Sold Dollywobbler's RAV4 - Force Ale - £SOLD

[dollywobbler]

You're right Joe, but in both cases, the screw was rusty. Ended up having to force the plastic 'nut' through the hole. This resulted in one broken tail light...

 

I've had to utterly give up on this job. I need a new socket, maybe some actual connectors and a heap more patience. Bloody irritating. However, the interior is back together again ahead of Coventry Motofest tomorrow.

[KruJoe]

Ah bugger.

 

Are we adding a tail light to your little box of bits I'm bringing to Shitefest?

[dollywobbler]

Might be a good idea! Have had to deploy a cable tie.

[KruJoe]

Which side is it?

[dollywobbler]

Offside. Right-hand as you look at it. Driver's.

[KruJoe]

I have this one...

 

 

...but there's a crack between my fingertips here:

 

 

It's sealed with a smear of silicone, seems to be dry inside.

If it's better than your one, you can have it as a straight swap for yours.

[dollywobbler]

Thanks. I'll stick with what I've got for now. If I can find the bit that pinged off, perhaps I can glue it back on...

[dollywobbler]

I'm still really liking this car. Have a video!

[dollywobbler]

Cor, I'm well impressed with both myself and the RAV4.

 

Firstly, I managed to wire up the new towing electrics and only blew one fuse! Hadn't realised that tiny fuses were a thing. Thought I was up shit creek until I thought to check the under bonnet fuse box. Of course Toyota fit spare fuses! Phew. Even managed to thread the wire through the rear bodywork to outside. Wasn't convinced that was going to happen, but it found its way. 

 

With the electrics now actually working, it was time for a test!

 

I'm pleased to report that it tows pretty well actually. The low first gear is a massive boon for hill starts. Sure, it runs out of steam very rapidly in fifth at the merest hint of a hill, but it slogs away quite merrily in the intermediate gears. Seems to stop too, though there's a moments instability before the caravan's brakes kick in - which are vibrating horribly under a hard stop. Maybe need to get them sorted out, though it does slow down.

 

So, it seems we will be caravanning for Shitefest. I wonder if anyone else will turn up at Japfest Rock on the Sunday with a caravan? #SeriouslyUncool

[mat_the_cat]

Might head along there too on the Sunday, do you reckon I (or my car) would fit in OK?

[dollywobbler]

I reckon so. There are £30 track sessions you know...

[twosmoke300]

Those tiny fuses were a thing - now they are even smaller - basically those ones but with no legs and the contacts on the side ! Who thinks of this shit ?

[dollywobbler]

I think I'd better order some more before I forget. 

[Lukas]

Toyota RAV4 Mk 1 - Not as crap as you think

 

 

 

I dont know who would have thought the RAV4 might be crap (Junkman maybe?), but it´s definatelly crap to think so. 

[dollywobbler]

Less than 24hrs after ripping all the offside interior trim out, I've done it again.

 

This car is fabulous for randomly disconnected stuff. After the towing electrics debacle (TWO non-connected 7-wire cables), I found myself chasing failures in the pipework for the rear washer. The first one involved pulling the front wheelarch liner out and getting very muddy in the process. I suspect this car has seen some off-road fun before in its life. I found a joint had separated, so I put it back together, operated the washer and noticed that the puddle on the floor had now moved to the rear of the vehicle. I guess that's progress.

 

So, out with the interior trim again and more tracing. Sure enough, it wasn't connected here either...

 

I'm struggling to see how both joints had come apart. That strikes me as odd.

 

While I was faffing at the front end, I got the wheels off for a nosy at the brakes. The discs look a bit old, with embedded rust. I suspect some hard work will sort them out - like towing a caravan to Shitefest for instance.

[dollywobbler]

I also keep finding myself just looking at it. Hadn't realised how much I love the styling!

[UltraWomble]

 

I'm struggling to see how both joints had come apart. That strikes me as odd.

 

 

The C8 does this in cold weather if I have been lax with the antifreeze content of the screen wash, so its not impossible.

[egg]

I also keep finding myself just looking at it. Hadn't realised how much I love the styling!

 

Your purchase as made me re-evaluate the styling, I wasn't really a fan, but I like this one. For me the 5 door is just slightly better looking, maybe.

[dollywobbler]

I prefer the three-door. I often do with 4x4s. Freelander, Frontera, Shogun/Pajero. Trooper Mk2 fails this test though.

[mouseflakes]

I've just found my favourite new game. Watching Dollywobbler reviews with the subtitles on...

 

 

Pucker up DW...

...in a what?...

 

Oh, ok, thanks.

[dollywobbler]

Now I'm going to have to go and watch all of my videos with subtitles on.

[Felly Magic]

That was comedy gold! I was doing some serious LOLZ with those captions, mentioning drugs, and various things nothing to do with cars at all

[dollywobbler]

[mouseflakes]

C'mon. You say that in every video.

[Felly Magic]

I think these should be in the Autoshite quotes of the year, even though Ian never actually said them

[mouseflakes]

I laughed myself silly last night watching some of these. It seems the background noise of an engine on the in-car footage confuses the speech recognition software just enough to maximise lollage. In better conditions it's quite impressive how well it works.

 

And DW, I still enjoy watching them without subtitles too.

[cms206]

Next challenge: take the Rav out with a script of what Y'alltoob thought you were saying. Read that out and see if we get what you actually originally said.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[dollywobbler]

I really am rather fond of this bonny wee car (I'm also suffering a little from close encounters of the Scottish kind). It's been great this weekend, hauling our caravan over to Shitefest with no problems at all, dragging Bub's caravan into and then out of a very muddy field, and then blasting us home from Rockingham at high speeds. MPG dropped to 25 while towing, but that still doesn't seem too bad to me. Only ever feels unstable when braking hard at speed, which seems to set off a bit of caravan yaw. 

 

Here it is on arrival to Shitefest. We'd had the roof off all the way. Foolishly, I removed the roof, stored it in the rear door, and THEN hitched up the caravan. I then discovered that you can't open the rear door very much with the caravan hitched. We dealt with rain by driving more quickly...

 

It got a bit of loving from Dr Joe last night - a replacement headlamp for one less faded, and some bits of interior trim. 

 

This morning, it was the little car that could.

 

Then the muddy RAV got to hang out with some very different machinery!

 

Back home.

 

The observant of you will notice that by the time we were home, the trim around the windscreen was making a bid for freedom. I've already had it come adrift on the driver's side - I fixed* this with blu-tack. But now, the trim along the top of the windscreen is doing the same. It was driving us mad along the M6, as it sounded for all the world like a dashboard creak. Mrs DW could not trace it. This was because it was outside.

 

I could deploy more blu-tack, but is there an actual, proper way of getting this trim to stay in place? It looks like it should attach to the edge of the 'screen itself. 

 

I also need to do something about the brakes, as they're bloody awful! I actually overshot a junction today, which is something I haven't done since driving a 1930s Morris Oxford Empire saloon down a steep hill, and found the car had a right-mounted footbrake and a surprise freewheel. In other words, it's a bit shit. I'll start by checking the rear shoes are adjusted up nicely, but the pedal just feels very dead. Maybe new fluid would help?

[Skizzer]

I'm guessing Tiger Seal should sort out the screen trim.

 

Ref the little car that could, can I just apologise once again to everyone for being away noshing breakfast at the point when the Wrangler might actually have been half way to useful. I think it was the cleanest car there by the end, embarrassingly.

[dollywobbler]

I should also apologise for scarpering in a perfectly good tow car. However, folk seemed to be enjoying pushing, and I had to be at another event.