One problem related to automatic transmission torque converter has been reported for the 1998 Toyota Sienna. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
My 98 Toyota Sienna failed to respond to the acelerator while I was making a left turn twice on 6/22/05. On the second time, the engine failed. I was able to restart the engine, and go back home three blocks away where this happened. I parked my car inside my garage, went inside my house and luckily I had to go back to the garage immediately, because my car was on fire. I am still waiting for my nsurance company to do their investigation and I opened a claim with Toyota, since I did all the necessary maintenance and the car was fine until that day. How can I be sure I am going to find out the truth why the car got on fire and if there is any problem related to the year and model of my car that may expalin what happened? sometime ago I received a letter from Toyota saying that they were extending the warranty on transaxle case and internal part, torque converter and parts related to the transaxle because certain models of Sienna had a "no movemen" or "slipping condition" related to that parts. My car was fine until the morning of 6/22/05 and then did not respond to the accelerator twice (is this what they call no movement or slipping condition?) and then got on fire. Does the fire could happen because o anything related to the transaxle case and internal parts any other parts related to it? I am afraid, since I am the only one who has anything to loose , that Toyota won't take resposibility for this and my insurance company already advised me that they do not cover the cause of fire only damages caused by the fire, they do not cover rental care while my car is incvestigated and I don't feel that they are in any hurry to do solve my problem. I would like to know if there is any way to get an investigation of the cause of the fire from someone who has no interest in the case, who is not the one to take responsibility or not, or who is not the one in charge to cover the expenses related to what happened to my car? thank you very much.