soon to be new owner

[+robster+]

have a 2005 rav4 xt-r in the pipeline for when i return from holiday.

its for the wifey to kick about in

its from a boy in the work who now has a company van and i know the car and have worked on it and recently fitted ebc pads and discs all round

its all black and had tints done and black leather interior fitted

had single mass flywheel and clutch conversion. done recently

also had the gearbox stripped to replace 5th gear due to stripped teeth and wondering if this was caused by the smf conversion but not worried lol

 

anyway im usually on the avensis forum but giving him that car as a backup so wont have that anymore

this particular rav is in decent enough shape and low mileage so worth throwing a few bucks at it to keep it decent for a couple of years.

 

anyway ill be back hopefully going through my plans

first thingtiming belt ( was done at 20k ??) and now were at 82 so needs done sharpish.. has same 1cdftv engine as my avensis and i have done that and the water pump on a previous post 

second ..headlight restore with meguirs 2 stage ...great stuff

3rd ... black 3 in1 t cut colour restore t

fourth ill get it up in the air on the kalmar at work and g101 the underneath and pressure wash to allow a thorough brake pipe inspection etc before leaving to dry and giving a good ubderseal on the floor pan and subframes etc.

fifth ill assign my private reg

then hand it to the wifey

then look at sidesteps she wants (maybey)

maybey try one of these sub £300 double din android based stereos that you can fit reverse cameras n stuff to unless anyone can tell me they are a waste of money ( like pumpkin audio etc)

 

here she is

 

 

[+robster+]

also have a second hand dragon performance tuning box coming from eBay,, will try it for a laugh .. may end up binning it if im not convinced but worth a wee try at £21 quid offer accepted

[Avalon]

14 minutes ago, +robster+ said:

also have a second hand dragon performance tuning box coming from ebay,, will try it for a laugh .. may end up binning it if im not convinced but worth a wee try at £21 quid offer accepted

I have two somewhere, they’re OK, but literally just offset the fuel pressure in a very basic manor. Android wise Pumpkin are OK with a custom ROM, but the Joying stuff is in another league performance wise with the intel atom derived 8 core CPU, not everything works with x86 architecture though, so Poweramp for example needs a workaround to make v3 work.

[+robster+]

thanks ill look into the joying stereos .

dragon performance box arrived today and its just a curiosity rather than anything else as ive had remaps on loads of cars with good results ( off shelf maps and custom live on road tuned)

 i get the idea how it works and have always been a bit skeptical of these early basic boxes just bumping up rail pressure/fuel volume per injection   rather than a full map that alters volume, timing , duration and boost accross any  given demand.

It could be a surprising boost and or have other factors that change other engine parameters? Also i will just use it from a switch sparingly when i want it in use rather than have it "overclocked" all the time. i also guess it does not come close to affecting the mechanical rail pressure valve?

ta

 

a wee spoiler is added to my list too

[Avalon]

They produced two versions (this was a good decade and a half ago), one with jumpers to increase the offset, the other with a USB 'map' and fewer jumpers - I use the word map in the loosest possible sense. Realistically its a very crude method, but it's the same one I believe everyone still uses on the older RAV's irrespective of how much you pay.

[Avalon]

Actually just had a look, the first gen had jumpers, they then moved to dip switches and a USB port, the basic technology remained the same through the whole production run though.

Also any plans to do anything with the EGR on this one? I see the appropriate kits are available for a few quid for the 4.2, just trying to find someone locally who would resolve the CEL issue for me or if I can come up with a way to automatically read/clear the DTC using an android HU 😄

[+robster+]

I have been running a home made blank plate from a 4mm Alu plate shaped and stud holes drilled.on the avensis for 6 years with no bother apart from cel light coming on a p0400 I think as an egr flow fault.

Only time I reset light is right before mot so it doesn't come up as an advisory.

Every year after blanking egr the smoke test reading improved as the manifold and valves naturally clean themselves. Engine runs better and quicker turbo spool as there is less space for the build up of pressure to fill/ or wait on egr closing.

 

Engine oil stays very clear to next change . I do every 5k anyway but filter every 4th oil change.

 

Reset light is easy by remove bat neg for a minute.

Or 

Obd ..I have an old cheap elm327 bluetooth generic code reader paired to my phone using torque lite app and I guess this won't be difficult to do the same on an android head unit...good for engine data gauges etc.

 

The rav I'm getting I done the same for the boy a couple years ago and he agrees the same findings as me.

 

As far as a work around  there is a shunt circuit that you can wire to fool ECU to stop the EML triggering 

Having light on doesn't bother me or the missus so left it at that

For those who don't yet know  why cel triggers it is when the egr opens and draws air from exhaust that thus there is less air vacuum at maf sensor. .the ECU monitors this as a pending fault for about 40 miles to see if it can adjust or learn parameters to rectify this fault and when it realises it has no improvement the fault triggers the light.

 

 

I may  look into wiring the shunt circuit as a project  the theory is egr pwm signal sent via resistor to maf signal to fool the maf signal into dropping slightly to emulate the drop in sir volume but may be a bit of trial and error with different resistance values

 

 

 

 

[+robster+]

I believe dragon are no longer operating. .My dragon box has dip switches and a USB socket. . Would be nice to get some info from any archives anyone has

[Avalon]

2 minutes ago, +robster+ said:

I believe dragon are no longer operating. .My dragon box has dip switches and a USB socket. . Would be nice to get some info from any archives anyone has

Dragon shut down the best part of a decade ago, pretty sure I have the original manual somewhere, give me a few days and i’ll dig it out. From memory you could set it to only come on after 5 mins etc. and some other stuff via DIP/jumpers depending on the model you had, they both did the same thing. I ran one for a few years before moving to the Vannarken kit (Toyota re-branded it TTE for an obscene price in much the way Lindop does only with less extreme markup now) that plugged into the main loom. VA also went bust around the same time. I kind of regret selling that in hindsight as it was quite a unique bit of kit - i’ve not seen another one and it was in effect TTE approved. The XTR had a later Dragon on for many, many years up to 95k when I removed it to pinpoint another issue and never refitted it (was a 3rd car at the time). I know the CEL can be mapped out now as the Denso ECU was cracked a few years back, I suppose I should enquire as to the cost/process, but the person I used to know doesn’t do maps anymore, either way it’s not a problem, but i’d obviously prefer to know if anything else was amiss and if the light is permanently lit, that isn’t ideal.

[+robster+]

Ok

Had rav now nearly a month.

Cleaned up really well  with the t cut colour restore.

Headlights came up nice and clear with the meguairs kit....but be needing new units soon due to the reflectors fell inside the lamps when upgrading my bulbs they were vibration snapped at the 90 degree bend and held Thier place with the old bulbs. I've had to Bosch them with super glue for short term lol.

Fitted reverse camera

Fitted reverse sensors

Fitted timing belt 

Cleaned and Undersealed underneath

Awaiting interior led bulbs arriving

Currently trying to source a decent or original set steps but only see decent enough trux brand for about 250 so I'll keep looking for 2nd hand originals as the rest are total garbage chrome tube tack.

Spoiler I'm prob gonna get the eBay 40 quid abs plastic one I'll have to prep prime paint and bond as breakers wanting silly money for or spoilers ( when they are available.

I can update or take pics and product details if anyone interested 

Ta

[Avalon]

Took me a while to locate the manual for yours (I had two versions), but here we go:

20 Pin Block is as follows (LED's on the bottom end):

• +3
• +2
• +1
• 0 (default jumper position for claimed performance)
• -1
• -2
• -3
• Undocumented
• Ignition Activation (default: Jumper)
• Delay Timer (default: Jumper)

The last two pairs require a switched 12v to function, if it's hard wired to a permanent live they won't work.

Ignition Activation: The process is to turn the ignition on, then off and count the number of seconds before the orange light goes off on the unit (5-7 apparently), the process is then ignition on for 5 seconds, off for number of seconds you observed + 4 seconds, then start car. It means that you have the ability to run either stock or with the dragon activated, handy for situations where perhaps you only use the claimed increase in torque/power on that private race track you have and so haven't discussed it with your insurer.

Delay Timer: Runs stock fuel map for first 5 mins on a cold start and 3 mins on a warm start to let the engine warm up.

If you want a full copy of the manual, just let me know 😄