Rav4 2.0 D4D 2002 Engine Earth Strap Locations

[mikez1]

Good evening everyone,

I was wondering if anyone may be able to point me in the right direction for where the earth straps are located on the engine for a 2.0 D4D 2002 rav4?

I am having symptoms where sometimes the car will start absolutely fine, other times it takes a few goes / coughs a bit as it is getting going. I just want to check the earths to be sure its not an intermittent dodgy connection somewhere.

Cheers

[crofter]

hi Mike and welcome to the club and the RAV section.

The earth straps efficency should not affect the running on the engine once it fires.

It would affect the operation of the starter motor as it would not be able to pass the full power through it.

Is that the problem that the starter is sometimes "lazy" ?

Del

[mikez1]

Hi Del,

Thanks very much - good to be here!

Yes that seems to be the problem, once it has fired it is solid as a rock and never misses a beat although it has developed a slight whistle noise which I think is the turbo since it whistles up with revs and gradually whistles down if you see what I mean.

Anyway, on with the problem (annoying!).... It seems intermittent. When cold it cranks slightly lazier than when hot (it has a new battery). I have just done the glow plugs today to rule those out.

Sometimes when cold it will fire up first time, other times it will sound as though its going to start, but then just keep cranking for quite a while longer.

When hot it is the same, sometimes very fast fire up, other times not. An example is today when I collected the glow plugs... I tried to start it, and it just kept cranking but didn't actually start, stopped and retried and it eventually started.

It seems hit and miss. To date I have: -

- done a service

- replaced glow plugs

- checked all pipe work for leaks

Tomorrow I will be cleaning the egr valve incase it is sticking. I just wanted to check the earth straps for corrosion / bad connection that could be causing intermittent starting issues.

Edited : - I've also primed the fuel filter etc before starting to try and rule out a delivery issue.

Let me know your thoughts please :)

Cheers

Mike

[crofter]

As mine is a petrol model I can't help with the earth strap location on yours but I have come across this problem which I tracked down to dirty contacts in the starter solonoid.

The solonoid can be stripped after removing the starter and the contacts either cleaned or replaced.

A member on here found some replacement contacts, which if my old grey matter serves me well, they were under £20 and another one silver soldered theirs which worked as well. I was able to just clean mine

HTH

Del

[mikez1]

Thanks very much,

I will add that to my list of things to do :D, its really just an elimination game for me at the moment as I have no engine lights on etc so just giving everything a really good clean.

This may be a really stupid question, but where would the starter motor be located? I will take it off tomorrow and clean everything down.

Thanks for your help so far.

Cheers

[crofter]

Sorry Mike, I will have to leave that to a member with the same model

Del

[mikez1]

No worries,

really appreciate the help.

[crofter]

One way would to be to follow the red Battery lead which is in direct contact with the starter

Del

[mikez1]

Aha, I did wonder where that one went!

Thanks very much. Is it a simple job to clean the contacts in the starter solenoid? I am fairly competent at things with cars (done timing chains etc on my v6 Vauxhall etc) so hoping it cant be anymore complicated than that....

Cheers

[crofter]

It sound as if you will be able to manage the jobbie. Main point disconnect the red lead from the Battery first before you start!!!

The solonoid usually sits on top of the starter held on with a couple of screws, just take your time and hold it together while unscrewing and then take care opening it.

there will be 2 copper blocks inside and another one that bridges them when the coil is energised

There is a video on Utube that you may find useful about starters and solonoids

[crofter]

Mike just found this, repairkits uk check it out

[gjnorthall]

If you contact Repairkits - you'll need the part number off the motor - there are a few similar motors in the Nippon Denso range and the kits are tailored accordingly. Suggest you change the plunger as well as the 2 contacts.

[mikez1]

Thanks very much for all your responses. I will get the number etc off the motor today and possibly give things a clean.

Cheers

[mikez1]

Evening,

Ok... today I have :-

- Cleaned throttle body

- Cleaned EGR valve

- Cleaned starter solenoid brush contacts (all carbon etc out of the grooves)

So far seems to have helped, but too early to say for sure, will take a couple of days.

I have just ordered a repair kit for the starter from repair kits uk just to cover all bases, the intermittent starting is silly. I have checked voltages etc when starting and all appear fine so hoping the combination of the kit / cleaning solves it.

Cheers

[mikez1]

Well, car is starting a bit better it seems, still have to do the repair kit tomorrow and check the grounds again.... but ive noticed it has a whistle noise when accelerating, quite high pitched and only when accelerating. I don't know if this is an air leak as I can't find a leak on any of the pipework.

When I was doing the glowplugs I noticed this...

I know the vent pipe for this connects after the air meter, so could this be pulling in unmetered air and causing it to stutter when starting? Or has anyone else come across a high pitched whistle noise when accelerating? If I keep the revs steady, the noise stays steady too, but it whistles up and down with the acceleration, at higher revs it goes away.

Cheers

[mikez1]

Grumble,....

Well.... after LOADS of work on it today, oil change etc, starter motor repair kit, cleaning sensors etc in the intake just as a precaution....

I took it out for a spin, from cold it started up like an absolute dream and drives really nice, it still had the high pitched whistle that you can hear in the cabin when accelerating / holding steady revs, which doesn't quite sound like the turbo... not sure what it is.

BUT..... *another grumble*, I thought to myself - I'll just stop here and then try to restart it. Bad idea. It cranked as though the Battery was flat and the needles suddenly dropped to their off positions, tried again.. cranking better then started dying... and again... cranked fine but just wouldn't quite fire. Eventually it fired up and I got it straight home.

It seems to be a hot start issue from what I can gather, has anyone ever come across this issue? there seems to be loads of ravs with the issue when you search, but none of them ever post a solution (if one was ever found)

Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers!

[gjnorthall]

What I don't understand is why a garage observing the hot start problem don't get to the root cause. It should really be a case of checking and comparing the cold and hot start parameters such as cranking speed, decay vs time in cranking speed, cranking voltage at Battery and motor and cranking amps. This should point to whether it's a motor issue or a Battery / power supply issue. A starter motor needs to start an engine within a few seconds or things just get worse rapidly - Battery voltage drops and prolonged cranking will heat the motor to a degree that you could fry an egg on the casing.

If the evidence points to the motor, then the measured parameters will help to get to the cause. For example, a decaying cranking speed whilst the cranking amps stay constant or rise may be because of poleing (heat expansion of the armature causes it to rub against the pole shoes).

[Ramdeom]

I had a starting issue not unlike yours last July/August. It turned out to be the fuel primer pump located above the fuel filter.

I was told by Toyota Technician/Engineer that the fuel may be draining back into tank. Try operating primer pump by hand before attempting to start engine next time.

I changed my primer pump last September and all is fine so far.

RRamdeom

[rambler]

Mine is in the hands of Toyota at the moment for a whole week F O C ,to get this problem sorted once and for all.

When they have solved it, I will post on here what they did.

I have an Aygo curtesy car for this week , again F O C.

[mikez1]

Thanks,

This is an annoying issue that makes you lose confidence when the engine is warm... The rest of the car is perfect, and cold start is almost instant.

I've got a coolant temp sensor coming and I will be trying that... if that doesn't work (and yours doesn't have a fix), I think I will take it to a diesel / electrical specialist and let them hook it up to see what's happening when its warm.

[Sjl2]

I've got the sluggish hot start issue, today I removed the starter motor from my 2005 2.0 D4D, used a kit from the repairkits uk to replace the slider and contacts in the solenoid, but the issue remains.  Tomorrow I will remove the earth strap between the engine and body to clean it up.  Happy to do photos if anyone wants.

 

Photo of the starter motor bolt location - the one hiding at the back!  

[Sjl2]

I created this video as I had a nightmare accessing the rear starter motor bolt.