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2005 Toyota Sienna XLE, control arm repair

8K views 20 replies 18 participants last post by  odie 
#1 ·
Hi all,
Just had a newborn in December 2020, and recently came into the procession of a 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD with ~125,000 mies, as a family car. Took it to the dealer to have it inspected to see what needs to be fixed to make sure my little one is safe.

According to the dealer, the front left, and right, control arms need to be replaced, and being the dealer, they quoted the repair job at an astonishing 8k, after parts and labor. I know from experience the dealer always charges more than the real cost, given overhead, etc. I am looking for parts online that are OEM

(2005 Toyota Sienna AWD XLE Suspension | AutohausAZ)

Im hoping the community here can provide me with information on all the parts everything that is necessary to complete the job, arms, bearing, and anything else. My plan is to buy all the required parts, and take it to a mechanic that I know, and have him install it at a much lower cost.

Has anyone done this, or have detailed info on what I will need part wise?

I'm also considering replacing other things like the strut assemblies, given they will already be accessing that area of the car.

I attached the invoice form the dealer as reference.

Any, and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Ryan
 

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#4 · (Edited)
Avoid that dealership. This is what they called "upselling". That is beyond scam.

Get a second/3rd opinion from a private (non-chain, non dealership affiliated) garage that works on Toyota.

OEM lower control arms straight from Toyota is $200-250 or so depending on which dealership you get it from and location. Decent aftermarket parts from suspension makers such as Moog is about half that.

Most likey, the actual control arms is okay but may just require new bushings and joints. That's even cheaper.

as for the Catalyst system.. depending if your vehicle is under Federal or California emissions, the prices varies BUT not to that $2600+. more like $250-650 or so. OR it could just be worn out O2 sensors .. $50-150, depending on which is needed.

And others are significantly less as well. Worth the time to shop around.

Control, Arms
Left, Front, Lower: 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD Suspension Control Arm (Left, Front, Lower). Their, Brakes, Causing - 4806908021 - Genuine Toyota Part
Right, Front, Lower: 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD Suspension Control Arm (Right, Front, Lower). Their, Brakes, Causing - 4806808021 - Genuine Toyota Part

NOTE if you do order from a dealership, check to make sure if it it includes bushings and ball joints already installed or separate. That will vary your prices.

Exhaust: 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD Parts like Exhaust

Check out RockAuto.com too. Decent prices for remanufactured and aftermarket parts.




This reminds me of that time a dealership tried to sell me an rear shock absorber for $800..each side. There was nothing wrong with it either..
Only reason I went there was b/c they were giving out free car washes and vacuum with any service and I was lazy to do oil change that time.



(╭☞ ಠ ͜つ ಠ )╭☞ r=1+sinθ
 
#5 · (Edited)
Hey Ryan,

Congrats on the newborn!

Ditto on the second opinion recommendation. First of all make sure you really need control arms. Yes, the bushings do wear out and can cause the front end alignment to get sloppy.

The official procedure I'm seeing for the control arm involves removing the engine and transmission, which is why the labor cost is so unreasonable, but even then your dealership is not doing the quote correctly. They're quoting you removing the engine and transmission for the left control arm, then reinstalling the engine and transmission, and then removing the drivetrain again for the right control arm and then reinstalling it. Doing both control arms should only be about $450 more than doing one, not $2900 more, even following the annoying official procedure and labor charts.

I suspect the control arms can be replaced without removing the engine and transmission, by supporting the drivetrain and then unbolting the mounts/etc that are required to get access to the control arm mounting bolts. Not sure the exact procedure for that.

The sensor / catalyst issue is a different type of problem. OE catalysts are insanely expensive. But you need to make sure 1) that the problem that killed the catalyst is solved, and 2) that your catalyst is actually permanently bad. If you don't solve the real problem, you'll waste your money on a new catalyst because it'll eventually go bad too. These 3MZ-FE Siennas occasionally have fuel delivery problems caused by a little inexpensive part on the fuel rail called the fuel pressure pulsation damper. Get a scan tool that can give you parameter readouts and ideally graph them (not just reading codes), and check your long term fuel trims for bank 1 vs bank 2. The long term fuel trims should be similar; ideal values are smaller than ±10, but a little larger isn't usually a problem. But if the long term trims are vastly different, say 10 points or more different, you may have a sensor or fuel pressure damper problem (or maybe something like an intake manifold gasket leak or bad injector).

See if you can get those fuel trim values.

If you get the actual problem fixed (whether a sensor or the damper or whatnot), it's possible the catalyst will start working fine on its own once the fouling is cleared out. But if the catalyst was severely overheated, it may have to be replaced.

(EDIT) I'd also add -- another inexpensive thing you can do is to clean your MAF sensor. The parts stores sell a spray cleaner specifically for the MAF. MAFs are delicate so you need to be careful, but the fuel mixture can get thrown off to the point of setting the check engine light, as a result of carbon buildup inside the sensor.

- G
 
#8 ·
Wish you were in my neck of the woods to lend a hand. Unbelievable that estimate. I showed the estimate to my wife as I did the arm repair like a year or two ago. She was stunned!
 
#9 ·
yup...stay away from dealers and their $$$ cost games..They are only good for toyota oem parts purchase. I would say buy only toyota parts from dealer, not amazon or ebay (lots of fake toyota parts)...only local dealerships on online toyota dealer partsonline legit ones. Especially for critical itmes like ball joints, Lower control arms, bearings as these are labor intensive jobs costing lots of time and $$.

Just search this forum, google it, youtube it... lots of database on web. You have to do your research homework to not get taken by dealers, repair shops or just plain learn by bad experiences of life lessons..

some people are proactive and intune to their cars maintenance repair to ride like new... And some others who drive it to the ground till it breaks and then fix it... And others who just say 300K miles, ++, no repairs even though it runs like crap. lots of different owners out there.

so just buy the parts from TOYOTA DEALER ONLY and have your trusted mechanic do them..Its not hard,,, I am DIY and I did almost the whole front end...both sides. wheel bearings, cv axles, lower control arms, struts, steering rack outer rubber boots and various other basic wear parts.. Since these sienna vans are front end heavy, it kills most front end parts sooner or later. There are several toyota online parts dealers that are good and prices are good, often sometimes only few dollars more then local auto parts store.
 
#11 ·
Hi all,
Just had a newborn in December 2020, and recently came into the procession of a 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD with ~125,000 mies, as a family car. Took it to the dealer to have it inspected to see what needs to be fixed to make sure my little one is safe.

According to the dealer, the front left, and right, control arms need to be replaced, and being the dealer, they quoted the repair job at an astonishing 8k, after parts and labor. I know from experience the dealer always charges more than the real cost, given overhead, etc. I am looking for parts online that are OEM

(2005 Toyota Sienna AWD XLE Suspension | AutohausAZ)

Im hoping the community here can provide me with information on all the parts everything that is necessary to complete the job, arms, bearing, and anything else. My plan is to buy all the required parts, and take it to a mechanic that I know, and have him install it at a much lower cost.

Has anyone done this, or have detailed info on what I will need part wise?

I'm also considering replacing other things like the strut assemblies, given they will already be accessing that area of the car.

I attached the invoice form the dealer as reference.

Any, and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Ryan
Not many mechanics like or would do customer brought in parts.
Call around for a local mechanic with prices of parts and labor for the control arms.
Control arms cost around $200-$250. The mechanic may charge $300ish for parts and then see how much they charge for labor. Should be around $200-$300 or so for labor would be a good enough price. This is price per side.
 
#12 ·
My plan is to buy all the required parts, and take it to a mechanic that I know, and have him install it at a much lower cost.
Why not take the van to that mechanic and ask him for an opinion? A 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD with ~125,000 miles likely doesn't need both front control arms replaced. The rubber bushings might be starting to crack but that doesn't mean the control arms need to replaced soon.

A second professional opinion is called for.
 
#13 ·
At $8k, they were either swamped with work, trying to get you into a lease return with a monthly payment or they had a LOT more than just the control arms. Around me (Southern New England), the dealers charge about the highest labor rates around AND they upsell you AND they do every other tactic in the book but I highly doubt they would quote $8k for a control arm replacement on a 16 year old van. IIRC, the control arms from the dealer were something like $400/ea. I would expect the quote for that work from the dealer to be around $1200 per side. Now, if they are doing a whole front suspension plus a timing belt, water pump, seals, and belts, plus the steering rack, that probably would fall in around $8k. That said, I would take the car to an independent mechanic and ask them for a quote using all OEM parts. If the estimate really is just the control arm, that's to the point of potentially contacting the BBB and possibly the AG in your State, as it borders on criminal. Failing control arms would qualify as a safety inspection failure in many States and this could be seen as coercive business practices. If, however, the estimate included other stuff, post it here and we can let you know if the full quote was fair/reasonable.
 
#14 ·
Zowie!

I have a 2010 XLE with FWD and I replaced both lower control arms myself last October, and I am barely even a weekend mechanic. I bought OEM control arms from a Toyota dealer online for $160 each. I read that you want the genuine Toyota ones as there can be issues with some aftermarket brands. I was able to replace the control arms without having to pull the engine but by just jacking it up enough to be able to remove the mounts which are in the way (YouTube videos). It took me an afternoon, and the purchase of a big-a-- torque wrench to complete the job (some of the bolts are spec'ed really tight).

Unless this van is from somewhere other than Northern California where rust is an issue, you could do this on your own. But an independent shop that knows what they are doing should be able to replace both arms for under a grand. I know that the FSM says to remove the engine to replace the control arms, but a quote of $5300 is outrageous. Also try a few other dealers and independent shops and get second and third opinions. And use the money you save to start a college fund for your new baby. Congratulations! and try to get some sleep :sleep:
 
#16 ·
Hi all,
Just had a newborn in December 2020, and recently came into the procession of a 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD with ~125,000 mies, as a family car. Took it to the dealer to have it inspected to see what needs to be fixed to make sure my little one is safe.

According to the dealer, the front left, and right, control arms need to be replaced, and being the dealer, they quoted the repair job at an astonishing 8k, after parts and labor. I know from experience the dealer always charges more than the real cost, given overhead, etc. I am looking for parts online that are OEM

(2005 Toyota Sienna AWD XLE Suspension | AutohausAZ)

Im hoping the community here can provide me with information on all the parts everything that is necessary to complete the job, arms, bearing, and anything else. My plan is to buy all the required parts, and take it to a mechanic that I know, and have him install it at a much lower cost.

Has anyone done this, or have detailed info on what I will need part wise?

I'm also considering replacing other things like the strut assemblies, given they will already be accessing that area of the car.

I attached the invoice form the dealer as reference.

Any, and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Ryan
I have 210K on my 2005 CE and have yet to replace the control arms. It sounds like this dealership is out to "take you for a ride." Get a second opinion from an independent mechanic before buying any control arms.
 
#20 ·
I have a 2004 with 165,000 miles on it and have not replaced control arms, bushings, etc. Had it aligned last summer at an independent shop and about two months later went to a Toyota dealership for a recall on the shift lever and spare tire carrier recall. At the dealership, they do a complimentary drive up check on the alignment. Service manager's comments was that they don't come from the factory aligned as well as the van was aligned. I know the independent shop would have told me if things weren't right so they could upsell, it didn't happen. I always like reading when someone states "Its a known issue" and then Google it and you can't find anything to support the "known issue". The tires wear evenly and the van handles nice I'll get it checked out again this spring after pothole season passes.
 
#18 ·
Hi all,
Just had a newborn in December 2020, and recently came into the procession of a 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD with ~125,000 mies, as a family car. Took it to the dealer to have it inspected to see what needs to be fixed to make sure my little one is safe.

According to the dealer, the front left, and right, control arms need to be replaced, and being the dealer, they quoted the repair job at an astonishing 8k, after parts and labor. I know from experience the dealer always charges more than the real cost, given overhead, etc. I am looking for parts online that are OEM

(2005 Toyota Sienna AWD XLE Suspension | AutohausAZ)

Im hoping the community here can provide me with information on all the parts everything that is necessary to complete the job, arms, bearing, and anything else. My plan is to buy all the required parts, and take it to a mechanic that I know, and have him install it at a much lower cost.

Has anyone done this, or have detailed info on what I will need part wise?

I'm also considering replacing other things like the strut assemblies, given they will already be accessing that area of the car.

I attached the invoice form the dealer as reference.

Any, and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Ryan
For them to quote you $8500 it's probably cost more than what you might have paid for the minivan. I would jack up the front and take the wheels off then inspect around the area of struts for any leak of hydraulic fluid. If you insist of changing the front struts get the KYB Complete struts assembly (strut, spring coil, strut mount)
. All you'll need to do is remove 3 nuts at the strut mount; 2 nuts/bolts from struts at wheel hub knuckle. It's a complete swap out and change. This is a DIY job with some basic tools. I did the complete front struts replacement on my 2005 RAV4 and took me about 1/2 hr each side - given that the stabilizer bar link comes off easy. You might want to check that too if it feels loose when you can twist and rotate the bar with one hand. I never bring any of my Toyota vehicles to a dealer or local auto repairshop for anything. I am a DIY person and you can learn how to do repairs from watching those YT videos. I am not a mechanic but I've been DIY for over 25+ yrs. I DON'T trust any mechanic unless I know him personally. Don't mention anything about you want the vehicle to be safe for your newborn. When mechanics hear that they will use safety sales tactics to trick you into replace all kind of parts on your vehicle. Best to go to someone you know and trust. Good Luck!
 
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