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Now your keys that are buried (like in a laundry hamper) send back a radio feedback beacon!

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Why do you have this page?

As well as selling our unique key finder system, when we fix something or discover a solution, we like to share - here is another page to help out. DJM.  All material here - Copyright (C) 2005,2006,2007,2008 Melbourne Designs, LLC. OK, so it's a cheap plug to advertise FOFA - please forgive us! Also, if you add a link to this page, other owners can share this too.

Use at your own risk - we bear no responsibility for any injury or damage caused by the use of this information. Be careful with power tools! Get help if you need it!

2001 Toyota Sienna Rear Door Handle Broken - Help!
Other years 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005  unknown if applicable - anyone?)

For help with Toyota Sienna Knock Sensors click here 

For help with Toyota Sienna Oxygen Sensors click here. 

Read my comment on our engine overhaul, sludge and problems with www.oilgelsettlement.com

Read the Story of our Toyota Sludged Engine Repair.

For help programming your remote door lock fob / keyfob

You go to open your rear door and snap! The handle breaks - Now What?

This happens to a lot of Sienna vans (1999,2000,2001), and also to lots of different Toyotas as well, judging by a search on the web. Why? Plastic handles. Why, in heavens name, would they use plastic handles? It happened to us, my wife tried to open the rear door, but heard a crack, then the handle went limp. Sounds familiar?

What now? Take it to a dealership and be charged hundreds to repair? The web says "new handle- $64.00 at the dealer,
most quoted over $300.00 to have them do it"  From the web, I also found out they just break again!
What was needed was a "better than replacement" fix.  

1st Problem - The door won't open at all.
(One contributor did suggest you might be able to grab the loose cable and pull it form the outside - but we have not tried this)

Here's what we did....

Lower rear seats, climb in rear.
Remove 10mm bolts under plastic covers on pull down handle and also remove the 10mm bolt that holds the strap on.
Pull off rear panel - See picture. It is held on by about 10 white push-in clips. The clips may fall off and go everywhere - don't worry, they will go back on.

                

Wrestle cover out of inside of van. Now you have access to the latch, pull up the lever, opening the rear door. Fall out of van carefully. I didn't. Ouch.

                 
                                                                                      "Where is your wallet?" ™

Remove the internal (3) 10mm nuts holding the lock/handle cover plate on. Squeeze the white clip in the end position.
Pull this away from the door a little. The backup light wires are still attached, so you cannot pull far. Remove the 2 screws that hold the handle to this plate, and remove the latch cable (it just pulls off). You can now see where the handle has broken.

OK, I have got it off. How did you fix it?
Rather than replace the handle for another one that will break again, I drilled a hole through both the handle and the broken arm piece and bolted them together. While glue alone would never last (the torque on the handle is considerable), many folks have suggested superglue to hold them together while you drill the bore hole - use a slow drill rpm! (Thanks Wolfwar99). Just be careful, fingers are more expensive than the $300 fix don't forget! Mike (see below) reminded me to say "use a drill press to make the bore hole" Good idea! I did, of course - never thought anyone would consider doing it by hand! Also, you will have to enlarge the square hole in the metal plate to stop the nut from catching on it. I forgot this and many comments have suggested including this important step. PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THE DRILLING PART!

This fix is a bit of a fiddle (OK quite a fiddle), but the result is a permanent fix. See pictures & comments below.

Here you see the handle with a close-up of the break. This was after the 
screw was inserted.  The screw and nut came out of the "big box of loose screws" we all seem to have, so your sizing may vary. Use a strong one. Stainless steel is a good idea as it won't rust. If anyone comes up with a recommended size - please email & we will include it here! 

From Rob - 1 1/4" 4-40 screw, but I ended up using a size 8-32, 1 1/4 ".  The nut ended up being a bit large so I used a drill and Dremmel sander bit to enlarge the hole a bit.

More pictures of the fix.

Once you have repaired the handle, reverse the procedure and put your van back into service. Cost? $2 in a screw and nut. Some thread lock might be a good idea too.

Mike sent us some pictures of his fix, they show the hole enlargement and screw position better than mine. Thanks Mike!

UPDATE 02/07/2008

Well folks have been trying it and succeeding! We have posted some more feedback below. Ours is still holding strong, we probably would have broken another new one by now!. DJM

Did you find this useful? We would love to hear!  (See Contact page) We will add your comments here (no full names or email addresses of course!)

$1

Here's a way to say Thanks. (PayPal) Was it worth a dollar? (Don't make it more or I will get a big head)

                                                      FEEDBACK 

Sir/Madame,

I wish I had spent some time looking on the web.  The rear door latch handle broke on my 1999 Sienna, and I took it to the dealer to the tune of $ 210.00 to get it fixed!  Man, was I steamed! Gary D 

I  am so sorry - This was what we were trying to help people avoid!

As I repair further things on the Sienna, I will keep updating. DJM

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The instructions for repairing broken Toyota Sienna rear door handle were excellent and saved me almost $300. Thank you  - Dave C

That is great news! DJM
                                               ----------------------------------------- 
I am writing to let you know that I think your instructions on how to repair the Toyota Sienna Rear Door Handle are great.  I especially appreciate the diagrams.  However, I would appreciate if you could let me know if there is a trick to releasing the plastic spring clips so I may pull off the back panel.  (They do not seem to want to release and I do not want to force them if that may damage the panel.)  Thanks again for your help. JPS

To remove the plastic clips holding the rear panel, use a flat blade screw driver to gently pry them off.  Put the screw driver under the panel and gently leverage them off.  Once the first one is off, the remaining clips are more easily removed. We are glad you've found the article useful.  Let me know if you have any other questions
DavidM

Hi Dave,

Thank you very much for taking the time to put up your page on how to repair a Toyota Sienna rear door handle.  I was about to take mine in for service and thought I'd Google the problem to see how common it was.  You page came up high in the list and saved me $300!!  The pictures made to disassembly a breeze.  I bolted the pieces back together as you described. I'd say it is trickier than "a bit of a fiddle", but it still didn't take very long to do.

 

Thanks again!!

Carl J

Good job! (I guess I am used to "fiddling" - LOL)  DJM
                                                     ----------------------------------------- 
12/02/05

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the information.  I was ready to schedule a leisure major expense visit to the dealership when I found your website.  Everything disassembled EXACTLY per your instructions. 

Now my challenge is bolting the broken “finger” to the actual handle.  Did you use something to compress the actual latch release so that you could drill a properly aligned hole, or did you completely disassemble the handle at the hinge and do the drill bolt process then?  I am baffled as how to proceed.  Any further instruction that you provide is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,  Fred M

Dear Fred,

You must disassemble the handle to leave just the handle and the broken part. Drilling the hole in the 2 pieces is a challenging part BTW.

Also, you may have to enlarge the small square hole in the metal handle frame to allow the nut end to miss the frame.

Now we discover ALL the doors have plastic handles - ARRHHHGG!

Best of luck with it & Happy Holidays!

 

DavidM
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Hi,

I’m glad I found your website.

It works! Thank you!

I took me less than hour (including a trip to hardware store for bolt and nut) to fix it!

 Kindest Regards,

 Happy reader,

 Tom H

Dear Tom,

We are glad it was helpful - one more Sienna that can open the tailgate again!

DJM                                   ----------------------------------------- 

• the door handle assembly needs to be completely disassembled before you start drilling
•  use the recommended bolt & nut (stainless, 1-1/4" 4-40) . Depending on where your hole is positioned, you may need to drill a countersink for the head to get enough threads to tighten the bolt. I used locktite to hold the nut in place.
• Use a drill press to drill the hole (unless you are talented with a handheld electric drill)
• Enlarge the hole in the handle assembly bracket with a chainsaw file (or other grinding tool) so that the nut passes smoothly through the bracket.
• it can be done!  The geometry of the drilled hole seems improbable at first look, but it works.

Well Done Mike!  I included the photos above! 

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Update 03/05/06
1999 Toyota Sienna rear door handle fix. Right-on!
Thanks, yours was the first response and the last one I needed for this.  Of course, my handle broke right as I was loading 700 lbs. of redi-mix concrete in bags in the back.  Now I will have to crawl over them to get at the interior of the door.  But, at least I know what I need to do.  Thanks again, Scot

Scot,
Sorry about the concrete mix - that is going to make it even harder to do!
Someone told me you could grab the small broken handle piece with pliers from the outside and open it, but I had no success doing that. Good luck with your fix.

DJM
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Just want to say "Thank you so very much".  I fix my 1999 Sienna XLE handle in just less than 2 hours.
You are the MAN !!

Kev.

When you drill the hole, make it smaller than the screw and let it thread itself eliminating the need for the nut - which is a pain anyway!  Otherwise, GREAT ADVICE found here!!  Thank You!!

Stephanie

Great idea Stephanie - Remember though, you are only drilling into plastic, which might not be very strong when threaded.
- Let us know how this version works out over time! David.

                                                 -----------------------------------------

Thanks so much for the instructions on how to do this.  I am not quite finished with the job, but I discovered something additional that might be of value to others.

As I was discussing with my teen-ager what to use as an adhesive to hold the latch-handle pieces together in order to accurately drill the hole for the #4 machine screw, he mentioned how impressed he had been with
the solvent we had used in a plexiglass aquarium project a few years ago.  The aquarium had never worked right, but it also had never leaked. I searched around and found the rest of the solvent (we had bought a 4-oz. container for, I think, about $10.)  Turns out that solvent dissolves the latch handle material very nicely, which allowed me to
create a quite secure plastic weld at the broken point.  Because the real problem is the design of the part, I am adding the screw, but having the latch-handle's pieces welded firmly together while drilling has been very helpful.  The solvent I used was IPS WELD-ON #3, whose label says it is for joining acrylic.  It is transparent and watery, and
it has a very distinct odor.  I found it at the plastics place in an industrial park, which also sold us a very convenient small dispenser bottle.  Try the Yellow Pages under "plastic," or maybe Home Depot/Lowe's has something like it. Perhaps anything for joining acrylics will work as well.

John S.

 -Thanks for the idea John, holding the pieces together safely while it is drilled is probably the only tough bit of the job -

DJM
                                                      -----------------------------------------

I did finish the part and it works great! the only hard part was the drilling. the plastic will melt so you should add that it should be drilled at a slow rpm!!! i used a Bridgport and drilled at aprox. 90 rpm and was still too fast. the plastic right at the break started to melt just enough to break the superglue holding it but it still worked great. also i found the 4-40 was a bit too thin so i drilled using a .140" drill bit and used a #6 screw. is a bit stronger and still allowed enough plastic on the sides for strength.it took me about 40 mins to do the entire job.  thank you very much again.  

 wolfwar99

The slower drill speed does sound like a good idea! Thanks - DJM

  -----------------------------------------

Bob, this is the best idea for those who don't want to mess around with a drill! (No idea how long a new one will last of course!)
- DJM  
                                                         -----------------------------------------

Dealer quoted $400 for repair.  Not having a drill press or being much mechanically inclined, I purchased a replacement door latch handle assembly ($65) and followed the instructions to remove the back panel. Handle replaced and tools stored in 30 minutes.  I
encourage anyone to try--well worth the effort.

Thanks.  John R. 

Good work work John - one more $400 the dealer won't get! Now you can honestly put on your resume that you have worked for an equivalent $800 per hour! LOL - DJM
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Gentlemen,  At least 145 thanks because that's how much you saved me. I found your web page and it gave me hope of  doing the handle replacement on my wife's 1998 Sienna.  It worked !!! I have bookmarked you site. Regards, 

Michael S  01/08/2007

Well done Mike! The real plus is that it won't break again (as long as you used a strong bolt/screw!)

 One day, auto makers will realize that we like to keep our vehicles longer than 3 years and make the handles and things out of metal again.

 
Best Regards,

 David Melbourne
Melbourne Designs, LLC
www.FindOneFindAll.com
(866) 245-8670

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Dave:

..... Great instructions and feedback from all the other folks. Thanks so much for posting.  The door disassembly was straight forward, and extracting the handle was a cinch.  I did take the opportunity to take some detergent and a tooth brush and clean all the parts.  Plus I looked into my light bulb stocks and took the opportunity to test and change the license plate light bulbs too. The two optimizations I did do were to use a two-stage drilling process and spread epoxy on the hole and threads before inserting and tightening the screw.  The two stage drilling process just means I drilled the first hole only in the top main handle latch. I started from the face of the break to make sure it would be centered on the break.  After gluing, the hole on the main section acted as a guide to drill into the arm.  I didn't use a retaining nut, but filled the hole with epoxy and used some on the screw threads too to fix the screw inside without a nut on the end.  Wow!  It's tight now and doesn't flex at all because of real metal inside!

Thanks again for posting these tips.

-James
Sunnyvale, CA

Thanks James - I think you said something I forgot to, THANKS to all those that have provided feedback. This truly is a great way for all of us to share on a fix that saves a large amount of money. (Who can afford dealerships for stuff like this anyway?)
Keep it coming folks! DJM 02/11/07
 

Update from David 05/14/07 ENGINE OVERHAUL BECAUSE OF SLUDGE!

I just put the ENGINE back in the van! Seems the crankcase gases are not well ventilated on our Siennas (1998-2002) and any dinosaur oil left in the engine for any length of time (3001 Miles!) turns to SLUDGE! Couple that with very small oil return lines within the engine, hot spots in the cylinder heads that reach 260 deg, and you get black nasty SLUDGE. Toyota was sued and had to come up with 

 www.oilgelsettlement.com

which is a complete waste of time (they do NOT rod the oil returns looking for blockages) I spotted the lowering oil pressure in time to pull the engine and have it de-sludged and overhauled at Automotive Machine in Fort Worth.

 Now runs very smooth with synthetic oil and newly installed OIL PRESSURE GAUGE!  Be careful -  the engine and transmission come out the bottom on a subframe together and they are very HEAVY!

If you do have sludge - DO NOT try to wash it out of the engine using engine cleaner! This will just make it mobile and cause an "oil clot" somewhere else. Have Toyota look at it - you might be lucky and find a dealership that really cares. I didn't though.

Good Luck!

DJM

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Links

Find One, Find All and FOFA are Registered Trademarks of Melbourne Designs, LLC Arlington Texas USA. 76001 
PATENTED.

________________________________________
Another piece I have been working on..... nothing to do with above though. Remember USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
We cannot be held responsible for anything that happens to you using this information.

Key in the ignition, turn......nothing! Maybe just clicks, just spins, or not a sound at all.

Mechanics will then start talking to you like this.... "your diff nerd spring is baffled, this particular engine has a stingle blimp valve which rubs on the sprange bracket and kerbluee!  Then he says something you do understand "It will run you about $600" or, $700, $800, $900 - take your pick. Help! What now? Relax. Read some of this

What to do when your car won’t go.

1) Engine turns over very fast but will not fire, no spark at all - timing belt is gone, top end of engine not spinning. Serious? See engine list below. IF your car is NOT on list then not too bad. Belt is less that $100. Labor will vary. Fixable at home by most home mechanics. If your car is on the list, it could be VERY bad indeed, bend valves, damaged pistons.
etc. New engine time usually. List is incomplete! - Please check with a mechanic about your car! 

2) Engine will not turn, just clicks. This can be many things. Bad Battery, bad connections to battery. Alternator not charging battery properly, Bad starter, Bad connections to starter. Bad solenoid (may be included in starter) Try jumping with another vehicle. If it starts and voltage across battery rises to 13+V then battery or connections are bad. If voltage stays low, alternator no good. Remember however, battery can be so bad, it can prevent jumping from working.

Yep, it seems to be turning over real fast but won’t fire! If my “timing belt” is broken like you say, is it all over for my ride? Will it cost a million dollars to fix?
Will I have to sleep with my mechanic?

A: Depends on which Make and Model you have!

Good:
On some engines, when the timing belt brakes, the bottom of the engine is still spinning and nothing bad happens, it just quits. These engines have “Valve to Piston Clearance”. Fix is New Belt -Re-time, GO!

Bad:
If your engine is on the list below, the design relies on the valves being retracted (by the timing belt turning the bit that lifts them out of the way) when each piston comes to the top. When this timing belt breaks – Whammo!  Any valve that is stuck open is hit really hard by it’s piston. The result of this impact is too horrible to describe.. start drinking now.,

The next time you are looking to buy a car, forget the color, CD player, DVD player, sunroof, opposite sex attraction, and ask “DOES THE ENGINE HAVE VALVE CLEARANCE?” If your salesperson doesn’t know – RUN!

Here’s a very incomplete list of those "Whammo" Engines - Engines with NO Valve to Piston Clearance.

Valve Clearance. Pistons hit valves. Timing belt failure.

Acura 4 cylinder, 5 cylinder and V6 engines Audi 1.6L and 2.0L diesel engines Buick Skyhawk 1.8L and 2.0L engines Chevrolet Geo Metro 1.0L three cylinder engines Chevrolet Geo Spectrum  Prizm 1.5L and 1.6L engines Chevy Luv pickup truck 2.2L diesel engines Dodge and Plymouth Colt 1.5L and 1.6L engines Eagle Summit and Vista 1.5L and 1.6L engines Eagle Talon 2.0L engines 1981-85 Ford Escort (and Mercury Lynx) 1.6L engines 1985 Ford Tempo and Ranger pickup 2.0L diesel engines Ford Probe 2.0L engines All Honda four cylinder engines All Hyundai four cylinder engines Infinity 3.0L V6 engines All Isuzu four cylinder engines Mazda 2.2L four cylinder and 3.0L V6 engines Mitsubishi 1.5L, 1.6L and 2.0L engines All Nissan engines Porsche engines Suzuki 1.3L engines Toyota Tercel 1.5L engines Toyota pickup 2.2L and 2.4L diesel engines Volkswagen 1.5L and 1.6L diesel engines Volvo 4 cylinder engines Yugo engines