Rav 4 Newbie

[gambo]

Hi people this is my first venture on to this forum, i am very soon going to be a Rav 4 owner (tuesday). Due to circumstances at home i have had to depart from my beloved 52 plate Yaris T-Sport and gone 'big' to a 1999 T plate Rav 4 5 door GX. This is an all new ball game to me with reference to facts and figures and being my first 4x4 etc, i think i have got a good buy 72k on the clock a full Toyota service history, black with no scratches visible all belts changed etc. Anyway please excuse my ignorance if these questions sound stupid, i did ask the salesman but i think he was more interested in selling than finding out things for me and 9 times out of 10 they are usually the wrong answers.

1. Is there a parcel shelf available either from Mr T or aftermarket.

2. After taking my ICE out of the yaris is it easy to intall in to the Rav.

3. Where is the best place to purchase mods, ie side sills, chrome bumpers, spare wheel cover etc, dont get me wrong the car is lovely but just looks a bit plain.

4. What is the little red button in the middle of the dash used for?

5. Many thanks to all in advance............no doubt there will probably be some more numpty questions from me as i get to grips.

[sjrainsford]

Hello there, and welcome to the Rav 4 community! I too am a mark 1 facelift model owner, you can see mine on the avatar. You should be pleased with it, although they aren't the most refined of cars. It's great around town etc, cause you don't have to worry too much about bumping up kerbs etc.

Ok

1. I think they did come with a parcel shelf as such, it's basically a piece of vinyl that attaches to the back seats and is secured to the rear of the boot near the door opening with a spring bar. It covers the contents, but isn't exactly a work of art. You could prob get one from mr T or a scrap yard maybe. I have one on mine, and would happily post a pic if needed.

2. Depends what you have really, some stereos have Japanese mounting holes in them, so will allow the stereo to be attached to the original mounting brackets. Again, if you need any help/ pictures on how to do it let me know. The standard Speakers aren't fantastic. The front are just about sufficient, but the back are in a stupid place. Instead of putting them in the rear doors, like the front ones, they are down low in the boot. So if you have a parcel shelf in, they are muffled.

3. Have heard a few good comments about www.formula4x4.com, they sell most of the stuff you could possibly want. A good starting place for the GX model, would be side arch extensions. Also good old eBay normally has a few bits on offer.

4. He he, the hazard warning lamps? Or do you mean the button that most people don't understand, differential lock? This locks the centre differential so there is direct drive to the front and rear wheels at the same time. This is only for use off road with low traction.

5. Keep them coming, i'm sure someone else will have their say too!

Happy Rav 4ing!

[Uncle Bob]

Welcome to the Rav4 section Gambo , can't add any more to the above post, but if you have anymore questions just ask :)

[gambo]

Hi again all, took delivery of my Rav4 yesterday and am well pleased with it, the only thing that is nagging me a the moment is two buttons, which i have been informed by Mr. T that they are aftermarket switches and not Toyota and they dont know what they are for, they have been placed in front of the ash tray one is on a rocker switch which doesnt light up and the other is just a push button type thingy, the only thing i can do really is wait for the log book to come back to me and write to the last owner to see if he can help. another little worry is my A/C i switched it on yesterday and it seemed ages before the cold air started coming out and even then it wasnt really cold, could this be a small problem or is this the norm??

[BelgarumVenta]

. another little worry is my A/C i switched it on yesterday and it seemed ages before the cold air started coming out and even then it wasnt really cold, could this be a small problem or is this the norm??

←

Air Con needs to be used on a regular basis to work properly.

Ideally, it nneds to be used for a minimum of a 20 mins session every week - summer and winter.

If the previous owner did not use it very often, the coolant becomes less efficient (and you can't make it more efficient by using it now :( ) And, even though it's not working fully, you'll still shag performance and mpg by using it - double :(

If it is not cool enough, you may need the coolant replaced.

No idea on cost, but an independant will be a lot cheaper than Mt T I suspect. I paid c£35 for my Puma to be refreshed a couple of years back.

[gambo]

Thanks for that info, will go see Mr. T very soon as the car came with a 1 year toyota warranty so hopefully he should put that right for the square root of nothing, especially when they serviced it the day before i took delivery if not then will kick up a stink and if that fails then look for a decent independant. Many thanks again.