some new fluid in it and see what she does coming down all the way down. Yeah, I think the situation on this drivetrain is it's it's at a throw it away or open the wallet type of uh position here. All right.

dip and stick coming out. Funnel coming in. we're going to throw in funnel doesn't really fit, another funnel coming in. There we go.

So we're going to throw in some conditioner in there for transmissions only and then, uh, we're going to toss in some fluid, fill the thing back up, and then maybe maybe it'll start to shift again. I I Doubt it. It could potentially take years and years and of effort and therapy to get this thing back to where it should be so it can reach its full potential. It has been stunted and tainted due to lack of maintenance.

Nobody loved it as a child. Oh no, there we go. Let's get into this unit here. Pour this thing full and then, uh, see what she does.

It's a bag in a box. That's how the fluid comes. It's some BG fluid. Really good stuff.

It's Primo level ATF and I know that this is the correct fluid. Bust that guy on open pop the top. Yummy! So I believe that that pan holds about four to five quarts and right here we are sitting on 16 cords. These are 4 gon bags in the boxes.

so I cannot or should not use all of it cuz then I'll just overfill the thing. see if I can't do this without massive spilling. We're going for 25 5% refill capacity from the box. T My bag in a box poures faster than the funnel.

Oh no, there we go going. Do this without spilling a drop too. Yeah, look at that. it's going super slow.

Like I said, it's progress has been stunted and tainted. It has emotional damage. It's mother didn't care. po car okay, funnels empty I Feel like I dumped about a quarter of this box into the trans.

Let's go fetch a can of conditioner. toss that in. Then we'll restart the engine and run through some shift patterns and see what she does. So cracking into the Vault of viscosity, we got to get where's transmission stuff ATC plus automatic transmission fluid conditioner.

It's a BG product not sponsored. That's just what I use. Okay, let's pop the top so the phn don't stop. We'll throw some conditioner in there, restocking the engine and see if this thing is going to move.

I Mean actually, it might not move at all since I took fluid out, but it might work again. That could have been the wrong fluid or it's super low. or it's got a blown out seal of somewhere internally and it only seals up when everything expands when it gets hot. and uh, we need to put a transmission in this.

But I'm really not certain that, uh, putting a transmission in this van is, uh, really, the right move to make I mean it's it's got problems. It's got a lot of problems, but it's also a running, driving, functioning vehicle and that's also not my decision. So I will gather all evidence needed and present that to the vehicle's owner and then, um, we'll let them make that decision. So let us go around back into the cabin restarting the engine.

We'll let the temperatures all stabilize and whatnot and then we'll see if this thing's going to move back that out. I Suppose I could finish clearing the rack. We don't need that anymore coming down all the way down. Oh look I didn't put on my boots today.

Silly rabbit wearing the wrong shoes. These are comfy shoes r that one and that one. It's like a carefully choreographed little dance around the vehicle. Kind of like life.

Life is a carefully choreographed little dance. Let's see what we have here for our fluid level and according to our dipping stick, looks like we're right around here, somewhere tough to see. All right, let's hop in and uh, see if this thing is going to move under its own power. Before we try to drive anywhere.

We'll back her up and then see if she wants to pull forward again and then if it does, what I will do is take it outside and park it and we'll let it cool off all the way. We'll come back and recheck it Moment of Truth coming in forward gear. Nope I it slipped it's junk 30 I think I Believe What I just did is what others have already done to remedy this. Okay, well I'm still going to proceed with the plan.

We're going to back this thing out, let it cool off, and then try to drive it after. Uh, after the engine and trans vishy temp falls back down. Should only take about an hour I Think All right, we're parked shutting down going Me: Go fetch my light bar from under the hood and then, uh, we'll return to this thing momentarily many, many minutes later. All right, here we go.

It hasn't quite been the hour that I thought it was going to be, but I think it's close enough to make an accurate determination on the the future of this damaged. Toyota Sienna Let us tooting the engine okay. temp gauge has gone down some. this is good.

back in gear since we're going out on the road. Click it or tick it as I'm over here talking about safety and I was driving that Chinesium piece of junk around the other day on the roads completely unsafe and I'm worried about a seat belt if you guys don't know. I got a hold of a Chinese manufactured car so to speak and it is the biggest uh piece of junk death trap I have ever encountered in my life. Uh, the viewers were um, putting it on a level with like a Yugo you know, the old Yugo things uh or a pinto even and they don't think that it's a very good vehicle.

Um I Concur: I Felt completely unsafe driving it that's wide open going anywhere. it's not 50 m hour wait, it's in kilometers. we're only going like 30 m an hour I hope pieces of it don't fly off. uh anyway.

I will uh I'll put the link to that video. uh, the little review video that I did on that Chinesium Activa uh, down in this video's description. I'll also put it like right up here and um, I'll put a link at the end screen right around here somewhere too. So if you want to go back in time to yesterday's video and take a look at that thing, um, feel free to utilize one of those links.

Anyway, while I was rambling on, the vehicle seemed to start driving again. Uh, it did not slip shift and it didn't flare up or anything when uh, when we went to go. So maybe there's some improvement there. But it's also got this weird steering braking thing I Feel like a shift in the subframe or the suspension? Uh, it's it's very unstable this vehicle I I Kind of don't want to work on this car I I Don't feel that I don't feel that the effort should be put into this vehicle.

It seems to just be a a SLA together barely running, neglected little minivan. Uh, I've seen them with this high mileage and they're in good shape, but this one's actually really rough. so I don't I'm actually going to advise the guy um, against buying a transmission for this and at the very least I'm going to tell him he should. If he wants to fix it, he should put a used transmission in wo woah woah woah that was weird I let off the throttle and it like changed Direction on me.

Yeah, something's major wrong with this car. it's I think if this is less safe than that Chinese piece of junk that we drove around in yesterday. Uh, anyway, um, as I was saying, if our guy does want to put a used transmission in this, I'm going to have to. uh I'm going to have to decline servicing that I I Don't put in used transmissions, especially front-wheel drive used transmissions because you never know what you're going to get.

Um, if you buy one out of the junkyard, you can get one for a couple hundred bucks. but it's super super duper risky. If you buy a good one, you're close to the price of a remanufactured one or even a new one. so a new unit might cost um, you know, uh, $2,800 and a good a known good lower mileage one that's a a junkyard pull out that was sold as a pullout.

Uh, that might go for like 1,800 bucks. So it I I I'm just not interested in putting in a like a pick your own or pull your own uh, couple hundred transmission to try to limp this thing along. I just I don't do that kind of work. um and I would have to decline.

uh, future services on this particular vehicle. The only way I would want to take this on is if they wanted to fix like all of that stuff that's wrong with it. Um, we mentioned earlier and I felt that loose and flopping and you can hear it right now. just all kinds of noise in the front end on the suspension.

uh I think that those oil leaks that this thing has have affected the uh, the rubber bushings in the suspension and uh, and possibly also the steering and so all those bushings are gone and things are just flopping around all willy-nilly like. So um, that's kind of where we're at with this. Uh with this. Toyota Sienna I don't think I'm going to do any work on it.

Having said that, I do believe that uh I have nothing more to offer you on this particular video. Uh, we're pretty much all done here. The thing seems to be shifting now that I threw some decent fluid in there and some additive. Uh, it might revert back to its original state of not going anywhere.

um I'm not really certain I'll drive it again tomorrow morning and we'll see what it does, but I'm going to have to just go ahead and leave this one as a a decline service mechanic refuses. Service Uh, I'm not going to work on this car I think it's it's too far gone and I I Don't believe that uh, the effort justifies or the expense would justify the effort or I just I don't think it's worth it. So I'm I'm not going to put a use transmission I'd only be willing to do a new one if we fixed all the oil leaks and maybe made things safe. so this one's getting parked.

I'm not going to work on this car. um, it's just not for me. So having said all that as always, thank you guys for watching this video. Certainly hope you enjoy this video.

Uh, let me know what you think about this car in the comment section down below. Do not forget to tap that like And subscribe button while you're down there and most importantly, have yourselves a fantastic day. See you guys later into video end Day end of transmission Power down goodbye Sienna.