Rav 4 Engine Warning Light

[TonyWillow]

Bought a second hand 2003 Rav 4 in Feb with 120,000 miles on it. Drove it to Wales this morning - a distance of 91 miles but after 80 miles the engine warning light came on and stayed on. At the same time the revs died down and the car came to a crawl.

Pulled over - engine idle revs OK. Temp OK. No oil warning light - just the yellow engine light (thought it was a transmission light at first).

Pulled away in 1st but VERY little power and could hardly get me up hill. Had no option but to carry on as I was in the middle of nowhere, in fog and with no mobile reception. Drove the remaining 11 miles with hazards on and at a crawl - most I could get was 20mph downhill.

Parked it and left it for half an hour. Restarted it and the engine light went out! Drove it around the block and OK but unwilling to risk a longish journey again. Have read about a gas cap(?) loose or a faulty sensor. I have an OBD II plug-in module but no Toyota software for it.

Recommendations and ideas please!

[FROSTYBALLS]

Diesel or petrol??

[TonyWillow]

2.0l Diesel

[crofter]

Firstly welcome to the club Tony

Sounds as if it may be fuel starvation

Fuel filter change needed?

Del

[graunch]

^{Hi and welcome Anthony,}

^{you really need to retrieve the code that will have been stored, you say you have an obd 2 reader but no software , if its an entry level reader the soft ware is built in for most manufacturers and will give you a basic code reading, what is happening when you plug the reader in ?. The symptoms you describe are common with an SCV orTurbo Overboost problem , but as I said you really need the code or we could be guessing forever.}

^{regards colin}

[TonyWillow]

Thanks guys. The car is in wales right now. Unfortunately I'm not! I therefore cannot get hold of the fault code yet. When I can I will use the OBD II unit with the Android software which I've now downloaded and get the code which will give us something to go on.

It's funny that the fault disappeared after the engine was off for half an hour or so. The symptom of insufficient revs gave me the impression that the engine management system was limiting the engine rather than a hardware fault with the engine itself giving me low power. I've heard this before in a Ford when the system only allowed the car to travel in 'creep speed' for a few miles.

I'll post here again when I get the code.

[ManxPaul]

Hi Guys, new to the club!

Live in the middle of the Irish sea and have exactly the same problem as Tony. Just a brief history, bought the Rav 4 diesel brand new in 2003, only got 55,000 on the clock countless expensive issues over the years - several repairs to the gearbox whilst under warranty, just out of warranty and gearbox breaks. £3,000 lighter. Clutch £2,000 lighter & dual mass fly wheel replaced.

Bought the car thinking Toyota reliability NOT.

Now we have the same issue as Tony, whilst going up the mountain of the TT course not under high revs or strain the engine warning light (yellow) comes on, still ticks over kicks into get home mode no power above 3,000 revs, pulled over on the road car ticks over fine. Turn car off then on straight away light goes out and revs back to normal as of nothing has happened. Its been doing this for a while. Changed all necessary filters and oil etc.

I've taken the car to the one and only Toyota garage over here and straight away they suggested replacing the turbo kerching £2,500 quote! We haven't done this as looking for help and advice, in a way it does feel like lack of power in the sense of the pressure valve on the turbo is stuck open so no pressure build up, could this just be replaced on the turbo instead of the whole unit being replaced?

Any feedback would be really appreciated as all we have had with this car is problem after problem and pennies can not stretch to a new one. Thanks in advance Paul

[graunch]

hi paul,

if you have not done so already I would recommend running a can of archoil 6400 through the system, other members have found this cured the problem, type archoil into the search engine to see the other posts.

regards colin

[ManxPaul]

Hi Colin

Appreciate your speedy reply, found the double pack of Archoil 6400 (one for Diesel and one for Turbo) will feed this into the system as soon as. Will allow a week or so to see if its cured and if so will advise. Many, many thanks.

I checked the search engine as advised and it appears to be a common fault but this seems to help. Another quick question do I need to use this on a regular basis or is once enough?

Once again many thanks for your quick reply. Paul

[TomdeGuerre]

Paul, that's a sad tale about your RAV4 and I'd say not typical of the failures you'll get with one of these. Don't you think that living on a small island might be part of the problem? The IoM is only about 30 odd miles long and you'll read repeatedly on here that the best thing for diesels is a good long run, periodically thrashed just for good measure. Looking at the mileage you've got it doesn't seem to have done much and you might be suffering problems as a result.

BTW It's been a long standing wish for me to visit the Isle of Man during the TT week. Goes back to when I used to listen to the races on the radio back in the 60's - the time when Manx Nortons and AJS 7R's and other British bikes (even the odd Velocette) still competed, bellowing round the track on the open megaphone exhausts. The multi cylinder MV Augusta and GIleras were coming in followed by all the Japanese stuff. Glory days.

[graunch]

Hi Paul,

Just had a look on the archoil site and they recommend using every 5000 miles or the use of one of their other products instead .

Did you retrieve a fault code from the car and if so was it an overboost fault ?.

Have had the overboost problem on mine a couple of times in five years of ownership but it has not appeared for a year or two so certainly not a fault that requires a new turbo,

Running fine at the moment with over 140k on it .

Regards colin