**The Life of a 2004 Sienna Van with 275,000 Miles**

A 2004 Toyota Sienna van was brought to our shop with concerns about its transmission and idling issue. The owner had noticed that when the vehicle was driven aggressively, it would idle rough and make a strange clunking noise. Despite these symptoms, the transmission shifted perfectly fine as demonstrated by the mechanic during an inspection.

**Assessing the Situation**

The mechanic explained that the transmission's mount was likely worn out, causing the metal to hit metal when the vehicle was driven hard. This resulted in the distinctive clunking noise and rough idling. However, further inspection revealed that the transmission itself was not faulty, but rather the mount that was failing.

**A Lesson on Maintenance**

The mechanic emphasized that a well-maintained vehicle can last a long time, even with high mileage. In this case, the 2004 Sienna van still ran smoothly and had plenty of power, despite its age and mileage. The owner was relieved to learn that there was no major transmission issue, but rather a relatively simple fix.

**The Importance of Regular Maintenance**

Regular maintenance is key to extending the life of any vehicle. In this case, if the transmission mount had been replaced when it was worn out, the problem could have been avoided. The mechanic advised replacing the transmission mount and checking other mounts while working on the job, as they may be wearing out at the same time.

**A Word of Wisdom from the Mechanic**

The mechanic shared a story about Travis, who drove his van until it broke down due to worn-out parts. However, with some TLC and regular maintenance, the vehicle still ran smoothly and had plenty of life left in it. The mechanic emphasized that even old vehicles can be happy experiences if driven gently and properly maintained.

**A Lesson from a Happy Customer**

The owner's dog was seen lounging around the shop, seemingly happy to see his owner back on the road. The owner joked that he wished people could be as carefree and content as their furry friend. This anecdote highlights the importance of taking things easy and appreciating the simple things in life.

**A Final Word of Advice**

The mechanic offered some final advice for viewers: if you're experiencing strange noises or issues with your vehicle, don't jump to conclusions about major problems like transmission failure. Take it for a spin, and consult a professional mechanic who can assess the situation and provide guidance on what needs to be done.

**Bonus Questions and Answers**

John Gibson reached out to ask for advice after his 1996 Taurus began slipping when driven aggressively. The mechanic explained that if the vehicle's engine revs up but it doesn't take off, there's likely a transmission problem or a torque converter issue inside the transmission. In this case, it was advised to drive the vehicle until it fails and then consider replacing the transmission.

The mechanic emphasized that in many cases, transmissions on older vehicles like the 1996 Taurus are relatively weak and prone to failure. It's often more cost-effective to replace the transmission altogether rather than trying to fix it.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enrev up your engines okay today we got a 2004 sienna van the woman just recently bought it it's got 275 000 miles on it so there's a lot of miles she's got a problem with the check engine lights on and it's clunking she wants me to check it all out so we'll start with the check engine light this one comes complete with a dog very friendly dog so we're going to plug it in and we'll turn the key on not running and doing auto scan while we're waiting things are a little bit wet we're under the big top today it's raining outside but you got to get in so it got wet coming in this toyota was made in indiana it actually crossed through they're coming here from illinois here we go before siena engine everything and we'll do a scan now she doesn't care about the abs that's enough time for working on the old car anyways of the cruise control which he's interested in is the engine here we go reed trouble and the current code is p 2241 oxygen sensor pumping current circuit low bank two sensor one and we'll check it out it was idling at 611 it wasn't even moving it was going zero miles an hour at lower speeds some stupid code like that trips perhaps the sensor's a little bit weak it is an old vehicle but on the other hand it's running fine it's not running rich or lean that's the only engine trouble code that it has i personally wouldn't go out and buy a new sensor just for that it's running perfectly fine although i'm going to do one thing here first we're going to check the battery realize one thing about modern cars everything runs by computer so we're going to check the battery first just to make sure you don't want to spend days chasing your tail to find out all you had was a little better getting kind of a low current code always check the battery first in vehicle this is a regular battery top post and the cranking amps is 600 aha it's on 600 what luck here we go we're testing the battery good battery does 553 crank and it's almost 100 percent state of charge so it's not a battery problem now the battery's okay so odds are in this the oxygen sensor is worn not pulling the right amount of current but it runs good it's not running rich it's not running lean it gets decent gas mileage runs good enough so it's a little bit warm i mean it's got 275 000 miles on it so got a lot of mileage little things like that don't expect perfection when things get that old just like people like me okay i'm 68 years old i don't get up like i used to i don't work at 100 but i'm still going pretty good same thing you know then like this don't throw money on stuff if it runs okay you don't need it to pass the mission stuff they don't check that stuff in your area it runs as good as this now if it really went totally bad and it started running poorly yeah that'd be the first thing you change but that's not the case here so let's see where the clunking's coming from we're gonna run it and put it in parking neutral see if anything's rattling here okay now do it again you can see he's moving back and forth do it again traveling back and forth now she had to get the flex pipe changed that's the pipe on the bottom it's flexible because these are front-wheel drive vehicles and the engineers moves a tiny bit and if it was a solid piece of steel eventually it would snap the well so it has to flex the reason she had to replace the flex hose is because the whole assembly the training engines moving and that broken what's going on here is either a motor mount or a transmission mount is going bad so out with a jack now there's mounts all over the place we have to try to see them to see which ones are coming apart now there's the front jack it a little bit more and we'll let it down that's not the front one it didn't move now down there is the bottom one right there there it is you can see it down here super bright now and it's not moving either so the side one in the front isn't bad either so we're going under with the flashlight and lo and behold i can see the transmission mount on the back is worn that's what's cracked the hardest one to get to of course you can really hear it she's gonna be wiggling the tire we'll go underneath there it is and the back mounts wiggling back and forth that's what it needs it's just all worn down to the bare metal now they're not cheap mounts there's two of them they're 247 bucks apiece so what you do is find a guy with a lift it's almost impossible to do on the ground have them loosen all the mounts jack it up and then check them all while you're down there there's no sense if the others are all cracked and starting to break just replacing one you got to take a lot of stuff off it's about a 350 dollar job while you're in there you might as well check them all because you don't want to pay the labor twice and find out they're gonna break but it sounds horrible she thought the car was falling apart it's not falling apart it's just a stupid mount but of course the mounts there's metal rubber then metal and what happens is when the rubber wears out then you got metal on metal and that's why it sounds like this that's metal rubbing on metal now we'll take it for a road test to see how it's doing anyway and you'll notice when we shift into neutral you can hear the little clunk steering shafts go bad on these all the time but if they handle good enough most people leave it alone because that's like a 1500 job replacing that now for 275 000 miles this thing is still idling smooth goes down the road pretty good after all she drove it from illinois all the way to tennessee here to have me check it out really still got plenty of power and it's a van still it doesn't handle all that bad on the corners if you kind of caught them a little short now of course if you play with the gas you can feel and hear the clunk that's because the mount's worn she was worried that the transmission was going out the transmission shifts perfectly fine as you can see is it shifting you can't even feel it shift the tranny's still in excellent shape it's just that the mount is broken when you floor it it downshifts and goes there's nothing wrong with the transmission it's just that the mount is breaking and now metal hits metal and that's what that horrible noise is as you saw when it was jacked up and we pulled on the wheel and the axle was making it move back and forth and clanking it's not all that big of a deal really she thought oh my transmission is going on that's going to cost a fortune i'll have to get rid of it no you can see going down the road works perfectly fine me really okay it's all it's a 2004 it's got 275 000 miles on it yeah the intermittent steering shaft is worn they all get worn on these sienna vans eventually when they get high mileage doesn't need a transmission mount i'd change that i wouldn't mess with the oxygen sensor she doesn't live when they do inspections anyways and it runs perfectly fine for its age and mileage it's still in excellent shape and the little dog agrees now there's one cool customer he doesn't care that his owner's not here that the strange guy's driving it around look he's just happy this can be sitting there if only people could be this happy themselves just lying around and chilling perhaps we should be all more like satisfied happy little dogs and this dog's got a lot of mileage on it too and it's still humming along pretty good so what have we learned today well we learned an old toyota van with 275 000 miles can still have a lot of light but that's an old van it's gonna have quirks and calms but just like travis here hey it still can be a happy experience driving it don't drive like a crazy racing driver it's getting old and it's an old loy cars a lot of rust eventually enough for us can happen that things can snap off so you don't want to race around too much but for a driving around van it's still got quite a bit of life the only thing i would do would be replace the transmission mount on it and of course check all the others when you got to take it apart because there's no sense spending all that labor uh the labor is getting it all up in the air and getting that mount off and you got to loosen the other mount so you might as well check them all while you're doing the job because just like travis and me we're getting a little long on the tooth but we can still get down the road rather comfortably and here's some bonus questions and answers john gibson says love your show i got a 96 torx an axe like it wants to die at the light the engine feels like it's not giving enough gas i changed the fuel filter and pump and three fuel injectors but when i drive away it feels like the transmission is slipping but not all the time first you got to figure out you have an engine problem or you have a transmission problem if you take off and it revsn up but it doesn't take off and the transmission is slipping then your transmission's going out and i would assume it is it's a 96 taurus those had relatively weak transmissions i'm surprised it's still going down the road now i don't know if you're the original owner if you're not it's probably been replaced by some of the previous owners because i've never seen one in a taurus 96 last that long when it starts slipping your engine revs up but it doesn't take off that's a transmission failure or a torque converter which is inside the transmission that bolts into the engine probably bet you have a transmission problem any mechanic can check it out in two minutes just take it for a spin he'll say yeah your transmission's slipping and in a 96 taurus i just say drive it until it drops because it's not worth spending thousands fixing a transmission on that old thing it just isn't work so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that bell foreign\n"