Hello - New To The Rav4

[Andyf3854]

Hello, I have recently traded in the wife's Astra SXi for a 54 plate Rav4 XT3 2.0 petrol with 36K on the clock. From this very informative site I think it is a facelifted 4.2 in lagoon blue, here are some pictures the day we bought it;

It is actually my wife's car but I have always loved the look of the Rav4 and am pleased we finally have one. Sadly I got a bit carried away after seeing the car and didn't ask the right questions as I found it only has one key and another one is going to cost around £150. I asked about service history and was told it had some stamps and some receipts. Turns out it has one stamp at 10,000 miles and that's it, the receipts are for brakes and tyres etc, not servicing. Now the car has only done 36K and although it should have been serviced every year do you think it is really that big a problem? It had a full service before we picked it up.

It has a couple of other little niggles, the engine management light has come on a couple of times (the dealer said it could be the cold?! or a an oxygen sensor, although the mother-in-law's Yaris had a similar problem and needed a new ECU!)

Finally the steering seems to pull to the left then 'snatch' back to the right which we will also need to get looked at. It is still under their warranty so fingers crossed wont be an issue.

Does anyone know what may cause these problems?

Although it is my wife's car I have driven it a few times and think it's great, it is really solid and when it snowed it was lovely to cruise past people who were wheel spinning on hills and going nowhere!

Hopefully I will get some more pictrures of the Rav in a better setting soon to post up here.

Oh and one more thing, are the wheel arch extensions an optional extra as some seem to have them and others don't?

[tilleytoo]

Read the thread 'D4D Engine Fault' ! Did the Yaris lose power when the engine light came on, and if so did the new ECU solve the problem?

[Andyf3854]

Read the thread 'D4D Engine Fault' ! Did the Yaris lose power when the engine light came on, and if so did the new ECU solve the problem?

I did have a quick read of that. I don't think the Yaris lost power and think the new ECU did the trick. Am I right in thinking that the master key is black and the othe is grey? We have the black key so getting a spare shouldn't be a problem should it?

[pmb]

A wise choice of colour in my opinion (mine's lagoon blue). Sounds like the oxygen sensor I'm afraid , 2-300 pounds from Mr T. Have a search on this forum , I've had two go , the heater circuit goes o/c. I've got three keys , 2 black and one grey.

[Andyf3854]

Thanks for the advice, I hope I have the master key and not the other one! Hoprfully the dealer will sort it as it is under warranty. I also think it is the best colour, that's why I overlooked the problems!

[igormus]

Hi ANdy + wecome to the club.

Ok now you'd take over your car and start to have your personal service history logged.

I am still in doubts -- petrol or diesel? ANy ideas?

WHather you ve got only one issue with engine management light?

Cheers/Igor

[Andyf3854]

Hi ANdy + wecome to the club.

Ok now you'd take over your car and start to have your personal service history logged.

I am still in doubts -- petrol or diesel? ANy ideas?

WHather you ve got only one issue with engine management light?

Cheers/Igor

It's a petrol, there are no issues when the light is on, it seems to drive fine. I will service it regularly from now on, it's a shame it had a few stamps missing though.

[rambler]

hi andy

welcome aboard :D

nice rav and lovely colour

as long as its serviced and maitained properly,its should go for miles and miiiiiiiiillllllllllllllleesssssssssssssss.

anchorman is the man to ask(IMPO)

[anchorman]

Hi Andy and welcome to the club

It has missed a "big" service so make sure that gets done. It consists of all the fluids being changed in the transmission and you need to have the brake fluid changed. It will need a cabin filter but buy one from a spares shop and do it yourself - the instructions are in the pinned maintenance tips at the top of the RAV page. The service and the brake fluid might set you back up to £300 so be prepared. There is no timing belt to worry about.

With regard to the other items you should make sure they are done under warranty as they may turn out to be expensive. As mentioned above there are 4 sensors and any number of them could be playing up. It may be worth checking the air filter as that can affect the performance of the oxygen sensors - especially as they are playing up at such a low mileage. You could try giving it a good run and get it pretty well up the rev range but be sensible. It might just clear the flu out but be absolutely sure it is cured or let them do it.

The brake sounds like one of the fronts isn't working properly. This (and the oxy sensors) might suggest it has been parked up for some time as these calipers don't give problems. When braking it will pull to the side that works but you tend to counter the pull by turning in the opposite direction. The problem is when you release the brake it shoots over to the side you are pulling to!!! It needs fixing quick or you could end up in a tangle.

Its a good car and once you have got rid of the gremlins I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Keep in touch and you don't have to be nuts but it will help.

[gwilphil]

hi andy

welcome aboard :D

nice rav and lovely colour

as long as its serviced and maitained properly,its should go for miles and miiiiiiiiillllllllllllllleesssssssssssssss.

anchorman is the man to ask(IMPO)

Love the photos of the Lakes will be there again end of April. I do have it all here in Snowdonia but I also love the Lakes :D

[Andyf3854]

Thanks for the advice Anchorman, the garage have stamped the full service box so hopefully this is what they have done although I may check to make sure. The steering problem happens during normal driving rather than when braking, it is fine when braking in a straight line with hands off the wheel.

It will be going back in soon as we need to get a parcel shelf sorted (they are getting us one as they are £500+!) so hopefully they'll getting running right. I drive an MG ZS so I am used to this kind of thing!!!

[rambler]

hi andy

welcome aboard :D

nice rav and lovely colour

as long as its serviced and maitained properly,its should go for miles and miiiiiiiiillllllllllllllleesssssssssssssss.

anchorman is the man to ask(IMPO)

Love the photos of the Lakes will be there again end of April. I do have it all here in Snowdonia but I also love the Lakes :D

hi qwilphil

glad you like the pix,just in process of booking another 'lakes' walking holiday,hope sometime before june..hopeing for 'striding egde' and helvellyn this time...maybe even scafell pike (done these before) but will do again.....as i just love it

.

i use 'hf holidays' ,lovely country house hotels, or if i really want to lose myself,i 'wild camp' with a few walking freinds,its tough but back to nature is sooooooo good

[duncerduncs]

Hi Andy,

I'm not a million miles away from you living in Didcot, if you wanted someone to read the fault codes for you, I'd be happy to help (I bought a fault code reader last year for my wife's old 4.2) :)

Welcome to the club

[Andyf3854]

Hi Andy,

I'm not a million miles away from you living in Didcot, if you wanted someone to read the fault codes for you, I'd be happy to help (I bought a fault code reader last year for my wife's old 4.2) :)

Welcome to the club

Thanks for that, the light keeps coming on the going off. Where is the port to plug the reader in to? A mate has an OBD reader that he used on my wife's old Astra, would that work on the Rav4?

[anchorman]

Hi Andy,

I'm not a million miles away from you living in Didcot, if you wanted someone to read the fault codes for you, I'd be happy to help (I bought a fault code reader last year for my wife's old 4.2) :)

Welcome to the club

Thanks for that, the light keeps coming on the going off. Where is the port to plug the reader in to? A mate has an OBD reader that he used on my wife's old Astra, would that work on the Rav4?

Just behind the bonnet pull lever under the dash. The reader will work if the RAV has round fog lamps. Earlier models are not compliant.

[Andyf3854]

Hi Andy,

I'm not a million miles away from you living in Didcot, if you wanted someone to read the fault codes for you, I'd be happy to help (I bought a fault code reader last year for my wife's old 4.2) :)

Welcome to the club

Thanks for that, the light keeps coming on the going off. Where is the port to plug the reader in to? A mate has an OBD reader that he used on my wife's old Astra, would that work on the Rav4?

Just behind the bonnet pull lever under the dash. The reader will work if the RAV has round fog lamps. Earlier models are not compliant.

Thanks for that, it has the round fogs so hopefully will work