T180 - Issues

[Stubee]

Hi all,

I'm new here (said 'Hi' in appropriate places!!) so please be gentle.

I have looked in the search facility but still ended up with pages and pages of results - so as much as it pains me to do so I am going to ask a couple of questions about our car!

First up it is a Rav4 T180, 56 plate, 58,000 miles. Generally love it, however, We have a few issues with it -

1, Smoking, a filthy habit that was apparently the EGR valve. It was cleaned by our local dealer and is now better but not cured. No regular occasions for smoking, just does it when it fancies! If pushed I would say more under load (accelerating up hill) but that's not a given. For the record it is a whitish blue smoke - burning oil.....?

2 Fuel economy, the trip computer is saying 28 - 29 mpg, why is everyone else claiming 38+? It is not driven that hard! We have just been down to Somerset and back (300+ miles)I zeroed the trip and still only got 29.6mpg

3 Can the runflat tyres be changed to normal ones, ours keep losing pressure and the ride is a little harsh. If yes how do we get around not having a spare?

4 Headlights - :censor: in things are useless! Any recommended upgrades?

Sorry for the questions guys and gals!

Thanks in advance

Ben

[anchorman]

Ben

The smoking is normal and necessary. Your car has the D-CAT system which has a DPF (diesel particulate filter) and it will purge it every now and then - especially under load. Think yourself lucky, some makes have to go in dock periodically to have them purged at your expense!

There are more claims of 30mpg with 180 engines than 40. We can all expect low fuel consumption when the temp is sub zero but even when things improve don't expect anything wonderful. Its a trade off for getting 177bhp along with the DPF.

Tyres can be changed for standard but you will have to shop around to find somebody in your area who wil remove the support ring. One of the owners on the forum might guide you.

You can get various H11 upgrades. Mine are standard Autobulbs own brand and they are much better than the standards. I am told that there are others. Local Hero is good on this subject - he will look in soon.

[Stubee]

Ben

The smoking is normal and necessary. Your car has the D-CAT system which has a DPF (diesel particulate filter) and it will purge it every now and then - especially under load. Think yourself lucky, some makes have to go in dock periodically to have them purged at your expense!

There are more claims of 30mpg with 180 engines than 40. We can all expect low fuel consumption when the temp is sub zero but even when things improve don't expect anything wonderful. Its a trade off for getting 177bhp along with the DPF.

Tyres can be changed for standard but you will have to shop around to find somebody in your area who wil remove the support ring. One of the owners on the forum might guide you.

You can get various H11 upgrades. Mine are standard Autobulbs own brand and they are much better than the standards. I am told that there are others. Local Hero is good on this subject - he will look in soon.

Thanks for that Anchorman.

When I asked about the DPF at Toyota I was told that there wasn't one. I have a 174bhp VW T5 van, with a DPF and that has never ever smoked, not one little puff! That regenerates every 400 miles or so. The Rav is smoking every time I'm out, be it 5 miles to town and back or 150 miles to the in laws....?

That is our biggest concern at the moment, my parents have an X Trail which also smokes a bit, but our Rav is actually making people drop back behind and put headlights on!! It is like something out of Penelope Pitstop!!

Thanks for other replies, I'll look into those!!

[Big Kev]

There's a perfect spare wheel and tyre on eBay......fill yer boots. The way the temperature has been up here, I am thinking of deselecting "mpg" from my trip 'puter thing on my SR180.....HAVE SEEN IT AT 26MPG ON A MOTORWAY RUN, HAVING RESET IT AT START OF JOUIRNEY....!

The forum is packed with info on tyre replacement, and also see Pinned section at start re Runflats.

Big Kev (G.C. Guru in Chief)

Captain's Log : Supplementary....ebay wheel now selleded....send PM to MARSKY on here who has just bought some virtual t180 / sr180 duplicates. And if your car hasn't got a DPF, phone the police. Now the wee sh**s are taking our cars bit by bit and building their own, eh......unbelievable.

[Manxrav]

Hi Ben, when I had my 2006 T180, I never ever got better than 35mpg. This was one of the main factors for me selling it. When I lived in the UK,with motorways and good stretches of A roads it sometimes on long journeys got up to 39mpg but never got to the magical 40mpg. When we came to the Isle of Man, with no motorways and lots of B type roads albeite they are better surfaced and looked after better than the UK my mpg was always in the low 30,s.

I now have a BMW X3 2ltr diesel (150bhp) and do get 40mpg + but with the price of derv being up to 10p a litre dearer than the UK I am shortly getting shut and getting a Urbancruiser AWD diesel that I do know does well over 50mpg (my Dad has one)

Also remember I think I am right that you never get good mpg in cold weather as opposed to summer driving.

As for Run-flats good to see Toyota have now dropped them from the new facelifted SR180 (still think the current European Rav4 is the JDM Toyota Vanguard)

Regards Clare

[Stubee]

Big kev - yep seen that! I looked for one the other night after my wife came home having slid into the kerb round a roundabout!

I'm used to 29mpg, that's all I get from the van, our previous car only got 23mpg, (a golf GTi). We did have a 3l sport (petrol) X3 last year, only got 18mpg from that!!

[firemac]

Hi all,

I'm new here (said 'Hi' in appropriate places!!) so please be gentle.

I have looked in the search facility but still ended up with pages and pages of results - so as much as it pains me to do so I am going to ask a couple of questions about our car!

First up it is a Rav4 T180, 56 plate, 58,000 miles. Generally love it, however, We have a few issues with it -

1, Smoking, a filthy habit that was apparently the EGR valve. It was cleaned by our local dealer and is now better but not cured. No regular occasions for smoking, just does it when it fancies! If pushed I would say more under load (accelerating up hill) but that's not a given. For the record it is a whitish blue smoke - burning oil.....?

2 Fuel economy, the trip computer is saying 28 - 29 mpg, why is everyone else claiming 38+? It is not driven that hard! We have just been down to Somerset and back (300+ miles)I zeroed the trip and still only got 29.6mpg

3 Can the runflat tyres be changed to normal ones, ours keep losing pressure and the ride is a little harsh. If yes how do we get around not having a spare?

4 Headlights - :censor: in things are useless! Any recommended upgrades?

Sorry for the questions guys and gals!

Thanks in advance

Ben

Hello Stubee & welcome.

We've owned several Toyota's and none were outstanding re fuel consumption. My 55 reg D4D RAV averaged 35mpg over 6 months; my 57 D4D Land Cruiser averaged 25mpg over 2 years (but then it was a big brute) and our 02 reg VVTi Auto RAV has averaged about 25mpg over 8 years. On the other hand my 56 reg BMW 520d estate averaged 39 mpg over 6 months (without trying at all!). As my old uncle (God rest his soul), who owned about 50 cars during his lifetime, used to say, "if petrol (or diesel) is your only expense, that's cheap motoring". What he meant was that in his day, up to late nineties, break-downs and repairs were considered normal, so a vehicle that only needed gassing up & routine servicing (depreciation, insurance & road tax being taken as equal, more or less, irrespective of the car) was worth it's weight in gold - well, you know what I mean.

In a way, that's Toyotas; they aren't the most fuel efficient cars around but, by and large, they probably are the most reliable & they don't cost a fortune to insure. The fuel consumption issue probably arises from the fact that the engines (particularly the petrol VVTi) are so well engineered that they seem to perform rather effortlessly and because they tend to handle quite respectably, consequently you tend to flog them a bit more than you normally would. Well, that's my opinion anyway.

Can't comment on the smoking problem, never had it with my diesels although an acquaintance of mine used to get great perverse pleasure out of changing down into second gear in his Peugeot 406 diesel and flooring the accelerator, which caused enormous clouds of black exhaust smoke to envelope any following (too closely) traffic. He reckoned there was nothing mechanically wrong with it although, even if there was, he'd probably not have had it fixed since he enjoyed his little party piece so much. In your case I would have thought that if there are no other symptoms like excessive oil consumption, etc., the DPF answer is probably right.

[anchorman]

That is our biggest concern at the moment, my parents have an X Trail which also smokes a bit, but our Rav is actually making people drop back behind and put headlights on!! It is like something out of Penelope Pitstop!!

Thanks for other replies, I'll look into those!!

If it smoking all the time keep a close eye on the oil consumption - some of the early ones drank it. Its a question of time until you get used to it but I'd hate you to wreck the engine

[mikis]

I also had the smoke problem.I still do, but at least is bearable now.

In my case it was happening a lot when it was driven steadily over 2000rpm for long periods of time and with the second or third gear in the gearbox.Not so much with fourth.And never with the fifth or sixth.Now i try to upshift with low rpm on and never drive with second or third over 2000rpm.Recently we had sudden change in temreture, boy! the car was smokin

[RAV4Len]

I have the 150 version and took it on a run today and got 56.3 MPG on the way there.

Gave it the beans on the way home and still managed 50.3 MPG......

Would have thought that the 180 could have got near that to be honest, but reading on here....

[harleymlb]

Hi all,

I'm new here (said 'Hi' in appropriate places!!) so please be gentle.

I have looked in the search facility but still ended up with pages and pages of results - so as much as it pains me to do so I am going to ask a couple of questions about our car!

First up it is a Rav4 T180, 56 plate, 58,000 miles. Generally love it, however, We have a few issues with it -

1, Smoking, a filthy habit that was apparently the EGR valve. It was cleaned by our local dealer and is now better but not cured. No regular occasions for smoking, just does it when it fancies! If pushed I would say more under load (accelerating up hill) but that's not a given. For the record it is a whitish blue smoke - burning oil.....?

2 Fuel economy, the trip computer is saying 28 - 29 mpg, why is everyone else claiming 38+? It is not driven that hard! We have just been down to Somerset and back (300+ miles)I zeroed the trip and still only got 29.6mpg

3 Can the runflat tyres be changed to normal ones, ours keep losing pressure and the ride is a little harsh. If yes how do we get around not having a spare?

4 Headlights - :censor: in things are useless! Any recommended upgrades?

Sorry for the questions guys and gals!

Thanks in advance

Ben

Hi Ben and welcome to the forum.

I am also the "proud" owner of a T180 on a 57 plate.

I can concur the following points you made.

1) Smoke - Yes and plenty of it at times this is normal within reason -More smoke when the weather is cold for some bizzare reason.

2) Fuel consumption - 32 at best - around town 28 - in minus 5 expect around 24.

3) Tyres - yes they can easily be changed to a regular tyre - just get the BSR's removed - (read my posts on the subject)I have changed/removed all of mine.

4) Headlights - Very suprised about this one! Mine are excellent better than my previous mercedes. Have you got the pitch adjusted correctly?

I have owned my T180 3 years now and would consider to be someone in the know about this vehicle - although i am not a mechanic!

Regards

Mark.

[firemac]

I have the 150 version and took it on a run today and got 56.3 MPG on the way there.

Gave it the beans on the way home and still managed 50.3 MPG......

Would have thought that the 180 could have got near that to be honest, but reading on here....

That's incredible! Do you use Heinz or Crosse & Blackwell?

Liquidised or straight from the tin?

[Stubee]

Hi all,

I'm new here (said 'Hi' in appropriate places!!) so please be gentle.

I have looked in the search facility but still ended up with pages and pages of results - so as much as it pains me to do so I am going to ask a couple of questions about our car!

First up it is a Rav4 T180, 56 plate, 58,000 miles. Generally love it, however, We have a few issues with it -

1, Smoking, a filthy habit that was apparently the EGR valve. It was cleaned by our local dealer and is now better but not cured. No regular occasions for smoking, just does it when it fancies! If pushed I would say more under load (accelerating up hill) but that's not a given. For the record it is a whitish blue smoke - burning oil.....?

2 Fuel economy, the trip computer is saying 28 - 29 mpg, why is everyone else claiming 38+? It is not driven that hard! We have just been down to Somerset and back (300+ miles)I zeroed the trip and still only got 29.6mpg

3 Can the runflat tyres be changed to normal ones, ours keep losing pressure and the ride is a little harsh. If yes how do we get around not having a spare?

4 Headlights - :censor: in things are useless! Any recommended upgrades?

Sorry for the questions guys and gals!

Thanks in advance

Ben

Hi Ben and welcome to the forum.

I am also the "proud" owner of a T180 on a 57 plate.

I can concur the following points you made.

1) Smoke - Yes and plenty of it at times this is normal within reason -More smoke when the weather is cold for some bizzare reason.

2) Fuel consumption - 32 at best - around town 28 - in minus 5 expect around 24.

3) Tyres - yes they can easily be changed to a regular tyre - just get the BSR's removed - (read my posts on the subject)I have changed/removed all of mine.

4) Headlights - Very suprised about this one! Mine are excellent better than my previous mercedes. Have you got the pitch adjusted correctly?

I have owned my T180 3 years now and would consider to be someone in the know about this vehicle - although i am not a mechanic!

Regards

Mark.

That's a relief! Ours isn't smoking anywhere near as much or as badly as it was, from now on though I will cleaning the EGR myself. Tyres I think will be renewed as and when.......

Headlights - now heres a thing.....

I went to Halfrauds today to get some 'Super amazing extra extreme brilliance' headlight bulb replacements. I thumbed through the flip chart, found Rav4 2000- 'bulb E472' was required. Now I wasn't convinced but went along with it.

'Would you like them fitted?' I was asked at the till, at this point I would like to point out that I am more than capable of changing a light bulb (I owned VW Beetles in the past, have converted many and restored campers and minis etc.... a light bulb isn't about to flumox me!)

'OK I replied', I was feeling a bit flush (at £5.99 PER BULB I needed to be!) and was looking to prove a point

The nice young man came outside, popped the bonnet and after a bit of fumbling I was told 'these won't fit mate'

What a surprise I thought!

He went in to get the right ones, reappeared a few mins later and told me they didn't have any in. I returned into the shop to get a refund (I did have to ask for the £11.98 fitting fee to also be refunded!).

Anyway, tonight I was about to drive away from my folks house and thought those lights don't look right - The one Mr Halfords had been fiddling with was hanging out!

Lesson learnt and point proved to myself, I will do it myself next time, thank you Halfords but no thanks!

Lights are still poo though!

[phil9843]

Hi all

Just new to this Forum - so be gentle with me

I have a 2007 T180 and the most I can get from it is 32 mpg

I changed the full beam bulbs to 100 watt - it is legal for off roading (if questioned by Police ??)and it made a great difference to the lights

This is a great Forum with many very informative posts

Thank you for the opportunity to join such a Forum

[anchorman]

Welcome to the club Phil

[local hero]

Hi all,

I'm new here (said 'Hi' in appropriate places!!) so please be gentle.

I have looked in the search facility but still ended up with pages and pages of results - so as much as it pains me to do so I am going to ask a couple of questions about our car!

First up it is a Rav4 T180, 56 plate, 58,000 miles. Generally love it, however, We have a few issues with it -

1, Smoking, a filthy habit that was apparently the EGR valve. It was cleaned by our local dealer and is now better but not cured. No regular occasions for smoking, just does it when it fancies! If pushed I would say more under load (accelerating up hill) but that's not a given. For the record it is a whitish blue smoke - burning oil.....?

2 Fuel economy, the trip computer is saying 28 - 29 mpg, why is everyone else claiming 38+? It is not driven that hard! We have just been down to Somerset and back (300+ miles)I zeroed the trip and still only got 29.6mpg

3 Can the runflat tyres be changed to normal ones, ours keep losing pressure and the ride is a little harsh. If yes how do we get around not having a spare?

4 Headlights - :censor: in things are useless! Any recommended upgrades?

Sorry for the questions guys and gals!

Thanks in advance

Ben

Hi Ben and welcome to the forum.

I am also the "proud" owner of a T180 on a 57 plate.

I can concur the following points you made.

1) Smoke - Yes and plenty of it at times this is normal within reason -More smoke when the weather is cold for some bizzare reason.

2) Fuel consumption - 32 at best - around town 28 - in minus 5 expect around 24.

3) Tyres - yes they can easily be changed to a regular tyre - just get the BSR's removed - (read my posts on the subject)I have changed/removed all of mine.

4) Headlights - Very suprised about this one! Mine are excellent better than my previous mercedes. Have you got the pitch adjusted correctly?

I have owned my T180 3 years now and would consider to be someone in the know about this vehicle - although i am not a mechanic!

Regards

Mark.

That's a relief! Ours isn't smoking anywhere near as much or as badly as it was, from now on though I will cleaning the EGR myself. Tyres I think will be renewed as and when.......

Headlights - now heres a thing.....

I went to Halfrauds today to get some 'Super amazing extra extreme brilliance' headlight bulb replacements. I thumbed through the flip chart, found Rav4 2000- 'bulb E472' was required. Now I wasn't convinced but went along with it.

'Would you like them fitted?' I was asked at the till, at this point I would like to point out that I am more than capable of changing a light bulb (I owned VW Beetles in the past, have converted many and restored campers and minis etc.... a light bulb isn't about to flumox me!)

'OK I replied', I was feeling a bit flush (at £5.99 PER BULB I needed to be!) and was looking to prove a point

The nice young man came outside, popped the bonnet and after a bit of fumbling I was told 'these won't fit mate'

What a surprise I thought!

He went in to get the right ones, reappeared a few mins later and told me they didn't have any in. I returned into the shop to get a refund (I did have to ask for the £11.98 fitting fee to also be refunded!).

Anyway, tonight I was about to drive away from my folks house and thought those lights don't look right - The one Mr Halfords had been fiddling with was hanging out!

Lesson learnt and point proved to myself, I will do it myself next time, thank you Halfords but no thanks!

Lights are still poo though!

4.3 lightbulbs H11s dip beams + fogs..HB3s main beams, 20 mins to change all 4 dip+ mains, not fogs..(and i am an Idiot) save about £20 get them on eBay, "Ring" max 100% brighter or Osram nightbreakers and you could add some nice little wedge Leds for sidelights at the same time Stew

[Stubee]

4.3 lightbulbs H11s dip beams + fogs..HB3s main beams, 20 mins to change all 4 dip+ mains, not fogs..(and i am an Idiot) save about £20 get them on ebay, "Ring" max 100% brighter or Osram nightbreakers and you could add some nice little wedge Leds for sidelights at the same time Stew

H11s, HB3s and some wedge LEDs all ordered

Some before and after pics are in order methinks! :)

[phil9843]

Welcome to the club Phil

Thank you for the hearty welcom Anchorman

Nice to be here Great forum