Cel,vsc,4X4

[kaptainkremmin]

Hi everyone, need a quick answer please, a Rav4 XT-r 2.0 petrol 57 plate, 30k mileage, fmdsh and one owner came my way via a small garage, took it for a test drive and it frightened the life out of me when the CEL light came on, as well as the VSC and 4x4 warning came up on the dash warning panel, is this one I should walk away from, the garage owner said he would deal with any prob if I purchase it, but was worried as the lights or warnings can be cancelled and taken off leaving the problem to return if there is a problem or is this something what has come up before, thanks if anyone replies

Regards Ian

[gjnorthall]

It's usual for the VSC light etc to illuminate when certain failures trigger the engine warning light. The warning light can be cancelled but will re-appear if the fault arises again. Clearly you'd want the fault rectified and the vehicle test driven again - before agreeing to purchase, rather than after. There may or may not be more to the fault than meets the eye, and if in any doubt - look elsewhere.

[kaptainkremmin]

I have to agree about the caution, I'm not familiar with the Rav4, I only drove it about 3miles, but told the salesman that with the lights out I would want a much longer test drive, the fact that it's done 30k miles and it's a one owner with full toyota history is it anything major, any help would be good on this.

Regards Ian

[gjnorthall]

It might be something very simple such as a faulty Lambda heater - once replaced - all will be well. The fact that the car didn't go into limp mode, and presumably drove OK would tend to exclude major issues. This particular engine doesn't have any significant issues. Provided the garage plays ball, fixes the fault and allows a decent test drive - i wouldn't be too concerned. The fault code takes just a couple of minutes to read so the garage should be able to tell you the fault or at least the code if you asked them.

[DAVEXT5]

Walk away - yes they might fix all issues but they might not, so roll the dice if you feel lucky

[firemac]

The petrol RAV vvti engine is usually bullet-proof and with a FSH there shouldn't be any problems. Bearing in mind its age and the relatively low mileage, it is very likely as gjnorthall says to be something simple like an axhaust sensor. If you (or the selling garage) plug in a code reader, it should be easy to confirm if there is an issue.

If one owner, why not eyeball the V5, get their address and try to get their phone number? Then call 'em up and ask if there were any issues with the car.

Given the mileage & age, if you can haggle a good price you may well have found a really nice car. I certainly wouldn't walk until you've got to the bottom of the incident.

[kaptainkremmin]

Garage is supposed to be letting me know when they have checked it over, there is actually no cash exchangeing hands, I have a 08 Volvo V50 se 2.4 D5 with 47k with all volvo history and had agreed on a straight swop, forcourt price 9k to 10k but I can't sell it for that, but a garage can, Auto Trader only values the volvo 7k, so to swop it for a Rav4 57 plate with 30k on the clock forcourt price 7 to 8k seemed reasonable to me even though I'm going back a year on the plate and they probably only paid 6k for the Rav and maybe not even that, I'm just looking to change car to a Rav and not having to spend any more cash coz this volvo cost a lot when I bought it, don't get me wrong about the volvo its a great car but its not needed now, but I will miss that starship enterprise feel, I'm wandering from the issue now, had the volvo forsale for a month and no takers at £8300 or nearest offer which would have been £8000, so garage offering £7500 floats my boat if the Rav4 is ok, reading through the forums it could just be a sensor like firemac says but I won't know till they get back to me, I did eyeball the v5 but didn't get the previous owners name and address, (bugger) anyway hope its not much and they get back to me coz it is a very low miler for the year and it looks genuine under bonnet, not been steam cleaned yet, and it didn't go into limp mode on test drive, in fact if it wasn't for the CEL light being on I wouldn't have noticed anything wrong.

Regards Ian

[firemac]

Why not go back & ask to see the V5 again? If the garage is honest about the car, they shouldn't have a problem with you trying to contact the previous owner - in fact, if you just ring the garage up and ask for the info, they should give it.