New Rav4 Owner - Some Questions

[Guest Snowy3]

Hi all,

Recently bought a white 1998 RAV4 petrol 3 door with 27K on the clock. VERY VERY VERY pleased with it!!! however have a couple of newbie type questions i was hoping you good people could help with.

The exterior of the car is immaculate (considering its 10 years old! and white!) but the wheels have some rust spots on them. They are not alloys but locking hubcabs? sorry i'm not very car minded so not sure thats the correct term. Does anyone have any advice on how to remove the rust spots? or perhaps advice on the cost of replacing them?. I'm not even sure what i am looking for.

I have air con but i'm not sure if it is working correctly. The rev's go up when i press the air con button so i guess its doing something but i haven't noticed a change in the air temp. In my previous car, you would notice a difference straight away pretty much but that car was only 4 years old. Does it take a while for the air con to kick in?

Finally i put some petrol in and the guage went up to about half way. However i do seem to be able to visably see the needle drop as i'm driving. I read somewhere this is well known because of the shape of the fuel tank - is that correct? i have yet to fill the tank up to to the brim.

Thank you all! :)

[shcm]

Hello Snowy,

Welcome to the club! Another member from Derbyshire - I think Anchorman and his mates are on commission!

Glad you like the RAV.

The mechanical genii will, I'm sure, be along soon.

One thing with air-con is that the refrigerant can/does leak away with time making it less effective. I think the recommendation is to get it "re-gassed" (as they call it) after 3 years. There are companies which will come to you to do it I believe. The process should take at least one hour (I think) otherwise, they are not doing it properly.

It could be all you need is a re-gassing. If there is a fault, (or a severe lack of refrigerant) some aircon systems will shut themselves down. Don't forget, it's recommended you give it a run now and again, even in the winter. It helps keep the system in good working order. If I've not used mine during the week, I usually give it a run for about 10 mins or so.

I'll let the mechanical genii advise further and on rust spots and the fuel guage.

Cheers

[anchorman]

shcm - all part of the master plan!

Snowy

Welcome to the club. Are you near to Buxton? It sounds like a lucky find - a low mileage 4.1 3 door. I would like one as a toy myself as I like the shape and proportions of the 3 doors (although I think I prefer the 4.2 - oh heck I want one of each!). However the one I have is a bit of an extravagence and I don't think anchorwoman will take to me having another.

There are wheels specialists around that will refurb your wheels for you, just do a quick search on google. There is another member called Bothwell Buyer who has some wheels for sale but I don't know what they are like (might be alloys). He will look in and tell you soon.

The air con activates an "idle up" feature that will pick up the idle speed to counter the additional load the system imposes on the engine. I'm not sure what you are checking or how you are checking for. Do you mean that you start it and set the temp to cold to feel if the air feels cold? That might not be so reliable in this weather. You can have it gassed as shcm suggests but a decent garage should be able to pressure test it for you which might save you some expense. I can advise you if you are near to Buxton. Send me a pm if you prefer to keep it off the forum.

With regard to the fuel gauge we have debated this recently and it does seem that it is not uncommon. You can expect it to use rather more fuel than a regular car as well. It will take you a while to determin the characteristics of this fresh vehicle.

Cheers

[Guest Snowy3]

shcm - all part of the master plan!

Snowy

Welcome to the club. Are you near to Buxton? It sounds like a lucky find - a low mileage 4.1 3 door. I would like one as a toy myself as I like the shape and proportions of the 3 doors (although I think I prefer the 4.2 - oh heck I want one of each!). However the one I have is a bit of an extravagence and I don't think anchorwoman will take to me having another.

Thanks for the replys so far. I'm nearer Derby city centre but can always have a little run out to Buxton - its not so far. I was really pleased with the low mileage - most i looked at were over 100k. lol @ Anchorwoman! my husband drives a Jag (boo!) so is not interested in my little RAV (although he did admit it was a nice drive).

With regards to testing the air con - i have tried turning it on with the temp control on really cold and really hot and i dont notice a change in the air temp with the fan on high.

Cheers.

[anchorman]

Snowy

I don't think I'd do much with the aircon until the warmer weather comes. If on a wet day you can't get the windows to demist then OK. The trouble is that there will be plenty of aircon people (some of them mobile) that will be willing to take your money even if there is nothing wrong. See how it goes for a while.

You will have no problem finding somebody to do your wheels. This one refers to alloys but most seem to do both.

http://www.thewheelwizards.com/index.htm

Try to negotiate a price for all 5. I think if the car is pretty clean it will be worth it.

If you do get stuck or worried about the aircon I can arrange for my local garage who I know and trust to do it while you wait and I will watch what they're doing anyhow.

PS Don't be too hard on snowyman, running a jag (mondeo) doesn't make him such a bad person. Be careful if it develops into full blown range rover though.

[salthepal]

Hi Snowy,

Congratulations on your purchase. I've got a 99 3 door in red which has done 24k miles. I bought it nearly 4 years ago having done 9K.

I find that the fuel gauge goes down very quickly after it registers at a quarter full, but I think that is a normal quirk.

I've got the same wheels as you and decided to get them touched up, which I did a couple of years ago, and they still look OK, although the rust is just beginning to creep back. I've been down the alloys route and decided that I prefer the look of the original wheels.

[anchorman]

Sal

Thats a cracking looking car.

Maybe I could sway anchorwoman with that!

[bothwell_buyer]

Yawn - still haven't properly woken since hogmanay.....

Steel wheels - well ye they do rust. And not a lot of people know, but alloys are also painted generally. Both types of wheels can be repainted or touched up very successfully by folk who specialise in this sort of thing. If you don't know one, ask a local alloy wheel supplier cos he/she'll know good ones.

I do have a set of 5 TSW alloys which I won't be able to use on the beast as its set up to use 18" wheels now - 245/45x18

The alloys I have are structurally ok with good tyres but are scuffed. They are just taking up space in the garden just now and I'm quite happy to give them away free.

I wouldn't bother replacing the steel wheels with more steel wheels cos they are naff. I had to replace 2 of the Toyota wheels cos they bent. If its the embellishment things on the wheel (I can barely remember what they look like) then you'd get them from a scrappy.

As for the aircon, by the sound of it, it needs refilled with gas. However the radiator thing that comes with aircon can sometimes corrode so best to get it pressure tested before trying to refill. I don't know the RAV aircon but I do/did have 2 Jaguars neither of which had working aircon. Up here in Scotland, whilst we await global warming, aircon is an unnecessary luxury. Different if you were driving to Cyprus - but then ye'd fly!!!

Other wee bits to have a look at are the floor under the carpet in the front just in case water has got in - its a fairly common thing and worth checking for rust.

On the petrol gauge - forget it. The tank has 2 senders and you get an average of sorts sent to the gauge. Like most cars, its not that accurate. I'd try filling the tank full then record how many miles roughly you get from the tankful. If you get a smell of petrol in the cabin after filling the tank fu then it might be the breather pipe has corroded - a problem that does happen no matter what mileage. Easy to fix by the way.

Try not to tell people the RAV has 3 doors cos the 5 door diesellies get jealous :D :D

[Parts-King]

Darn it!

I binned four of these steel wheels not long back, could'nt get shut of em

Kingo

[chatman]

Darn it!

I binned four of these steel wheels not long back, could'nt get shut of em

Kingo

Sure they weren't nicked :unsure: You are near Liverpool........ :rolleyes:

[dave.m]

Seen these -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RAV-4-RAV4-16-steel-...1QQcmdZViewItem

[nig.xl]

Darn it!

I binned four of these steel wheels not long back, could'nt get shut of em

Kingo

Kingo if you ever decide to bin some alloys, bin em my way please

I filled in a recent survey from Toyota after some warranty work was done on my windscreen and found myself having a rant about the quality of their alloys.

Well they shouldn't ask :censor:

[Uncle Bob]

Welcome to the RAV4 section Snowy3, sounds like you have a great new motor :) , many of the Toyota's i have owned seem to share the same trait with petrol gauges, they move slow from full to just under halfway, then increase speed as they get lower.

Your air/con may just have enough refrigerate to let the pump cut in ( and engine speed increase ) but not enough to cool the interior :( .

[Guest Snowy3]

Thanks all for the replies. Just realised i put the wrong mileage it has 47K on the clock not 27 - DOH! :o . I need to give her a good clean and polish and then i'll get some pics on here - been looking at everyones RAV pics on another thread - looks like you guys have lots of elbow grease judging by the shine on those motors!. Mines pretty much like salthepals but white.

Right i think i shall save up some pennies (being after xmas and all) and take everyones advice to get air con checked and prob re-gassed.

My wheels aren't really bad but would like to get them refurbed. The prob with buying\aquiring wheels (thanks Kingo and dave.m) is that i wouldn't have a clue how to put them on. Yeah i know, i know but i'm rubbish with car things - i'd call the AA to change a flat tyre.. no really i would!. :P

[bothwell_buyer]

Thanks all for the replies. Just realised i put the wrong mileage it has 47K on the clock not 27 - DOH! :o . I need to give her a good clean and polish and then i'll get some pics on here - been looking at everyones RAV pics on another thread - looks like you guys have lots of elbow grease judging by the shine on those motors!. Mines pretty much like salthepals but white.

Right i think i shall save up some pennies (being after xmas and all) and take everyones advice to get air con checked and prob re-gassed.

My wheels aren't really bad but would like to get them refurbed. The prob with buying\aquiring wheels (thanks Kingo and dave.m) is that i wouldn't have a clue how to put them on. Yeah i know, i know but i'm rubbish with car things - i'd call the AA to change a flat tyre.. no really i would!. :P

I noticed on eBay someone selling the wee hub cap things that fit in the centre of the original wheels. You could try touching the paintwork up yourself - rub the rust off and paint with some touch up paint. Wheels get dirty quickly and I doubt you'd notice the difference.

Then take a course on changing wheels cos you'll need to send a wheel in at a time to get them refurbd..... or I could come along and put the whole thing on bricks, but I'd reckon there's others nearer that could do that!!