2017 hybrid engine corrosion spots

[Smani]

Hi all,

There is quite high level (IMO) of rust and aluminium corrosion at the engine of my 2017 RAV4 hybrid. Is that normal?

When uploading some photos it popped an error message, but will try to upload again later on.

[Smani]

[Hybrid21]

Have you had the vehicle since new Marcus ? 

How many miles has it done ?

Looks a bit like salt corrosion ?

                                             

[Smani]

1 hour ago, Hybrid21 said:

Have you had the vehicle since new Marcus ? 

How many miles has it done ?

Looks a bit like salt corrosion ?                                   

Hi,

No, just bought it 2 weeks ago. It has 35K miles on the clock.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Bought from a dealer - not necessarily Toyota - or private sale?

Not covered by the 12 year corrosion warranty as this applies to perforation of body panels: 

https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/toyota-warranty

[Smani]

4 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Bought from a dealer - not necessarily Toyota - or private sale?

Not covered by the 12 year corrosion warranty as this applies to perforation of body panels: 

https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/toyota-warranty

 

Hi Mike,

It was bought from a Toyota dealer with 1 year warranty, but as you said, obviously this specifically won't be covered by the corrosion warranty.  I was just wondering if more owners have similar condition. 

The car was originally bought and lived most of its life in midlands, so don't know if affected by salt. Maybe has run mostly on winter gritting routes? Did not look under the car, will have a look tomorrow. 

 

[Hybrid21]

Reasonably low mileage, one previous owner ?  interested to see it underneath.

Keep us posted 👍

[Smani]

Underneath is all  reasonably ok for a 5 years old car, I think.

But then found this weird rod holding nothing on the exhaust. (Photo marked in red).

[TonyHSD]

Looks ok in general. Some salt corrosion on the aluminium parts, perhaps been taken on the motorway once during winter. If it’s me I will get it clean, jet wash the entire engine bay. 👍

[Davidhee58]

On 5/6/2022 at 2:22 PM, Smani said:

Hi all,

There is quite high level (IMO) of rust and aluminium corrosion at the engine of my 2017 RAV4 hybrid. Is that normal?

When uploading some photos it popped an error message, but will try to upload again later on.

the conditions of your RAV4 are quite similar to my 2017 Auris Hybrid, even though the mileage of my car is much lower than yours, and if you remove the wheels, you will see more rust behind, it's impossible to keep the car rust free if the car was parked outside and was driven in wet weather🙂

[fourbanks]

The car comes with a 5-year warranty when first registered and the balance of that warranty would then have passed onto you as the new owner, you can then pay yearly to continue the warranty should you wish to do so. 

As for the rust, that's not normal and by looking at that rod holding nothing on the exhaust indicates that the vehicle has been neglected by the dealer in the servicing of the vehicle and should have failed the MOT 

Japanese cars in general do rust, but that normally only kicks in at 10 years and not before. 

 

 

[Lawnmowerman]

1 hour ago, TonyHSD said:

Looks ok in general. Some salt corrosion on the aluminium parts, perhaps been taken on the motorway once during winter. If it’s me I will get it clean, jet wash the entire engine bay. 👍

I wouldn't Jet Wash an engine bay - too many electronics.........

[Hybrid21]

I think it looks fine underneath 👍 From the picture I can't really tell what the rod is, but will have look under my vehicle.

I wouldn't recommend jet washing the engine bay, especially a hybrid. I would remove the rust/tarnish with some kind of spray on wipe off product. Have a look online or in Halfords, it's amazing what you can buy for this type of task. Even try the good old WD40 first 👍

[TonyHSD]

No problems at all to jet wash your hybrids, actually they are safer than standard petrol or diesel cars. These electronics are properly water sealed and you can not do any damage. All you need to do is to stick a towel into air intake then make sure you have remove it before you start the car. I jet wash my hybrid once or twice a year and I have stopped a lots of rust and dirt accumulation. Under bonnet all nice and clean and pleasure to do weekly checks and service. 👌

[Smani]

45 minutes ago, Lawnmowerman said:

I wouldn't Jet Wash an engine bay - too many electronics.........

Thought the same. Used to wash my diesel engines with extra care and no high pressure water, but would not do it on this one, too many cables and connections all around.  I tried to clean a bit of the aluminium corrosion with WD40 and wipe it dry after, it looks that work but that is too much detail for the entire engine.  Now, those non cast metal brackets with rust are horrible. 

Car is going back to the dealer next Wednesday to do the full valeting that I did not get on collection (they "forgot" but  after showing my face repeatedly at their reception I finally got a set date). They also promised to replace the boot scuff plate and one of side panel protectors that are coming off.  Will speak with them about this corrosions. 

They are still being good and I want to keep a good relationship. Hope they consider customers as individuals with potential to come back or recommend them to others.  

To be very honest, I will be happy to sort the esthetical bits out, but after such bad experience with the previous car, what I really expect is the reliability of the brand to avoid nasty surprises.  Don't have time or money for that, as most of everyone else.

Will do a follow up after this valeting and bits to be done.

[Smani]

27 minutes ago, Hybrid21 said:

I think it looks fine underneath 👍 From the picture I can't really tell what the rod is, but will have look under my vehicle.

I wouldn't recommend jet washing the engine bay, especially a hybrid. I would remove the rust/tarnish with some kind of spray on wipe off product. Have a look online or in Halfords, it's amazing what you can buy for this type of task. Even try the good old WD40 first 👍

Hi Iain,

I was about to ask if someone can have a look under the boot where the exhaust is hooked to see if it is the same. Thanks, but yours is the latest model, it is probably different. Mine is a 2017.  But thanks anyway.👍

[Hybrid21]

19 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

No problems at all to jet wash your hybrids, actually they are safer than standard petrol or diesel cars. These electronics are properly water sealed and you can not do any damage. All you need to do is to stick a towel into air intake then make sure you have remove it before you start the car. I jet wash my hybrid once or twice a year and I have stopped a lots of rust and dirt accumulation. Under bonnet all nice and clean and pleasure to do weekly checks and service. 👌

What about a few pictures Tony 👍

[TonyHSD]

34 minutes ago, Hybrid21 said:

What about a few pictures Tony 👍

No problems. Here I have some from previous times.
The idea of washing your entire engine bay is to clean all the salt that has been sprayed all over not only aluminium parts but specifically on the engine mounts , suspension bushes, cv boots, cables and connectors. The salt is absolutely the worst enemy to a car. I have seen a peace of salt seats on top of my rear silencer and caused a hole like corrosion. 👍 Last picture is most recent from December last year, and this is an 11 years old car with over 200k miles. 

I can give some tips how to and what stuff to use for anyone interested cleaning their cars. 👌

[Lawnmowerman]

3 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

No problems at all to jet wash your hybrids, actually they are safer than standard petrol or diesel cars. These electronics are properly water sealed and you can not do any damage. All you need to do is to stick a towel into air intake then make sure you have remove it before you start the car. I jet wash my hybrid once or twice a year and I have stopped a lots of rust and dirt accumulation. Under bonnet all nice and clean and pleasure to do weekly checks and service. 👌

You have more faith than I. Glad it has been trouble-free for you.

Years ago, VAG group covered their engine bays (and engines) in wax to prevent corrosion. Some customers didn't like how the dirt clinged to the wax and asked for it to be cleaned off. They were a bit miffed when the wax was reapplied after the cleaning process but it was necessary to maintain their warranty. Their choice - vulnerable to corrosion but clean or dirty and corrosion free.

[TonyHSD]

1 minute ago, Lawnmowerman said:

You have more faith than I. Glad it has been trouble-free for you.

Years ago, VAG group covered their engine bays (and engines) in wax to prevent corrosion. Some customers didn't like how the dirt clinged to the wax and asked for it to be cleaned off. They were a bit miffed when the wax was reapplied after the cleaning process but it was necessary to maintain their warranty. Their choice - vulnerable to corrosion but clean or dirty and corrosion free.

Vag cars never rust, they are full of oil leaks from every component that has oil in 😂👍

now on the serious side, here an interesting video about the salt and what does to the cars and why it is a good idea to wash engine bay if we drive on salty roads winter time. 

Toyota hybrids from 2010 onwards are safe to wash because they don’t have alternators and belts and pulleys which were the most vulnerable to water. Electronics are fine, there are video people crossing rivers with Prius 😂👍

[Lawnmowerman]

Thanks Tony, I agree salt is a menace.

[Hybrid21]

11 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

No problems. Here I have some from previous times.
The idea of washing your entire engine bay is to clean all the salt that has been sprayed all over not only aluminium parts but specifically on the engine mounts , suspension bushes, cv boots, cables and connectors. The salt is absolutely the worst enemy to a car. I have seen a peace of salt seats on top of my rear silencer and caused a hole like corrosion. 👍 Last picture is most recent from December last year, and this is an 11 years old car with over 200k miles. 

I can give some tips how to and what stuff to use for anyone interested cleaning their cars. 👌

Good job Tony looks like new 👍

I bought a brand new motorbike in the early seventies Suzuki GT250 and being young and silly used it during the winter months.

Left it in the garage for about a week without cleaning it and the salt ruined all the aluminium casings and parts of the paintwork on the frame.  Lesson well learned.

 

[TonyHSD]

Yes, the salt is eating the cars and the roads horribly. I usually wash my car every week or every two weeks once and try to spray as much water as I can into the front grills , under the car from all sides , wheel arches, suspension, everything. I drive a lot and unfortunately my office is located next to a large salt depo and all the gritters are starting from there and throw unbelievable amounts of that stuff everywhere around. They do also in hot summer days or in winter when temperatures around 4-5c° Very unnecessary job. I had been driving on roads with temperatures from -33C° in the winter with snow deep over a 1 meter to + 42C° In summer and never seen anything like here in UK with that salt. 

[Hybrid21]

My daughter lives in the north of Scotland and the amount of salt used on the roads up there is incredible.

Never buy a second hand car from the north of Scotland, better from down south, Devon, Cornwall, etc 😃

[Smani]

Hi all,

Just a follow up:

I mentioned before that the car would go back to dealer to get the valeting, replace the boot scuff plate and glue the side protector back in place as it was coming off.  They "forgot" on delivery and after my complain they said would do it as soon as possible.

Well, dropped the car last Wednesday (let's name them now: Toyota Marshall Horsham) and salesman was waiting for me with a courtesy car key in hands, a nice new corolla GR sport hybrid. (Good fun driving it).

He said: "I booked your car for an 'intensive valeting'  and I've got your new scuff plate to replace it".

When back for collection at the end of the day, he came to me saying the scuff plate was a hard work, because someone used glue on top of the 3M tape, they had to use solvent, managed to keep the paintwork intact, bla, bla, bla...Then said they had to leave the car on with heating to dry the seats as they had to use too much shampoo to clean the seats, but still could be slightly wet, bla, bla, bla.

It was raining, so could not see much details, but immediately saw that the seats were not even touched.  The car was vacuumed without even removing the carpets, all dirty underneath.

Today, the only time I had to look into the other "work" the boot scuff plate has not been replaced at all. it was re-glued again and the old glue can be seem at the edges. (it will come off again!).

The side protector was also glued again but still has a gap that will allow water ingress and start to come off at some point.

 With that in mind, plus the fact they messed up the service log book inserting wrong number plate and different version of the car, I was willing to return it and buy somewhere else, not because I am not happy with the car, but because I am sick tired of lies and lies everywhere.  Just realised only a few dealers offer 30 days return. Toyota Marshall Horsham only offer 14 days, which has gone.

TOYOTA MARSHALL HORSHAM.  Another business that I should steer away.  Just hope the car is reliable as I expected without any worries about the aesthetics.