Water, Water Everywhere

[abraxas]

Hi Everybody.

I bought an 4.3 XT4 D4D three months ago and I have put a first 1000-odd miles on it and so far I am enjoying it.

It is taking me a while to get used to the diesel engine, and 6-speed g/box...particularly the second-gear clunk when shifting. Anchorman's posts went a long way to reassure over that one. Thanks for that.

So, as you may have guessed, I have been lurking for quite a while reading up on the good and bad things about RAVs. Some really knowledgeable and helpful people here.

Now I seem to have hit my first problem that will force me out of hiding. :( Water ingress! I have noticed that the carpet in the footwell, particularly passenger side, seems to be a bit damp. Not really a huge problem in itself particularly as we had quite a few right miserable days recently; but the car really smells damp and smelly now :( I am about to get in touch with the dealer, but I thought I'd give you knowledgeable (and unbiased) lot a shout and see if anyone has any advice. I am relly not quite sure where it could be getting in from ( it is not the windows and doesn't seem to be the sunroof.

Funny thing is that last time I was at a dealer recently (intermittent fault on airbag sensor) they had a 4.3 in the workshop with a running hose duct-taped to the windscreen. So I thought that this may be a common one...

Thanks in advance and thanks for all the interesting things I keep reading here. Even though I find the bling-up threads a bit too tempting :) I just count myself lucky Hoovie hasn't traded up to the 4.3 yet...temptation could get irresistible.

[bothwell_buyer]

Water ingress on RAVs dates back to 1994 when they were introduced.

Various causes - sunroof duct blocked; drain blocked; windscreen not sealed properly (had this in my case); and seals leaking allowing water into passenger footwell. Its essential you get the source found and sorted as it will affect the electrics (theres a fuse box in the passenger footwell or used to be) - and it will lead to corrosion of the footwell itself. Drying out the felt and carpet is near impossible - treat it the same as if your house had flooded.

Back to the garage and insist it gets fixed.

[Hoovie]

Welcome to the Forum

You are safe from any possible HooviePimping on a 4.3 for quite a while ;)

I cannot advise you about where the leak is from, but as far as drying out the carpets go, a good few years back I had a 3" pool of water in my Ford after leaving window open in rainstorm - using a sponge to soak up the water and then leaving a hairdryer running for about an hour lying in the footwell of the car dried it out nicely :)

Right as ... umm... rain(!) after :D

[chatman]

The water Ingress in the 4.3 passenger foot well is a known problem.. I believe there is a fix for this and involves changing some of the rubber grommets between the passenger footwell and the engine bay. Other members 4.3 models may be able to help on this and Anchorman especially as I think he had his fixed for this. Try a quick search on this forum for the other topics....

I'd take it back to the dealer and get them to sort it out...Also if you try over at www.rav4world.com and look in the TSB section you may find what your looking for, then take tis to the dealer and let them resolve it...(TSB = Technical Service Bulletin) issued by Toyota....

[anchorman]

Luckily mine has always been bone dry but yes there was a problem and in some cases owners rejected their cars for it.

To start with just make sure that water hasn't blocked any drain holes under the plastic scuttle at the bottom of the windscreen. The mod is shown below as Chatman says from the R4W website. It is a bit of a concern that such a late model suffers in this way as it should have been addressed - that is the only reason I suggest you check for drain holes blocked with leaves.

If the carpets stink very badly you should insist they are changed along with the underlay when the mod is done as they may always smell to some extent.

For the TSB click the link in this post (courtesy R4W);

http://rav4world.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9475

Good luck

[bothwell_buyer]

abraxus

yer in scotland - ony probs wi the garage an gies the name an we'll bomb the baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaastfds!

[abraxas]

Thanks for the advice guys! As much as I am glad that it is not an isolated obscure problem, I am equally annoyed that this hasn’t been recalled to fix by MrT. :(

Anyhow, I have now joined the R4W and looked at the TSBs (there’s few of them there!!) and I am armed with new knowledge prior to my visit to the dealer.

In my defence, I did try searching the forum first, but I couldn’t find anything. Clearly didn’t try hard enough. Sorry. To be honest, the search engine is my least favourite aspect of the forum...

Anchorman, helpful as always, thanks a lot, mate. Just to clarify, it is not a new XT4, just new to me. It is (May, i think) 2006. I did put the year in the “model” bit of my profile but somehow that got shortened to just “RAV4” and now I can’t work out how to change it. More time with my friend - the search engine, me thinks. Great!

Oooh, I would really like to ask for the carpets to be changed. When I took it in to the dealer the last time I asked them to clear out the AirCon because of the musty smell. Figured that must be where the smell is coming from. Now I think it was the carpet all the time.

I am really glad you suggested it; at least I know it is not an unreasonable thing to ask for.

Although I’ll probably never manage to persuade the dealer...

Thanks again everyone.

[abraxas]

Thanks Bothy! :)I will keep you posted.

Coincidentally, I must say that I was quite pleasantly surprised with the dealer the last time. They lost some points with me on the easy stuff - a bit hard to get on the phone, not very good in replying to emails, callbacks, etc... "Oh, here we go...", I thought.

But when it came to the crunch they really did go out of their way to get the stuff sorted out quickly. Swapped a whole seat for me to avoid taking ages to dissasemble the leather and and find out which airbag sensor was playing up. Full marks for that. I hope they will sort this out for me...

Or I will tell them I'll get the heavies of the west coast posse involved ! :)

[bothwell_buyer]

Yer aircon filters probably need changed as weel..............................

I have folk ah ken whit torch motors........ altho maist o them are me wi the dishwasher...............!

[abraxas]

Ouch. I just had the time to properly read through a few older threads about the similar problem. Some ordeal StuP went through over this same problem!? (Total digression: I wonder what he went for in the end after getting his money back from the T180)

Anyway...I contacted the dealer today and they said that Toyota will pay for replacing the underlay but not for the carpet. :( Great. So this happens that often that he knew off the top of his head what is paid for and what is not.... :ffs: I s'ppose, the good news is that they are going to be able to have a look at it on Thursday and give me a courtesy car. I’m looking forward to fitting my 6’5” / 18st into a Yaris or whatever the smallest/cheapest Toyota is that they give out as loaners. At least that will be a laugh.

I am really dreading this one. :( The OH has chronic sinusitis and the idea of having mould permanently in the carpets really does not appeal. I mentioned the guy from the garage went on about “deodorising” the carpets and she internally translated that to “using chemicals to mask the smell” and that sent her into a fit.

We have not bought it new, and a couple of months ago, so I can’t exactly ask for another one... or “reject” it. :(

I may need to take Bothy up on his offer. :)

So far Toyota is not exactly getting my vote for reliability. This is a well-run-in car and it is back to the garage twice in the first 1000 miles with us for things that should have not gone wrong with a two (and a bit) year old car. In comparison, our 12yr old wee BMW that we traded in for this was quite amazing in build quality even in its advanced age. Thinking back that I went for this RAV over an X3 of the similar spec and price... I think I’ll be off kicking myself, then.

Anyways, sorry for turning this topic into me support group... needed a bit of a whinge to people that understand. Maybe the whole thing will get sorted dout and I'll go back to enjoying the car... besides the gearchange :)

Will keep you all posted...

[anchorman]

I don't think I would worry too much about not getting the carpet (unless there are any signs of water damage) as the underlay will stink due to being permanently damp. As long as they fix the leak and rid out the underlay you should be OK.

Keep your chin up mate!

[abraxas]

Thanks for the support mate. I was feeling a wee bit down.

I am sure it will all get sorted out in the next few days. It is only a smelly carpet... must keep things in perspective.

Noticed something odd and possibly interesting this morning, though.

In an effort to stop my car grabing a nice big waft of smelly carpet to promptly shove it up me nose, I tried switching the recirculation off really quickly. I ended up hitting "auto" button together with the recirc button (all within a couple of seconds after ignition). Fat fingers.... That sent the aircon console into a bit of a frenzy. All button-lights on, various icons flashing on the LCD, and fan going through the increasing speed settings. I thought for a second it has all gone wrong with the water ingress, but then I noticed that there was a definite pattern to it. So I tried it again and got the same behaviour. Looks like some sort of a diagnostics/settings cycle...

I checked the manual and did a bit of a search but couldn't find anything. (BTW, is it just me or is that manual written in a really strange and not very readable way? )

Anyhow, I thought this was interesting and thought I'd share... (note to self : must get out more :)

This is, of course, where someone tells me that this is a well known thing everyone apart from us noobs knows about :)

[Nightstalker]

Lo there....

Sorry to hear about your bother...

In regards to the courtesy car - When I arranged for the mirror mod to be done I asked if I could use the 24hr drive RAV4 as I needed the space and no other car would do... They agreed initially but then when they reailised that the mod would only take 10 mins they said they would change the mirror mod whilst I waited...

So it is possible to get a decent sized car if one insists - and depending on the dealership - the one here in Reading has been great - I had an avensis before me Rav and cant knock them...

Not looking forward to the possible move to ARNOLD CLARK kingdom in bothy territory... aint heard anything positive about them...

Regards

Rob

B)

[shcm]

I checked the manual and did a bit of a search but couldn't find anything. (BTW, is it just me or is that manual written in a really strange and not very readable way? )

Anyhow, I thought this was interesting and thought I'd share... (note to self : must get out more :)

This is, of course, where someone tells me that this is a well known thing everyone apart from us noobs knows about :)

Don't think it is that well known, but it is a diagnostic feature that is outlined in the factory repair manual. Anchorman posted the details here, if you're interested:

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=82012

There is some of the automatic behaviour that can be allegedly changed, see here:

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=84751

but it would appear you need the Toyota plug in tester for that. A pity really IMHO, if they can build in the test feature, why not allow you to change the basic functions with hidden modes?

Yep, it's interesting. Don't worry about getting out more, but then I probably certainly need to.

Cheers

[bothwell_buyer]

Lo there....

Sorry to hear about your bother...

In regards to the courtesy car - When I arranged for the mirror mod to be done I asked if I could use the 24hr drive RAV4 as I needed the space and no other car would do... They agreed initially but then when they reailised that the mod would only take 10 mins they said they would change the mirror mod whilst I waited...

So it is possible to get a decent sized car if one insists - and depending on the dealership - the one here in Reading has been great - I had an avensis before me Rav and cant knock them...

Not looking forward to the possible move to ARNOLD CLARK kingdom in bothy territory... aint heard anything positive about them...

Regards

Rob

B)

Think you've got that wrng - Car old nark is an expert at nifty footwork - jist that he chose the wrong career. Should have been a boxer wi the defensive punches he pulls. Then again, we also have Puglas dark who's a quick mover.

Aye, its a challenge tae find a real T dealer in aboot here.

[john1944]

Are you sure about the sunroof, I left mine open slightly one night, and got a soaking.

Hi Everybody.

I bought an 4.3 XT4 D4D three months ago and I have put a first 1000-odd miles on it and so far I am enjoying it.

It is taking me a while to get used to the diesel engine, and 6-speed g/box...particularly the second-gear clunk when shifting. Anchorman's posts went a long way to reassure over that one. Thanks for that.

So, as you may have guessed, I have been lurking for quite a while reading up on the good and bad things about RAVs. Some really knowledgeable and helpful people here.

Now I seem to have hit my first problem that will force me out of hiding. :( Water ingress! I have noticed that the carpet in the footwell, particularly passenger side, seems to be a bit damp. Not really a huge problem in itself particularly as we had quite a few right miserable days recently; but the car really smells damp and smelly now :( I am about to get in touch with the dealer, but I thought I'd give you knowledgeable (and unbiased) lot a shout and see if anyone has any advice. I am relly not quite sure where it could be getting in from ( it is not the windows and doesn't seem to be the sunroof.

Funny thing is that last time I was at a dealer recently (intermittent fault on airbag sensor) they had a 4.3 in the workshop with a running hose duct-taped to the windscreen. So I thought that this may be a common one...

Thanks in advance and thanks for all the interesting things I keep reading here. Even though I find the bling-up threads a bit too tempting :) I just count myself lucky Hoovie hasn't traded up to the 4.3 yet...temptation could get irresistible.