I have a problem and I’m not sure to start. I bought a 2006 Toyota Sienna two weeks ago the only known problem was the radio speakers would fade out after driving it for a while. I swapped it out for another radio and it didn’t make a difference now both sliding doors are also giving me a problem. At first the manual driver’s side door occasionally would not let us out using the interior handle almost as if the child safety lock is on and the exterior seems to require abnormal amount of force to open the handle. Now, this week the power passenger side sliding door started giving me a problem, the door was stuck in the open position and when we went to close it, would only move half an inch so we helped it manually. Ever since then the buttons and Fob’s only make the noise then are unable to move it any further either open or closing unless I use the handle and now since yesterday the interior handle on the power door is working intermittently as well. I spoke to the previous owner and he said the rear doors were not having an issue that he knew of I’m wondering if the radio and doors could share something in common that could explain both.
There might be a problem with the electrical grounding or possibly power to those areas you mentioned. To see if that is so you could make a long ground jumper wire using some 12 gauge wire. Tie one end of the jumper to a known good ground point and then the other end to the suspected bad spot and then see if that changes anything.
The sound system problem might be due to a power problem to an external amp for the speakers or possibly the amp has an internal problem. I’m not sure of the design on your van. Mine uses amps built into the doors for the speakers there and also dash area.
If you want to work on these issues yourself to save some money in repair bills you should seriously think about getting a factory service manual for the wiring of the van. Ebay is a good place to find them.
My mother drives a 2002 Sienna, and I’ve found that when people use the door handle on the automatic door (especially on the inside), it messes things up, especially when the button sticks in the “in” position. If yours is stuck, see if you can wiggle or wedge the button on the interior handle free. After that, teach everyone who rides in the van to use the button that activates the motorized doors, not the manual button on the door handle, to open and close the motorized doors.
Next time the door doesn’t close like it should, start the engine and see if it will close with the engine running. My theory is that the battery may be a little run down and starting the engine means there is enough juice to open and close the door properly.
Thanks to both of you the issue with the radio appears to be a Sirius aftermarket unit tucked behing the Glove box that was just sitting in there, I’m still having an issue with the slidign door but I’ve narrowed it down a bit.
Driver’s manual slider - intermittently will not open form the inside and have to pull very hard on the outside handle and slam the door shut
Passenger side power slider - the button’s all stopped working a few weeks ago and intermittently the door will not open form the inside and have to pull very hard on the outside handle
I was going to replace the cheap little motor in the door lock actuator on both sides but I had not read of anyone having trouble opening from the inside so I was wondering if there were other parts I should be looking at or if it still sounds like the actuator.
T-SB-0085-09
March 13, 2009
Power Function of Sliding Door Inoperative
Service Category
Vehicle Exterior
Section
Door/Hatch
Market
USA
Introduction
Customers with 2004 through 2007 MY Sienna vehicles may experience a condition where the power function of the sliding door is inoperative. A new service part has been developed so that the replacement of the entire motor/cable assembly is not required. Use the following procedure to replace the pulley/cable assembly.