2013 Blown Head Gasket...

[Lee2019]

Hi Folks

I've been a Rav 4 lover for the past 7 years and recently just sold my beloved 2004 Rav 4 petrol and upgraded to a Rav 4 2013 2.2D Awd model. I have the car about 3 months, purchased from a private owner with a full service history and checked over by a local mechanic. The car is fantastic but before a long journey this week I was checking oil & water when I noticed some coolant sprayed around the engine coming out of the overflow pipe on the coolant bottle. I took it to my mechanic and he told me it looks like a blown head gasket and a very expensive repair. To say I was shocked is an understatement, I was aware of some D4D 2.2 issues in the past but I read that those issues were long sorted before my Mark 4 model and when I look online I can't find anyone else with this issue on the 2013+ models. I took the car to my local Toyota dealer and they pretty much said there was not much they could do as the car is over 1 year out of the 5 year warranty even though it has only done 88000 miles. They said they would forward my complaint to Toyota but not to hold out too much hope of them sorting it. 

Has anyone any advice on this or has anyone had a similar problem. The car still cost over 10K and I think its a disgrace this has happened to a car which I expected so much more from being a Toyota Rav 4...

 

Thx Lee  

[IanML]

This probably won't console you, but higher reliability means less defects (not none), so the probability of a problem is reduced (not eliminated).

[Mike169]

Hi my Friend.

I have a Rav4 diesel and I wished I had bought a petrol version.

Forget the possible extra's in fuel economy which do not happen, I don't get 30mph and I totally wish I had bought a petrol version. 

I hope you have took my comments politely.

Regards, Mike.

[FROSTYBALLS]

The Toyota new car warranty in the UK is for 5 years or 100,000 miles whichever occurs first, so as the vehicle is a 2013 model, the dealer was correct in saying that it is outside the new car warranty, based on time.

Other manufacturers have similar time and mileage limitations - the most common being 3 years or 60,000 miles whichever occurs first.

[Lee2019]

Mike I had the petrol vvti version before and would have bought another one as I was aware of the D4D had issues in the past but they simply didn't make the 2013 version in petrol. I think the only version was an automatic and I didn't want that. So I totally agree with you.

Aware it's put of warranty and maybe just bad luck but asking for advice, is this worth pushing Toyota or should I just bite the bullet and pay to fix it? What would you do?

 

[Alan1234]

The only advise I would give is trade it in to some greasy slim ball car salesman ,I wouldn't waste your money repairing it .

[Mike169]

Hi Lee.

If you have a spare £7K to spare in your bank account that you are prepared to part with then I personally would suggest you sell the car.

Regards, Mike169.

[gjnorthall]

The car is well outside the time period of problematic Rav4 diesels. Nevertheless - head gaskets do fail infrequently on all cars often as a result of other issues (faulty thermostat, faulty electric fan, hose becoming detached etc etc).  It may well be the reason for the previous owner selling the car.

Although it's more than likely to be a head gasket failure - it would be necessary to conduct a "sniff test" to be conclusive. I suspect that Toyota will view the car as being too far outside the warranty period to offer any sort of goodwill contribution.

This would be a head gasket job rather than a part engine replacement and I'd guess the cost would be of the same order as what you'd loose selling or part exchanging the car. In view of the uncertainties and unknowns - many owners would prefer to sell the car.

[Android]

7k ???!!! 

[Heidfirst]

10 hours ago, Android said:

7k ???!!! 

Basically a new engine for the fix under the Toyota customer service campaign for the AD series issues for pre-2012 production. Toyota say that these engines should not be skimmed. If this doesn't have block/head damage it could be much less but you would incur costs getting to the stage where you would actually know what is needed.

[the fox]

Hi Lee I have worked on many Rav 4's mainly diesels nearly all of them blow anti-freeze/coolant out of the bottle, especially when it's full to the line, I let it find it's own level and always top up to that, my RAV 4 always blows some out I have extended the pipe to lower down the engine and forgot about it, but you should get a sniff test done before spending any money the head gasket of that year are extremely good, (not often I praise Toyota)

[Lee2019]

Thank you all for the advice and comments. Not heard back from the Toyota dealer yet but as you all said not expecting much. Looks like a costly repair. Not sure I will sell the car after that as I would only get another Rav 4. Guess I will just put it down to bad luck, don't think the previous owner had these issues and no reason to believe there were dishonest in selling it to me. I did get the car checked over before buying it.

 

Will let you know if I get anywhere with Toyota on the issue...

[Notoyboy]

I think it's worth trying what "The Fox", Brian, says above, about seeing what happens if you let the coolant find it's own level, rather than topping up to Max.  My Corolla sits well below it's Max level  on the reservoir (normally cold when I check it), but I never have to top it up.  Good luck.

[the fox]

On ‎8‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 7:23 PM, Lee2019 said:

I was aware of some D4D 2.2 issues in the past but I read that those issues were long sorted before my Mark 4 model

You answered your own question/post, don't think you have a head gasket problem, don't top it up too the max line, LAC coolant expands a lot if you had a head gasket problem it would have chucked it all out, not just a bit of a spraying.