Rav4 Speedometer Problems?

[bigg234]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has experienced any Rav4 speedo problems, the speedo on this particular Rav reads low, when doing 25mph on the dash, it is actually doing 30 mph. This is a big problem as it only gets worse the faster you go, 60 on the dash is nearly 75. It is fitted with the origonal 215/70x16 tyres, which having checked are the correct tyres for the car. Can anyone help?

[s m smith]

how do you know its reading the wrong mph?????

[bothwell_buyer]

Welcome to the forum....... which age car have you got.

If its a 4.1 - up to 2000 - then it might be a fault somewhere on the wiring from the Vehicle Speed Sensor. It works on pulses and the info is sent to the ecm....and then I think onto the speedo - might be wrong.

I've never had a problem with this other than it working/not working.

Where about in Scotland are you? I could recommend a place in Motherwell who are cheap, but very good and know the RAV inside out having converted both of mine.

[St Thicket]

As you can see from this below table, there is some allowable deviance...

However, your speedometer shouldn't show more than you're actually driving. This would mean that your combination meter is faulty, or the speed sensor produces more pulses that it should. The speedometer would be showing nothing or a very fluctuating speed if the wiring was faulty.

I would recommend visiting a garage to get this fixed so that you won't get any speeding tickets. I doubt the police will give you any slack for having a faulty speedometer.

This table is for the rav4.2 (2001-2005)

[bigg234]

I have a road angel sat nav and have checked against another vehicle, thanks

[bigg234]

Welcome to the forum....... which age car have you got.

If its a 4.1 - up to 2000 - then it might be a fault somewhere on the wiring from the Vehicle Speed Sensor. It works on pulses and the info is sent to the ecm....and then I think onto the speedo - might be wrong.

I've never had a problem with this other than it working/not working.

Where about in Scotland are you? I could recommend a place in Motherwell who are cheap, but very good and know the RAV inside out having converted both of mine.

I am in Edinburgh, do you have a telephone number to contact them? It is a 2002 diesel, thanks

[bigg234]

As you can see from this below table, there is some allowable deviance...

However, your speedometer shouldn't show more than you're actually driving. This would mean that your combination meter is faulty, or the speed sensor produces more pulses that it should. The speedometer would be showing nothing or a very fluctuating speed if the wiring was faulty.

I would recommend visiting a garage to get this fixed so that you won't get any speeding tickets. I doubt the police will give you any slack for having a faulty speedometer.

This table is for the rav4.2 (2001-2005)

Thanks for that, unfortunately it is out quite significantly, I am in the process of trying to fix it.

[bothwell_buyer]

Welcome to the forum....... which age car have you got.

If its a 4.1 - up to 2000 - then it might be a fault somewhere on the wiring from the Vehicle Speed Sensor. It works on pulses and the info is sent to the ecm....and then I think onto the speedo - might be wrong.

I've never had a problem with this other than it working/not working.

Where about in Scotland are you? I could recommend a place in Motherwell who are cheap, but very good and know the RAV inside out having converted both of mine.

I am in Edinburgh, do you have a telephone number to contact them? It is a 2002 diesel, thanks

Marc is normally off on Wednesdays but Dennis should be there... 01698 265303

[NMaria]

Speedo on my 4.3 reads about 3 - 4 mph fast. I reached this conclusion after monitoring it against the sat nav and those infuriating make-you-want-to-put-your-foot-down matrix sign things they hang on lamp-posts in the villages around here (the worst ones also smile or, more usually, scowl at you). On my previous RAV, a 4.2, I also tested the speedo against the trip meter (yes, only a complete nerd would do such a thing, sorry chaps). I got up to a speed of exactly 60mph (according to the speedo), set the trip meter to 0 and keep going at 60mph for, say, three minutes. I then expected the trip meter to say 3 miles. But it didn't, it said 2.7 or something close to that. As has been reported before (was it Steve of Aberdeen?), the tripmeter on the 4.3 under-represents the distance travelled by about 3 or 4%, so it seems nothing is quite accurate.

Better stop before I get onto the subject of the mph calculator and the thermometer again...

[shcm]

You probably know that the regulations are that the speedo should not read lower than actual. I thought the limit on high reading was +6%, but looks like it is roughly 10%:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedometer

How accurate do you want it and how much more do you want to pay for the instrument pack to make it more accurate? 3 to 4% out sounds OK to me :).

Celebrate that "nerdiness"

[Davrav]

You probably know that the regulations are that the speedo should not read lower than actual. I thought the limit on high reading was +6%, but looks like it is roughly 10%:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedometer

How accurate do you want it and how much more do you want to pay for the instrument pack to make it more accurate? 3 to 4% out sounds OK to me :).

Celebrate that "nerdiness"

I think I would rather have it slightly high, rather than the other way - could save a few points [and we know what points mean ;)]

[Bezzer]

You probably know that the regulations are that the speedo should not read lower than actual. I thought the limit on high reading was +6%, but looks like it is roughly 10%:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedometer

How accurate do you want it and how much more do you want to pay for the instrument pack to make it more accurate? 3 to 4% out sounds OK to me :).

Celebrate that "nerdiness"

I think I would rather have it slightly high, rather than the other way - could save a few points [and we know what points mean ;)]

It can read higher but not lower than the actual speed which is what shcm said (abeit another way), so your licence is safe :)