Note to self: Never buy a minivan with power doors.
Your cash flow situation would probably be better if you simply had the doors fixed. But you’d be postponing the inevitable, with 150K some of the more expensive repairs are likely to start cropping up in the not-too distant future. Automatic transmission and timing belt as mentioned above for example.
To save you some money, you could get only the passenger side sliding door fixed. Most or all of the minivans in the early years only had a passenger sliding door. There was nothing behind the driver.
I had the same time thought, as Dr.Rocket about wbether the power assist feature on the sliding doors could be disabled, making them easier to operate. I do like the powee, sliding doors on my Sienna, but my 3 previous vans had no power,assist on the,doors and they were easy to operate…
Will not you doors open and close manually?
My sister in law spent $500 to turn the automatic door into manual and able to close. Can you close manually okay? The electric motors are expensive and stupid.
I have to yank and pull hard to get the door open and then I can only get it open 1/3 of the way. To close I have to really pull hard to try and slam and then once closed I often have to kick the back of it to make it flush with the rest of the van.
I’ll check into making them manual and that cost.
Thank you all for your input.
And if you are referring to the on/off power button for the electric sliding doors…turning it off makes no difference at all.
I was reading through Honda Odyssey posts regarding the sliding door problems and someone mentioned removing a #7 fuse and then some other actions to make it work manually. That is all “wah wah wah”-speak to me…but I could show the suggestion to my mechanic who would know what all of those steps mean.
If you have a local mechanic that can work on power doors, you may want to consider used motors. http://www.lkqcorp.com/us/en/search-inventory.aspx Power doors can be a pain to repair and it is harder to find shops willing to do the work. Large salvage yards like LKQ will often offer a warranty on the parts they sell. You may want to ask for help onhttp://www.odyclub.com/#/forumsite/20565/forums/52 it is a forum for Honda owners .
If I were in your predicament. I would simply Unhook the doors Power sliding motor feature and use the doors like manual normal doors. Then again you seem to be doubting the entire vehicles practicality not based on the doors. I understand the doors not working sort of forces you to pass judgement on the vehicle. But if you could operate the doors like normal folk do…would you still want out of the vehicle. The automatic door feature may not be that hard to repair…tho shops that dont know how to do this will balk at this and as a result give you an enormous bill to do the work…that enormous bill basically is telling you… “We have no clue how to repair this but if you make us figure it out we will charge your pants off” I am seriously doubting the door motors as the culprits IF they went out at the same time.
The doors might be a simple fix such as a bad connection…a bad sensor, or a failed relay. I have repaired the most complex Fully Automatic convertible tops BMW has ever made. There were about 15 sensors, 10 relays, many electrical connections and also automatic latches. I sat down…learned the system…and went to work. The owner of the vehicle told me that 3 BMW dealers couldnt repair the problem despite huge repair bills. I fixed it in one shot…with a schematic, a six pack of beer, the radio on and my tools.
MOST shops do not have truly talented people who will take on the “Unknown” for fear of failure and also because they dont get paid when they dont fix the issue many times.
Im getting sidetracked AS USUAL… Like I mentioned…I would first do my investigation on how the system works to see if I could repair the auto doors…failing THAT…I would turn the auto doors into manual doors again.
Not sure how any of what I said helps you. Unless you are located near Philadelphia…I would take a looksie for you… Hopefully if nothing else…my response encourages you to seek out a talented independent mechanic who can help you…either repair or turn the doors into manual type. I REALLY NEED TO OPEN A NEW SHOP… This is right up my alley and why people still bring their vehicles to me. I hope I helped you in some way other than just rambling on… LOL Good luck…let us know what you do.
Blackbird
The electric [door] motors are expensive and stupid.
I’m not disagreeing, at least not entirely. I tend to avoid as much automatic stuff as possible, it is usually unreliable, and I don’t find it that difficult to open a door manually. But I have to say, there’s a lot of these automatic door SUV’s in this area, and I see the parents drop the kids off at school or a soccer match, where’s there’s a line of cars, other parents with their kids waiting to do the same thing. They just pull up to the curb, and the door slides open by itself, and the kids steps out and right onto the curb. Then the door shuts by itself. I can see why parents would like that feature, both for the kids safety and their own convenience.
@Honda_Blackbird, I’m guessing @RockChalk is much nearer the center of the country, like Lawrence KS. There may be a body or electrical shop that she can find nearer to her location by checking out the “Mechanics Files” link at the top of this page. I think disconnecting the electrical mechanism my be the cheap answer.
Different make, but a couple years ago my 2002 Sienna manual door on the left side simply would not unlatch from inside or outside.
My builder is a very clever man. He helped me get off the liner of that door from the inside, something I had never done and feared.
I told him to go back to work building while I studied the mechanism.
After about half an hour, I suddenly realized there was an undocumented easily made adjustment, and made it. The door instantly opened normally. I looked on the Sienna Chat board, and it turned out a number of people were having that problem. A lot of excitement and happy people when I posted a photo of the adjustment.
After it worked, I had my builder put the liner back on the door.
I suspect that door problem would have cost hundreds of dollars at the dealer, because they would have ordered a whole new latch assembly.
My builder is happy to earn around $20 USD a day. So the hour he spent helping me was not expensive…
New vehicles will cost a fortune to register and insure. They also take some getting used to and few of the less expensive ones are quiet. If you can drive your present car for at least 18 months, you might save two years of registration fees and the higher priced insurance. A new car could make you feel two years of buyer’s remorse. 2013 RAV4 remorse. Nothing reeeeally wrong but still has the worst rear hatch ever made.
My Sienna had a power sliding door on the passenger side. When it stopped working I simple cut the cables for the power feature and converted it to “manual” operation at no cost. It has worked fine in “manual” mode ever since. The cost to fix the “automatic” operation was going to be over $1,000 and it was just not worth it. I suggest the O.P. look into what it would take to fully disable the power mechanism (which is surely causing the doors to be difficult to close) and just use the sliders “the old fashioned way”.
I think I reached a decision.
(The only lingering doubt is a vehicle with better gas mileage.)
I have new tires, new brakes, and have fixed 2 of the 4 motor mounts in the last year, and it;s paid off.
The other 2 motor mounts will most certainly need fixed in the next year (900?).
I am taking it to my mechanic and having him replace the rollers and bearings as they are shot. (He says this might even allow one of the doors motor to work.) This will cost me around $420. I’ll start here and evaluate after they are in… I may then clip the cables and just run it as manual and let that be the entire expense.
So…for certain another 900 in the future for motor mounts and 420 now. And IF my transmission goes out it in the near future it will cost me worst-case-scenario 2,200. That’s an if…and a lot…but I can’t find a vehicle better than I have for 3500.
Thank you for all your advice…much appreciated.
Good luck!
Check back and let us know how the door fix went.