Rav Heater

[Plutus]

This is my first winter with the Rav and I'm impressed.

4wd is great as we all know but the heater is fantastic.

Start the engine, press the screen button and by the time I've scraped the frost off the side windows

the frost on the windscreen is starting to melt. Not only that but it never mists up on these cold mornings.

All the other vehicles I've ever owned (apart from the Ford with a windscreen element) took ages and inevitably mist up once you get inside.

Has the Rav got some special system enabling it to do this?

[anchorman]

Hi Plutus

The heater on the 4.2 XTR is fairly straight forward except for the temperature control which you know is automatic. This diagram shows the layout of the components;

The speed at which it heats up is largely down to the capacity of the cooling system and the thickness of the cylinder block etc.

The 4.3 on the other hand has an additional component which is affectively an electric fire that sits on the heater outlet so air that has just passed through the heater core is treated again electrically during the warm up stage. This is known as the Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) heater. It is only fitted to the diesels as the warm up cycle is much quicker on the petrols;

It means that the 4.3 can start demisting very soon after start up but it does take quite a long time to warm up. You can speed up your warm up even more by using the recirculate function but only for a short period to prevent the windows fogging.

Once up to temperature the heater is very good but until then you can sneer at the shivering 4.3 diesel owners!!!

Cheers

[Plutus]

Thanks AM.

Helpful and erudite as always.

[bothwell_buyer]

Thanks AM.

Helpful and erudite as always.

erudite? :wacko:

I thought that was the stuff they mixed from 2 tubes to fix model planes together?

[Hoovie]

Thanks AM.

Helpful and erudite as always.

erudite?

I thought that was the stuff they mixed from 2 tubes to fix model planes together?

Nah - you're thinking of the Solvent glue - used to make Airplanes high ;)

Actually, I have always been very impressed with the speed of the icy windscreen clearing on my RAV4.2 Petrol.

And I didn't actually realise for sure until last night that the Mirrors were heated Driving home though at least 40 miles worth of foggy roads on the last 200 mile leg of a 500 mile weekend trip, the mirrors kept fogging up and switching the rear heater on cleared them a treat (had to repeat every 15 minutes though!).