New to forum and RAv4

[Guest]

Hi All,

My other car is a 385 BHP Volvo S60 T5 which has been in the garage getting modified for 7 months.  I am relocating from near Liverpool to Cornwall next Friday so bought a RAV4 for  the Cornish roads, reliability and it seemed a sensible option due to the weather down there over winter.  And the sand in the summer - lots of sand down there:).

The RAV4 is a 1 owner car with service history about 2 inches thick and is in terrific condition having done 151K and being a 2005 model.  The paintwork has had a few arguments with automatic car washes that I can resolve easily.  My biggest shock was that it has never had the timing belt or water pump replaced (!).  It is booked in on Thursday.

Happy with the car - drove it 180 miles yesterday and it was great (praying the timing belt didn't snap.

My first issue is with Toyota.  The service parts website quoted a minimum of £285 for timing belt replacement. I called Toyota and they quoted me around £800 including replacement of coolant at a cost of £42.97 (I swore I had bought another Volvo). They also wanted 2 hours labour to 'Investigate it' and assess if the belt needed replacing.  I am no automotive genius but if it says in the handbook to replace it at 70K then it is 81K overdue for replacement.  That said they visually inspected it in 2010 and, allegedly, in 2018 when it went in for a recall for the driver's air bag.  I called again about parts. Pump £100, Belt £39, a tensioner and 2 idlers totalling £275.  An independent is doing it for £325.

Second issue - you cannot seem to buy heavy duty OEM rubber mats for this model - looked everywhere:(.

See you around.

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

[Heidfirst]

2 minutes ago, Ajoc said:

My first issue is with Toyota.  The service parts website quoted a minimum of £285 for timing belt replacement. I called Toyota and they quoted me around £800 including replacement of coolant at a cost of £42.97 (I swore I had bought another Volvo). They also wanted 2 hours labour to 'Investigate it' and assess if the belt needed replacing.  I am no automotive genius but if it says in the handbook to replace it at 70K then it is 81K overdue for replacement.  That said they visually inspected it in 2010 and, allegedly, in 2018 when it went in for a recall for the driver's air bag.  I called again about parts. Pump £100, Belt £39, a tensioner and 2 idlers totalling £275.  An independent is doing it for £325.

Hi Alan, welcome to TOC. 🙂

The Toyota GB site does say that "other charges may apply". Having said that I am not sure that absolutely every UK Toyota dealer is signed up to the fixed price scheme & one has to differentiate between Toyota GB & Toyota dealers - they are not one & the same. Most are very good but sadly there is always the odd one that lets the side down.

Is the independent using oem or 3rd party parts?

N.B. your car at over 5 years old qualifies for Toyota's Essential Care servicing (£130/210 for a RAV) & indeed they offer a Service Price Match (again, I imagine if the dealer has signed up to the scheme).

[Guest]

I asked Toyota about which manufacturers make their belts, pumps, tensioners and idlers and the two people I spoke to were clueless ("They just come in a box with 'Toyota' on it mate") so looked into it myself.  Belts can be one of a few companies, same with the water pump.  I guess like Land Rover, who I used to work for, they have a few different suppliers of certain items.

The pump is the most critical item as if that goes the new timing belt will probably go as well.  Looked at Gates, Denso, INA (Volvo use these), Aisin, Bosch, Mitsubishi for the belt etc etc.  The way I figured anything is an improvement on what I have (a 13 year old piece of rubber on 151K preventing my engine from imploding) though I did mail the garage and say that I wanted genuine Toyota parts used (highly improbable if he gets them from Toyota at the price quoted to me).

On the servicing side I will be doing the brakes (easy on a RAV4), oil, fuel and air filters myself though all have been done recently.  Toyota servicing? Given I have tried, and failed, to get a set of rubber mats off them, any sense whatsoever on their manufactured parts and a quote for £43 to put coolant in a resevoir it is highly unlikely I will be going anywhere near a Toyota dealer.

[Heidfirst]

1 minute ago, Ajoc said:

  Toyota servicing? Given I have tried, and failed, to get a set of rubber mats off them, any sense whatsoever on their manufactured parts and a quote for £43 to put coolant in a resevoir it is highly unlikely I will be going anywhere near a Toyota dealer.

It's a 13 year old vehicle - how many volume manufacturers keep low volume accessory parts for that length (legally they don't have to)?

Did you ask Toyota or did you ask your Toyota dealer parts dept. as to the source of their parts ? Certainly I have found that the quality/nouse of dealer parts staff varies greatly - some will say "the computer says this for your vehicle" & some know how to work the system for parts that aren't listed for your vehicle but will fit ... As I said, you have to differentiate between manufacturer/importer & dealer. At any rate if you worked for LR you probably know that even the same parts oem parts may come from several sources.

If they are quoting the long life (OAT) coolant that doesn't strike me as bad.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

Depending which coolant is used (long life (red) or super long life (pink)), the £43 doesn't seem too bad considering the long life is around £25 for 5 litres of pre mixed, and the super long life around £42 for 5 litres of pre mixed.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Toyota-Coolant-Red-5-Litre-Ltr-Antifreeze-Anti-Freeze-0888980002-/323363000721?hash=item4b49efd191&redirect=mobile

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Toyota-Super-Long-Life-Coolant-Pink-5-Litres-Pre-Mixed-Antifreeze-/223063212077?hash=item33ef9a802d&redirect=mobile