2004 Xt3 D4D Fault

[lovegroove]

Hi all,

Just bought a RAV4 last month and this is my first post on this forum. I just bought a used approved RAV4 at the start of December and after doing less than 2000 miles it's now sitting on my drive broken. Driving up hill on a cold New Year Eve and suddenly engine fault light came on and I lost all power. I managed to limp it 1km home by putting it in first and just rolling along at walking pace.

Before this happened I have had a few starting issues on very cold mornings (-13C) and a funny breathing noise coming from somewhere behind the motor, but I haven't managed to trace exactly where it's coming from and can't feel any air escaping. Reading other threads and forums, I'm a bit worried that it's the dreaded impossible to find fault that keeps coming back.

I just looked at my vehicle registration documents and have now spotted that I am the 5th owner in 6 years! Should I be worried that this is a sign that I've bought a dog of a car and should I cut my losses now and try and get Mr T to give me my money back?

Waiting for Toyota assistance to come tomorrow morning, so will report back then with the diagnosis.

Also, has anyone ever managed to get money back under the warranty having paid for the repair in a foreign country? I bought the car in the UK, but am currently in France for a few months and the guy from Mr T told me that I would have to pay for the repair and then claim the money back after. Just worried that if it's something expensive then they will only cover me for part of it or not cover the labor etc.

Cheers,

LG

[anchorman]

Welcome to the club.

I would start with a fuel filter just in case it is filled with waxed fuel but if not probably SCVs. Here you would have to give the dealer "reasonable chance" to rectify the fault before asking for a refund.

I would have thought it was a European warranty but not sure - maybe somebody in the know will comment.

Good luck

[lovegroove]

Thanks for the reply.

I keep reading about SVCs, but I have no idea what they are. Don't suppose you care to enlighten me?

For the last 8 years I've been driving a Renault Clio, and I didn't enjoy driving, but since getting the RAV4 I've actually managed to find some pleasure in driving again. It would be a shame if the car turns out to be an unreliable beast.

Cheers,

LG

[anchorman]

The pressure of the fuel delivered by the injectors is controlled by the high pressure pump (around 1500 bar). As it is a simple pump it is equipped with a pair of suction control valves that can vary the pressure by simply interfering with the flow.

The trouble is that they are known to stick and when they do the car loses power. You can buy the valves here for about £225 delivered and the fitting procedure is shown here;

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=87986

[igormus]

Hi all,

Just bought a RAV4 last month and this is my first post on this forum. I just bought a used approved RAV4 at the start of December and after doing less than 2000 miles it's now sitting on my drive broken. Driving up hill on a cold New Year Eve and suddenly engine fault light came on and I lost all power. I managed to limp it 1km home by putting it in first and just rolling along at walking pace.

Before this happened I have had a few starting issues on very cold mornings (-13C) and a funny breathing noise coming from somewhere behind the motor, but I haven't managed to trace exactly where it's coming from and can't feel any air escaping. Reading other threads and forums, I'm a bit worried that it's the dreaded impossible to find fault that keeps coming back.

I just looked at my vehicle registration documents and have now spotted that I am the 5th owner in 6 years! Should I be worried that this is a sign that I've bought a dog of a car and should I cut my losses now and try and get Mr T to give me my money back?

Waiting for Toyota assistance to come tomorrow morning, so will report back then with the diagnosis.

Also, has anyone ever managed to get money back under the warranty having paid for the repair in a foreign country? I bought the car in the UK, but am currently in France for a few months and the guy from Mr T told me that I would have to pay for the repair and then claim the money back after. Just worried that if it's something expensive then they will only cover me for part of it or not cover the labor etc.

Cheers,

LG

Hi mate

as visible yr fate is to cure yr horse and do not be in panic mate.

Firstly you have to understand what is going in other to make a solution with actions.

Yet the (-13 C) is a right level of the temp to convert diesel into a gel with parafin trouble -- usually this parafine is being dropped inside the fuel filter due to is has an insert with definite mesh - so this mesh is the spot of the parafine origination creating an effect of not passing of diesel thru. Yes I agree with Anchorman - the first thing to do is to change this filter insert just to reach good filling station. Be sure you will have a winter quality diesel.

Re SCVs (both)-- besides of the link provided by the Anchorman -- you have to check with possible electricity losing (poor contact; dirty contacts or so)-- in details --- each solenoid valve (SCV) is operated by an electro signal and when this signal becomes less, let say -- 10V or less -- this is sufficient for internal return spring to give more returning force to the stemmed valve than created by an el solenoid coil - as the result the valve is either closed or partly closed. You must to understand that these SCVs are "normally closed type"--it means they are always closed (when no electro signal is available by the starting key)--this allows the engine to be stopped when the key is turned OFF.

Cheers/Igor

[lovegroove]

Thanks for the replies. I called Toyota assistance and they arranged someone to come and collect it and take it to a local Toyota garage today. Heading down in the morning to see what they've discovered so far. As longs as it's not the fuel filter then it should be covered under warranty.

I'm an aircraft electrician by trade, so am used to poking around doing fault finding, but cars really aren't my passion, which is why I bought a used approved, so that I can let someone else fix it for me if it goes wrong. I just wasn't expecting it to go wrong so soon.

LG

[lovegroove]

Surprise, surprise, the garage got back to me today after having my car for nearly 2 whole days without doing anything to it at all and they want to change the turbo at a cost of €2000. They reckon the fault has gone for the moment, but the turbo is on its way out and needs changing (all this based on a fault code). Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's not much to a turbo is there and the chances of it working intermittently are low compare to some electrically operated valve or sensor.

I just have this feeling that it's not going to fix the fault and I'm going to find myself broken down at the side of the road again sometime soon. The car is under warranty, so it's not me that has to pay for the turbo, I just don't want the hassle of breaking down again. They won't give me the code either, which is really annoying.

ARRRRGGGHHHH! I hate 2011 already.

[mccroz]

Hello LG - I had similar problem just weeks after buying my '04 D4D. Bought a falt code reader from Argos (£49 ) It pluged in and read code - very easy to do. The socket you plug it into is under dash just around your right knee when driving. Mine was the SCV s so I replaced them and it now runs fine. Filter change would be a good starting point as its been so cold. I felt £49 was worth paying so as Toyota dealer could not hold me to ransom and reader will cancel codes stored in ecu as well. Good luck.

[anchorman]

Get the code yourself.

[lovegroove]

OK, code is 1251, which does appear to be a turbo related problem, but it's now cleared and the car seems to drive OK again. I think I read somewhere that a likely cause would be something like a VRV and that someone cured their problem by spraying a bit of WD40. I'm hoping to get buy for a month or 2 until I next head back to the UK and can get it fixed under warranty for free, as the proposed 2-3 week wait to get it recovered to the UK is too long to be without a car.

Just typical that the problem happened 31 days after I bought the car and the 30 day money-back guarantee had expired.

[anchorman]

You can sometimes recover the VSV (VRV) by squirting WD40 into the ports and giving it a good shake. If not they are not over expensive.

[lovegroove]

Thanks again for the reply.

I've been looking at the PDF you posted for the VSV and I can't work out what I'm looking at without a bigger picture to show me where I should be looking in the engine bay. It was dark though and I had a bad torch, so I will have another look tomorrow when it's daylight and I can get my inspection lamp out.

[anchorman]

Valve layout.pdf

VSV check.pdf