Toyota RAV4 Maintenance and Repair

joeyge

Thanks for the link.
I'm unsure as to what to request to research "droning" issues.
I checked Powertrain and found nothing, same with "Other".
Suggestions?

drohrer

We looked for over a year before purchasing our RAV4 Limited 4cyl. My wife loves it. (it's a little small for me, but she's the driver) We have none of the problems people here are talking about except for the cupholder issue. Bought it in June and have around 9000 miles on it. So far we are averaging 28 mpg in almost all highway driving.

She wouldn't trade it for any other car we looked at. (Even some pricier models.)

jdr

stever

Since the reports are "consumer" generated, the complaints can be all over the map, and the organization does leave a bit to be desired. You may have to page through the complaints unless someone has a better approach. I'd try suspension as a search term too but that's not an available choice for all years or models. Check the box for full summaries too.

jimd4

They are on this site. Many of them are from the same person is the way I see it.

desertguy

Yeah, my wife and I would not trade our '06 Limited I4 either. We both drive it and the limited's power drivers seat gets lots of use. We are very happy with our purchase.

rdevera651

I bought my 2006 V6 Limited RAV4 at the end of July 2006. I have heard the droning noise since the first day. I've been wanting to take it to the dealer, but have been not been able to consistently reproduce the problem. I always heard it driving home from work (city driving), but not as loud (but still apparent) in the morning driving to work. When I'm on the highway, the road and wind noise is so loud, that is harder to detect the droning, although I know it is there. Please let me know if you get the problem solved. I waited a long time to get athe exact color and model I wanted and am just heartbroken that I have such a major, irritating problem in a brand new car. Previously, I had a very reliable Honda Accord for 20 years, only gave it up due to an accident. I am a Honda loyalist and it took a lot for me to switch to Toyota.

gerard

Haveing problem with Toyota about getting a harness wiring for my hitch i want a 7 pin harness they have only a 4 pin harness. I ask if they have an adapter that i can attach in rear to go from a 4pin to a 7pin they say they have one the other way around ??? confusing. im at odds with them cause they hooked in a harness with 4 pin. Also claim that new r5av4 06 isnt same wiring as older ones and that cant use a converter any electriciansd out here know whats my alternative im sure there is a adapter that will allow me to hook in the LED rear lights that have a modulite any help i appreciate it
jerry

jimd4

You can get a complete kit from e-trailer online with the modulite $60) or you can buy the OEM harness that has a module as part of it. The OEM is twice++ as expensive and requires lots of interior panel removal to install. In the 2006 RAV4 with tow prep package, the trailer wiriing does not exist except for connections under the dash. The kits get it to the back of the truck!

Both are 4 pin. If you need to run just trailer lights you can get a 4 pin to 7 pin adapter. If you need the extra power for a brake system you need something more I guess. You can get info from E-trailer or other web sites I am sure.

chris69

still no solution on my water leak. It's now been in the dealer twice and they still can not find the source, I will let you know what is happening

gerard

My light went on in my rav4 06 stateing i needed air had car for 4 months called toyota they said that need to reset switch in front drivers side seat, ANYONE exactly where this switch is, i found the spare needed air and when i added air the light went off but im still mystified where a switch is>>?? anyone know

jimd4

I do not think there is a switch in the RAV4. Just keep the tires including the spare inflated to pressures in manual.

vivavegas99

I am with Jim on this one. I don't know about a switch. But the same thing happend to me and I had to read the manual to find out that the spare tire also had to be checked. Which actually makes great sense since a spare tire that is flat does no good when you need to change a tire!

desertguy

There is a reset switch...........but it is in the Highlander. You need to reset it even when you just rotate the tires. The Rav does not have any such switch. So much for calling Toyota huh!

ihammer

I hope they solve the leak issue for you. I don't have that problem, just the droning noise problem which also has not been solved yet. Both the dealer and Toyota regional tech rep have been putting forth a great effort and lots of hard work into coming up with a solution for the droning noise and I would guess that they will do the same in regards the leak issue. With the rainy season coming up we may be hearing from more folks with water leak problems so I hope Toyota solves it soon! Anyhow, good luck and thanks for keeping us posted. I will keep folks posted as to the progress with the droning noise issue.

spimby

Hmmm.. I'm now a member of this club. I have a 2006 Rav4 Sport (4cyl 4x4). Noticed an odd smell in the car a few days ago, and tracked it down to the wet floor under the front passenger floormat. Not a whole lot of water, just wet to the touch and if you pressed the carpet, water would pool up. Here's the odd thing. I let it dry out and it appeared fine. Then yesterday, I checked it again and it was wet, but no rain. I did run both the AC and Heater (to check them out as sources of the water). Then it rained. I put a plastic bag over the wet carpet to see if I could catch any drops. I didn't but I noticed that the firewall up behind the carpet was also wet. I don't think this is a heater core failure (god forbid) as the stuff doesn't smell like anti-freeze. Since at least three of us are having this problem, I suspect it's some sort of design/production flaw. Keep me updated on your situation and I'll do the same.

cruiser10

Sounds to me like it could be a misrouted or plugged air conditioning condensation tube. These usually are routed somewhere through the firewall.

ihammer

Just this past Monday (10/16/06) I noticed that the volume control dial doesn't work at all sometimes - nothing happens when the dial is turned either to try to raise or to try to lower the volume. Fortunately the volume control on the steering wheel does work. Is there anyone else out there who has or has had this problem? It sure shouldn't be happening in a sound system in a car that's only 6 months old. I've never had a similar problem in any of the many cars I've owned over the years. I guess I'll wait until the dealer calls me to come in for another try at a fix for the droning noise problem and just have them deal with the radio at the same time.

gregorylynn

See previous posts, the JBL radios are defective. We are getting ours replaced by the dealer this week. Enough people overwhelmed Toyota with radio complaints that it is now a formal service item. From what my service rep said Toyota knew about the problems before they shipped the Rav4s to market! The Wall Street Journal and other pubs have had articles on Toyota Executives being fired for covering up quality control issues and I bet this is one of those.

ihammer

Thanks very much for your post re the JBL radios. I have seen some of the previous posts and most of them mentioned problems with the display on the face of the radio looking like Greek sometimes so since that hasn't happened to me I thought my radio was ok. NOT!!! It's interesting that your service rep actually told you that Toyota knew of the problems before shipping the RAV4s to market. I bet they also knew about the droning noise too before they shipped the RAV4s. I'll have to find those articles about the Toyota executives being fired for covering up QC issues. I am going to call my rep at Toyota (the one who's handling my droning problem) tomorrow to tell her about my defective radio so I can get the ball rolling to get it replaced. I hope they have good ones to replace the defective ones with. Good luck with your new radio and let us know how it goes.

dathey

I have discovered the same issue in my 06, it appears that Toyota has a design issue with the outside fresh air vent. I actually smelled the floorboard insulation which is the source of the odor you noticed.

Toyota is not responding very well in my case however did indicate a service bulletin is now available thru the dealers. Be careful that your dealer does not use a third party repair shop as mine did. The contractor substituted the hard factory material with a doubled piece of insulation.

libbyc

I have a 2001 RAV4, my rain leak is on the driver side and I tracked it to the "drain" that takes rain through the engine/body to the ground. Unluckily for me, that takes the water through my fuse box and all the wiring. I have yet to get it to the dealer but so far it's OK, just getting wet feet if it rains hard. You might want to have the Toyota people look at the "drain" on the passenger side, it may be clogged or there may be some loose screw or something...Good luck!

gregorylynn

My 2006 Rav4 Limited V6 has defective front sun visors, the return springs are the problem, visor will not stay in max position towards the windshield. Dealer is replacing them, ordering parts under warranty as I type this.

spimby

Well, I got it back from the dealer after one day in the shop. The work order says:

"Poor sealing at air intake, fabricate and install water deflector at air intake box, reseal a/c lines though firewall "
There are also some numbers which I guess are warranty claim codes for Toyota. So far, no more water on the carpet.

ihammer

My 2006 Rav4 Limited V6 also has a (so far just one) defective sun visor on the driver's side and yes the return springs are the problem, visor will not stay in max position towards the winshield. Very irritating!! I guess I'll ask to have that taken care of when I ask them to replace the JBL radio. Also the light above the visor in the liner of the roof on the driver's side rattles as does the radio or the vertical grey plastic piece to the right of the radio (the one which surrounds the emergency flasher button). I can hardly wait to see what the next defective thing that pops up is going to be!

gregorylynn

Had new radio installed, it is working so far properly. External antennae was loose after repair so we had some static at first, tightened it and reception was fine. Capitol Toyota here in San Jose performed the warranty repair.

gregorylynn

Spoke too soon, fiancee just called to tell me she is still hearing static, so perhaps a ground wire was not properly reattached when the replacement was made. Will have to have the dealer look at it when we take it in for the visor replacement.

ihammer

I am sorry to hear that you have the droning noise and know what you mean when you say you're heartbroken about havingsuch a major problem in a brand new car. Sorry also about the loss of your Honda. Your droning noise seems to happen at the same times as mine. I have been able to duplicate mine frequently when sitting in my garage or driveway and putting the car in reverse and then park, etc. The drone comes on when it's in reverse and goes off in park - most of the time. If I continue to shift back and forth from Park to Reverse I can usually duplicate it repeatedly. You might want to try that to see if yours will reproduce that way.
I am still waiting to hear from Toyota or the dealer regarding what kind of fix they plan to try next on the droning noise. It's been a couple of weeks since I took my vehicle in so they could hear the noise, which they did. I will definitely let you know if my problem gets solved. I hope it does because the car is fun to drive. It haqs other disturbing issues besides the droning ( dashboard creaking near radio, radio volume control knob works sporadically, sun visor flops away from the windshield) so I need to get those things addressed too. I don't know if I'll keep the car if they can't fix it as I'm really starting not to trust it. I have driven the 2007 Honda CRV and it's definitely not as fun to drive as the RAV4, but it is very nice and seems like it's really well made. Anyhow, I didn't mean to go off on a tangent. I will keep you posted. Please keep posting your progress with the issue too. Thanks!

jimdrew

malfunction....seems fine and guess what..I the display is now readable...they changed the display to black instead of that orange. Seems ok so far but just installed today.

Jimmy Drew

rray49

I have a 2006 RAV4 V6 Sport with about 7800 miles on it. Last week, I drove through a very shallow puddle (6-8 inches in depth and about 40' in diameter) following two other smaller vehicles. Although no other car had any problem with this puddle, my RAV4 somehow got a significant amount of water into the engine block and threw a rod. I am currently waiting on insurance to approve putting a new engine in the vehicle. My question to you is whether anyone has heard if there is a serious design flaw with RAVs that allows water to be sucked into the engine from such a shallow puddle. I have heard from the Toyota dealership that other RAV4s have had the same problem. Is this a potential recall item? Because of this, I have gone from being a very satisfied RAV4 owner to being an extremely dissatisfied one. Even if this hasn't happened to you, beware of shallow pools and don't get over-confident because you think you have a rugged SUV.

stever

Check out SUV's water fording ability too.

joelh1

I just got back from the second Toyota dealer. Both dealers I went to say there is nothing they can do to resolve the problem. There is no part they can replace or adjustment they can make to fix the vibration problem. It is not a dealer issue it is a Toyota issue. The service manager sat in the car and verified the problem and stated that it was the same in every RAV4 he sat in. He did file a report to the field rep as well as to Toyota. I will probably write a letter to the CEO of Toyota but I do not have much hope of getting the problem fixed.

wwest

Cannot imagine where the RAV4 engine air intake might be located in order to make it subject to ingesting enough "splash" to result in throwing a rod.

Most are above the top of the radiator and shielded from "splash" ingestion by the downward fold of the forward hood lip.

rray49

I asked the same question to the Toyota dealer service manager and am still waiting on an answer. All he said was that this is not an uncommon problem. I have written to Toyota asking the same - I don't expect much satisfaction.

rray49

Thanks. I saw a post from a 2005 Jeep 4x4 Grand Cherokee owner that sounded amazingly like my experience.

petl

Am I missing something? Shouldn't the vehicle be covered under warranty? This does not sound normal or common. There has to be more to the story. Good luck.

gerard

while driving the rav and no radio or anything on i noticea low winni9ng or hum sound coming fron the rear is this a normal occurrance it doesnt effect so far as i can tell now with the performance of the car but it does bother me that i hear this has anyone else had this problem and if so is it eventually going to effect the car. otherwise the car is perfect its a rav 4 2006 V6 w/ only 800 miles on it
jerry

rray49

If it had been relatively minor flood-related damage, the warranty would have covered it. When I had it towed in, the service manager thought it was the starter or something like that. That would have been covered under warranty but I had to sign a form that said this was a one-time repair since it was flood damage - any future problems, I would have been on my own. However, when the damage exceeded some "limit" (in my case, a blown engine), it became an insurance issue - no longer covered under warranty. The only "good" news is that the new engine is covered under my normal warranty and I think the vehicle is no longer considered flood damaged. We'll see what that means. I have written Toyota and asked if this could be a design flaw issue but I probably won't hear from them for a while. If I get something useful, I'll post it.

spimby

Hmmmm This might be connected to my problem (and several other people's). I had a problem where the front passenger floor board was getting wet. Couldn't figure it out. Took it to the dealer. They fixed the problem and listed it as ""Poor sealing at air intake, fabricate and install water deflector at air intake box, reseal a/c lines though firewall." What I'm wondering now is, is this air intake, which was clearly letting rain water/road water into the car, the same intake that let water into your engine block? That would be ugly.

rray49

You're not kidding it would be ugly. I just heard today that the insurance okayed my claim so they are ordering my new engine ($6300). I will bring this matter up to the service department and will keep you posted.

ecotrklvr

That's bad news, rray. Doesn't seem like a very deep puddle. One thing I'm curious about is, how fast did you drive thru that 6-8 inches of water? Did you go all the way across the whole 40 feet of it?

Most vehicles have an elbow (or several) in the incoming air line to the air filter. They're designed to let small amounts of ingested water to drain out of the system, but this could be overloaded if too much water is ingested too quickly. In other words, a 6 inch puddle 2 feet across at 10 mph may do nothing, but at 15 mph it may suck water and do that hydrostatic lock thing you experienced. Or a 6 inch puddle 50 feet long at 10 mph might overload the system's capacity as well.

rray49

Good question. I did go all the way across - was on totally dry land when it died. I didn't race through the puddle but I didn't go especially slow either (at least 10 mph I would think but I wasn't paying close attention). Obviously it was fast enough to suck up enough water to do damage. My question (which hasn't been answered yet by Toyota service) is where exactly is the intake line located that would have brought this water into my engine. I will get that answer before it'a all over (I don't want to become overly cautious of car washes and rain showers). :mad: BTW, for all you RAV4 V-6 owners, a new V-6 engine costs about $10,000. :sick:

ecotrklvr

Yikes - $10k.

Usually you can look under the hood and see the air cleaner housing, and then trace the Incoming Air side to see where the actual inlet is. On my Honda CR-V, it was routed into the fenderwell. On my Highlander 4-cylinder, it's just in front of the air cleaner box, well ahead of the front of the front tire.

I sup[pose if there was a lot of water there, and if the engine was revving high, and the water was there for 4 full seconds or so, then I can see how this might happen. It might be that in the V-^ engine bay, the intake was placed in a weird place due to tightness in the engine bay.

The damaging effects of water on an engine is well known in some circles - Off roaders find this out occasionally, and then warn their friends. I saw a reference to hydrostatic lock in the instructions for installing a low-restriction air-cleaner - they warned me that hydrostatic lock could happen if I drive thru a puddle. But that's for an air cleaner with no barrier at all to water entry. Your RAV4 should be able to do better than that.

schliersee

Droning noise possible solution : heat shield above muffler
caused droning in my 06 Rav4 v6 Limited 4 wheel drive.
When it was warmed up, droning started when put in reverse and while backing up. Thought it was the transmission.Could hardly hear it from outside.
Crawled under car while parking brake was on, wife stepping on brake, transmission in reverse and could hear the noise above muffler.
Heat shield was vibrating against top of muffler. Must have gotten bent or had a stone lodge between muffler and heat shield , as the problem didn't happen until 6 months
after I had purchased the car.
I bent the heat shield away from the muffler(flimsy shield)
and the problem was solved.
Hope this may solve a few other owners problem.

rray49

Update. Toyota & then Allstate called me back today. A new Toyota RAV4 V-6 long block costs about $18,000 (not kidding!). Consequently, they are going to "total" the vehicle. I'll be the big loser here with depreciation, etc. Getting to be an expensive puddle.... :sick:

ihammer

wHAT YOU'RE DESCRIBING SOUNDS LIKE THE DRONING NOISE SOME OF US WITH 2006 V6 RAV4S ARE EXPERIENCING. THERE ARE MANY PREVIOUS POSTS REGARDING IT AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR IT. YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS POSTS AND NO, THE NOISE IS NOT NORMAL. IN THE CASE OF MY VEHICLE, TOYOTA HAS REPLACED THE FUEL PUMP AND WHEN THAT DID NOT GET RID OF THE DRONING NOISE THEY REPLACED THE FUEL PUMP ASSEMBLY/HOUSING. THAT DIDN'T WORK EITHER SO I HAD TO TAKE IT IN ON 10/6/06 SO THEY COULD LISTEN TO THE NOISE AGAIN. AFTER NOT HEARING ANYTHING FROM THEM FOR ALMOST A MONTH, I GOT A CALL FROM TOYOTA YESTERDAY (11/7/06) SAYING THAT THEY HAVE DECIDED TO PUT IN A NEW FUEL PUMP AS THE NEXT "FIX". WHEN I REMINDED THEM THAT THEY HAD ALREADY PUT A NEW FUEL PUMP IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO AND THAT THAT HAD NOT WORKED TO GET RID OF THE NOISE, THE SERVICE WRITER TOLD ME THAT THEY WERE GOING TO PUT A 4CYL!!!! FUEL PUMP INTO MY 6 CYL VEHICLE. I BASICALLY TOLD THEM THAT I DIDN'T WANT THEM EXPERIMENTING WITH MY NEW VEHICLE (ONLY 6 MOS. OLD). THE FACT THAT THEY ARE PLANNING TO PUT A 4CYL FUEL PUMP INTO MY 6CYL RAV4 INDICATES TO ME THAT THEY BELIEVE THAT ALL OF THE 6CYL FUEL PUMPS ARE DEFECTIVE OR HAVE A DESIGN FLAW. IF THAT'S THE CASE THEY SHOULDN'T TRY TO USE A BANDAID FIX WITH A 4CYL FUEL PUMP, THEY SHOULD REDESIGN THE FUEL PUMP FOR THE 6 CYL. I TOLD THE SERVICE WRITER THAT THERE MUST BE A GOOD REASON THAT TOYOTA DESIGNED TWO DIFFERENT FUEL PUMPS - ONE FOR THE 6CYL RAV4 AND ONE FOR THE 4CYL RAV 4 AND THAT I DON'T WANT MY VEHICLE JURY RIGGED WITH ONE OF THE 4CYL ONES. I SAID THAT I WANTED TO TALK WITH A TOYOTA ENGINEER AND GET COMPLETE INFORMATION REGARDING JUST WHY THEY THINK THIS IS A VIABLE SOLUTION. I ALSO HAVE SPOKEN WITH A LAW FIRM WHICH HANDLES LEMON LAW ISSUES BECAUSE BASICALLY TOYOTA HAS SAID THAT IF I DON'T LET THEM PUT THE 4CYL FUEL PUMP INTO MY 6CYL RAV4 I'M JUST GOING TO HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE DRONING NOISE BECAUSE THEY WON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE. I HAVE A CALL IN TO MY CASE REP. AT TOYOTA TOO SO AM WAITING TO TALK TO HER. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE WHO HAS HAD A 4CYL FUEL PUMP INSTALLED IN THEIR 6CYL RAV4 AS A FIX FOR THE DRONING NOISE PROBLEM? OR DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON THE ISSUE? I WILL KEEP THE FORUM UPDATED AS THIS PROGRESSES.

gilvkona

Ihammer,

Based on a friend of mine trying to get a car declared a lemon, I would advise against it. He had much more wrong with his car than a noise and after a year of being at the dealer once or twice a month, he started the lemon law proceedings. It was a very convuluted process which cost him even more time and agony. After much huffing and puffing, the dealer took the car back and gave him a new one. However, he had a so many things wrong with it, like it broke down 6 or 7 times, there were wiring problems, the car would not stop with the cruise control on, and so many more to list here. You may have a problem with your drone issue standing up. Why not sell the thing and buy a new CRV? Or better yet, trade it in for new CRV.

After all this time, let them try the new fuel pump. What do you have to lose? You may have an issue if you don't let them try to fix it. I feel bad for you. It could happen to any of us.

gregorylynn

We are having the third radio installed this Saturday as the static problem while driving was reproduced by the dealer last week. If the third radio does not work, will be having a more serious discussion with the dealer. Maybe ask for a different radio if one can be had.

The dealer has been very cooperative so far.

wwest

It is distinctly possible that the droning noise is coming from the V6 "FIXED" displacement, or maximum capacity of the fuel pump. When the engine is somewhat below maximum RPM the majority, or at least a portion, of fuel being pumped is returned to the fuel tank by the fuel pressure regulator, pressure limiting, bypass valve.

It is therefore entirely possible that what you are hearing, a droning noise, is coming from the combined action, mutual "resonance" of the fuel pump and the fuel pressure regulating bypass valve.

Substituting a lower volume/capacity fuel pump might very well eliminate your droning noise but also might very well result in a lack of sufficient fuel pressure to the engine at WOT and near top RPM.

So as a temporary test, yes, substitute the I4's fuel pump to see if the droning noise disappears. But be prepared to go back to the V6 pump if or when you discover that the I4 pump doesn't provide enough fuel flow.

ihammer

Thanks very much for relating your friend's lemon law experience - I haven't decided what to do yet. Maybe I'll let them put the 4cyl fuel pump in, but only if they'll promise in writing to replace it with a 6cyl fuel pump should the 4cyl one cause a problem with my vehicle. I drove the CRV - like the exterior and the interior is nice, though I don't like the van like placement of the shifter. Also it lacks the immediate power the 6cyl RAV4 has which is very useful when you need to get out of someone's way or merge quickly. I won't totally rule the CRV out though, but I do love driving the RAV4 aside from the droning and radio issues.

ihammer

Thanks very much for your great information - it really helped to give me a clear understanding of the way fuel pumps work and also of the potential problem installing the 4cyls fuel pump might cause. I am going to pass it on to the service tech. Anyhow, I really appreciate the information!