Mk2 Toyota Rav-4 D4D

[nigxl]

Nice to have a post 2000 section.
Thought I'd share my daily as it's become, bought originally to do quarry runs and collection of building supplies for my garage build.
Initially I thought to buy an XC90 or Landcruiser but after driving the XC90 and realising what a barge it was I decided that the Rav would be fine for me.
I ran one the same back in 2008 to 2011 and also bought a 3 door version for the mrs as she was quite taken with it and was expecting to inherit it once I got bored with it which I didn't.
Anyway when I was looking and joining facebook groups to see what was around I saw this one only an hour from me.
The description looked promising having had a new clutch and single mass flywheel at 80K miles, discs, calipers, recent tyres etc.
Looked good in the pics and the seller seemed like a decent chap but more importanntly to me was the fact that there wasn't a single mention of corrosion in any of the previous MOTs unlike the majority of similar Ravs of that age.
I did pay probably more than the average price for it but I wanted something reliable and solid as it was going to be a workhorse and I couldn't afford to have it over the pit more than it was being used.

[nigxl]

I did mention to the seller before viewing it that it was going to be used as a load lugger and that kind of upset him a bit and he tried to convince me that this was probably not going to be the truck for me as it was too nice.
I'd already decided I was having it though so I viewed it that evening and drove it home.
What he didn't mention was where he lived was so rural that I couldn't get up to any sort of speed without driving for around 10 miles to find a decent bit of road.
But it felt fine, no knocks or bangs, brakes felt good, steering fine etc, you kind of know if a car is going to be ok don't you??
So on the drive home that's when I found out that the vehice was as noisy as hell.
Sounded like rear wheel bearings or possibly diff or rear tyres, great !!
Think this was why he wanted me not to have it as towing with it would probably have made things a lot worse.
Anyway being a 4 X 4 it's not that easy to check wheel bearing noise without jacking up the entire back end and the diff won't allow it.
Long and short of it was I either spend a couple of hundred quid on new rear tyres that were almost new anyway and didn't feel stepped or find a good replacement diff or order the wheel bearings for abouut £100 and spend a day fitting them which is what I ended up doing.
They were cheap ebay bearings but I thought fine if they last 6 months and cures the droning I'll replace them with a decent brand when they go next time.
Bearings sorted the drone so I was a totally happy bunny.
However one was proper stubborn and required a lot of lump hammer intervention which caused one of the brake back plates to pretty much dissintegrate but I didn't have any back plates and needed the vehicle so it had to go back together.
So I was happy now with the car I bought a new towbar and started to fit it, that's when I discovered damp in the boot.
So down comes the roof lining to seal up the sunroof drains.

[nigxl]

So now all back together I'm starting to get attached to the truck.

[nigxl]

As I'd said previously the wheel bearings cured my droning but had consequences elsewhere.
So out with the old and in with the new.

[nigxl]

Another little job I tackled was to sort out the sticky dash.
Pretty common again on ravs of this age.
You could literally leave a fingerprint in the stickiness just by touching it.
Solution brake fluid and elbow grease.
Took about a day but it was well worth it.

[Davey]

Nice to see another post 2000 daily getting some attention.

Had this off road at all? Intrigued to how well they cope.

[nigxl]

Dec 14, 2022 16:53:39 GMT Davey said:

Nice to see another post 2000 daily getting some attention.

Had this off road at all? Intrigued to how well they cope.

Thanks not been off road in this yet.
Have been told they cope pretty well though.
A friend told me about a guy who runs one across a pebble beach to launch his boat where his old Hilux couldn't manage it.

[nigxl]

Earning its keep so far and regularly see high forties if not towing.

[nigxl]

Getting through the niggles on the truck now.
Gave it an oil change this week and realised why my air con wasn't working.
Someone had removed the clutch from it.
Need to pick up a new belt for it too.

[nigxl]

Next weeks job looks like a challenge.

[nigxl]

So I thought I'd tackle an easy job first, replaced a cheap quality Wix filter with something decent.

[Davey]

Wix filters tend to be fairly decent honestly.

Still loving this and impressive MPG, giving me ideas...

Let us know how difficult the belt is.

[nigxl]

I've got someone doing the belt for me next week, it's what he does all day every day.
It's a big job on these especially with the water pump as well.

[jelmerv8]

I like these a lot! My mother had a 2001 petrol one. They are certainly not offroaders as they are FWD until it detects wheel spin, than it locks the central diff to become 4WD.

[nigxl]

Jan 17, 2023 20:54:17 GMT jelmerv8 said:

I like these a lot! My mother had a 2001 petrol one. They are certainly not offroaders as they are FWD until it detects wheel spin, than it locks the central diff to become 4WD.

Not sure that's correct when it comes to the diesel models.
Mine is certainly a full time 4x4. There are no electronics either at the diff or the transfer box.
As I recall the 1.8 petrols were only 2wd or there was an option to have the 2wd. It was basically an mr2 and celica engine.

[jelmerv8]

My mothers 2001 RAV 2.0 petrol was not full time AWD but maybe the diesels are different.

[jelmerv8]

I asked my boss (I work at a engine and transmission rebuild shop) and he said the 4WD ones have a viscous centre diff that "locks" when the front spins. So you are right, they are permanent 4WD. I once drove my mothers RAV in the snow and it only spun fronts for 2 seconds and than the rear kicked in so I assumed it was engaging the rears but a viscous diff feels like that too. So about the same as my 06 Subaru.

[nigxl]

Well that's the hard part done.

[nigxl]

Finally back together after about 5 hrs.

[nigxl]

Also sorted the compressor clutch. Aircon sorted.