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Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - Scrapped 20th August 2021 // Final Video To End 2021


St.Jude

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I don't have a photo, but I sorted this out last night. No leaks from the new seal so far, or the RTV gasket. Marvellous. 

I now have a weeping CV joint, the joint I took apart. I didn't see anything that required the use of a gasket between the two mating surfaces. I'm going to say it probably does need one, so I'm going to go under the car this evening and re-do the CV joint with some RTV. Then give it a longer test tomorrow when the gasket has set properly.

In other news, I decided to look at the MOT advisory sheet. Emissions were noted, and I think that's because the middle box is a little bit blowy. There's a rattle and it sounds shit, so I'm going to give it a tickle with the angry pixie stick some time. Brake lines were noted as corroded. For a laugh I rang Toyota to see how much it would cost to replace all of the steel brake lines. It would cost £320. Given what they are, what they do, I don't think that's all too bad really. 

Except, most of the lines aren't made any more. So, yeah. I'm going to have to go down a cunifer route which is less than ideal.

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  • St.Jude changed the title to Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - Hold the (brake) line

I got round to condensing the rear differential oil seal replacement in to as short of a video as I could get:

Could be applied to any vehicle that doesn't use an english axle I think, but it's there for people to keep these RAV4's on the road.

In other news, as you'll see in the video I mention there's a rattle from the exhaust. The rattle is coming from the catalytic converter, and unfortunately it isn't a heat shield. It's rattling inside the cat. I'm tempted to decat it, but then we have the issues with emissions which it already failed on (probably because the cat was already on it's way out!). So I'm going to get one priced up and and see how much it'll cost to get replaced. 

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  • St.Jude changed the title to Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - Video for great benefit of rear differential
15 hours ago, 666jjp said:

check ebay as there seem to be some on there that don't break the bank

Yeah, I've seen them. But I'd have to factor in someone changing it because I've done the whole exhaust on the driveway thing and I hated it. Plus the bolts look crusty AF.

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I am having a wonderful day today.

I've snapped off 5 of the 7 bolt/screw that hold the underneath splash guard thing in place, and the replacement ones I bought are too damn small. Plus I'll need to drill out the remnants of the screws to put the new ones in. 

So while I waited for the 5 litres of old, disgusting, smelly gearbox oil, I laid there and looked at what's under it. 

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Remember that rattle? Well I thought it was the heat shield as it was falling off! Took the loose bits off, strapped a jubilee clip around it. Turned the engine on and.... No. It's deffo the cat.

Also got to see the inside of the brakes. Think I've a stuck piston on the caliper, judging by the non existent brake pad on the inside. 

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So I'm going to buy a rebuild kit for the two calipers just in case, new pads, new discs. I genuinely haven't got the fucking energy or patience for the cat to be honest. So I may find a mechanic who doesn't mind dealing with 25 year old rusted bolts on the exhaust system, because I sure as hell won't!

I am having a wonderful day.

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  • St.Jude changed the title to Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - The Autodoc will see you now.

So after spending the weekend stewing over this, I've got the nearly maxed out credit card and spunked £154 on brake pads, discs, caliper repair kits and a catalytic converter. Based on the STARKK braking components I got given for my Corolla, the RIDEX things that Autodoc are selling for cheap will do.

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The next day delivery cost of the catalytic converter made me chuckle though. Nah, you're alright mate. I'll wait for 48 hours.

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I bought a lambda sensor just in case, as it might not come out of the hole it's been so fond of for God knows how many years. Going to take the converter and the RAV4 to a mechanic and get them to suffer taking it off. I've been there and done it with the Corolla, and I ain't gonna go back to it no more!

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They always have X% off them, although today seemed to be as good a day as any to buy. Pity I didn't do this last week, they'd probably turn up next week in time for a week off I have coming up.

With the brake lines, I've got some cunifer pipe in the garage so I could make them up myself. If I'm that bothered!

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  • St.Jude changed the title to Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - eBay woes

I had a week off for my birthday, and on the first day I decided to get the catalytic converter fixed. The part I bought from eBay doesn't fit. Well it does, but it doesn't have the holder for the Lambda sensor, so it's the wrong part. I've opened up a return, which they've accepted, but now I've gone to do it I'm a little stuck. I'm expected to pay for the return, and I have to create a PayPal account for the privilege. From what I can gather, this only happens when the return isn't classed as being the wrong item or not as described. This catalytic converter was sold as being compatible, and it isn't, so I'm waiting for the seller to respond. So that's lovely.

But the car, as an aside, has been sorted out. The old catalytic converter has been removed, and the actual honeycomb had flipped around completely, choking the car. Now though, after a week of driving, it feels brilliant. Better than when I first got it.

Currently now looking at the brake parts that turned up yesterday, as well as trying to work out why the driver side brake light doesn't work. I did fix it when I got it with a new bulb. I've changed the bulb a second time and it doesn't work, which is odd.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So the eBay bloke is adamant he didn't mislead me with the information he provided. I'll leave the screenshot here to leave you to draw your own conclusions. So I have to pay postage. Which means I have to set up a PayPal account. No other way of doing it, which angers me beyond belief to be honest as I don't want a PayPal account. Not even sure I can remove the PayPal account once it's been connected to the eBay account.

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Anyway, on a happier note, I fixed the brake light on my lunch break. Turns out the connector from the brake light was broken and had a bent pin, and over the course of however long the vibrations have made it work itself loose. A copious amount of electrical tape around the block now means it should be alright. It works at least! Also taped it to the lead above, just to stiffen it so it won't work loose again. 

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Put the panel back on wrong though so come "home time" I'll be out again changing the panel. May also go to see if I can get the third level light thing to work.

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Good to see this getting all the love, Michael!

On 11/3/2020 at 12:13 PM, sgtberbatov said:

But the car, as an aside, has been sorted out. The old catalytic converter has been removed, and the actual honeycomb had flipped around completely, choking the car. Now though, after a week of driving, it feels brilliant. Better than when I first got it.

Didn't I say I thought there was something about the exhaust choking it?!? I know it'll be loads more fun to bomb about in now.
So are you currently running without a cat, bashed out the old one, or have you found a good one?

 

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1 hour ago, KruJoe said:

Good to see this getting all the love, Michael!

Didn't I say I thought there was something about the exhaust choking it?!? I know it'll be loads more fun to bomb about in now.
So are you currently running without a cat, bashed out the old one, or have you found a good one?

Honestly I saw it and the whole honeycomb had moved 90 degrees so it was properly blocked. It's like a new car again!

And yeah I am until MOT time. I'm currently in dispute with the eBay wanker who's expecting me to pay postage on the wrong cat. The joke of it is, they must've told eBay it's 2kg in weight as the label when it came was 3kg. So I don't want to hand it over and be on the hook for any postage, let alone more expensive ones without my consent. So I'm waiting for it to time out and to escalate it with eBay.

But yeah, whats that cat from then? The one in the field?

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1 minute ago, sgtberbatov said:

Honestly I saw it and the whole honeycomb had moved 90 degrees so it was properly blocked. It's like a new car again!

And yeah I am until MOT time. I'm currently in dispute with the eBay wanker who's expecting me to pay postage on the wrong cat. The joke of it is, they must've told eBay it's 2kg in weight as the label when it came was 3kg. So I don't want to hand it over and be on the hook for any postage, let alone more expensive ones without my consent. So I'm waiting for it to time out and to escalate it with eBay.

I wouldn't worry about the postage label - I returned a trolley jack and the return label for that said 2KG, Post Orifice just scanned and accepted it.

My cat was also broken and blocking the exhaust, god knows how long for as it took me two years to investigate the rattle at idle. What a difference it made once the honeycomb was removed! (Diesel so didn't cause MoT problems)

P7040013_zpsabcsojvq

 

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1 hour ago, sgtberbatov said:

...whats that cat from then? The one in the field?

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Correct.

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It was a good exhaust but I took it off before the 5dr was "fielded" because life up there is not conducive to long exhaust life. It's been in the shed for over seven years. Anything parked in the weeds soon rots from the bottom up.

So yeah, the cat's yours if you want it. Can't guarantee performance obvz, but it's not rotten. Includes sensor.

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On 11/13/2020 at 4:50 PM, KruJoe said:

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Correct.

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It was a good exhaust but I took it off before the 5dr was "fielded" because life up there is not conducive to long exhaust life. It's been in the shed for over seven years. Anything parked in the weeds soon rots from the bottom up.

So yeah, the cat's yours if you want it. Can't guarantee performance obvz, but it's not rotten. Includes sensor.

Yeah I'll probably have it off you. Can't promise when I can come and get it from you though, given I'm under strict instructions to not be venturing about!

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  • 4 weeks later...

So I spent my day off today sorting out the brakes on the RAV4. As demonstrated by this photo.

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This side wasn't too bad. I mean, it was difficult, as I swear the pads and discs were welded on they felt that old. 

The passenger side though, a different story. And so vexxed am I that I haven't taken a photo of the predicament. Put the last bolt on to the caliper, and the bolt shat itself. It's just spinning inside the slider pin which was already questionable.

Called Toyota, I'm getting a new bolt and slider pin by Friday 18th December. A full week away for something so small, and about £13 for the pin. Sounds a lot, but they're about £8/9 on eBay for something of questionable source. 

I've been in a fairly dark mood all week and this hasn't helped matters. So right now I've a strong urge to raffle this.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/18/2020 at 7:28 PM, 666jjp said:

did the parts arrive ok?

It feels so long ago since this happened. But yeah, they eventually turned up. Got all excited by it too, so went out to the car and took the angle grinder to the stuck bolt. At least, I thought I did - until I realised I had cut the good bolt, not the bad one. So I jacked up the Corolla and took the caliper bolt out of that, and put it on the RAV4. It fits too, so the RAV4 is all good to go. 

Well, it was until today.

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So sit back dear reader, and let me tell you what's going on here.

The car gets put on the ramp, and lifted in to the sky above. My friendly MOT man goes under it, checks the brakes. There's something catching on the pads, so I need to take them off and give them a wipe of the emmery(?) cloth or whatever it's called and it'll be sound. But the checks go further, and this is where the world falls out of my arse quite frankly.

As the MOT man checked further in to the car, I hear the phrase "oh fuckin' 'ell". Except they get a bit more "ohhhhh fuckin' helllll" kind of thing. Like you're getting bad news after bad news, and the bad news is getting worse.

The passenger side wishbone is fairly crispy, to the point you would wonder would it taste like KFC or chip shop fish. But then you get to the subframe, and honestly I'm not entirely sure what's holding it together. I don't have photos of it, as I didn't really want to get too close to the chap doing it, but on the passenger side where the gearbox mounts to it (or where it mounts to the chassis, can't remember off the top of my head)  is no longer a box. One side is completely gone, with only the back and the side where it's bolted on actually looking complete. Under the subframe is just gone. A proper game of battleship was had, many a battleship was sunk with the screwdriver going through the rust. 

Plus, the sill on both sides of the car have holes in. One was about 3/4cm's long, the other was nearer 7/8cm's long. 

Helpfully he dropped it back to the house, as I wasn't going to leave it there when I'm not sure:

a) Can I afford to fix it

b) Can I even be bothered to fix it

Which is shit. Because on Monday we had a load of snow here and it was great fun and more capable than I realised in the actual icy roads we had. 

The biggest killer of all of this is the subframe. As I would need to get a new one, but I don't want to throw a load of money at it. As, currently, the cost of repairs is sort of matching what I paid for it, and that is a rule I have where if a repair costs more than what I paid for it then I don't do it. In fairness to the chap, he said if I don't find one, I could just bring it to a soda blaster, get it stripped and then see about welding new steel on to it. But I have visions of the subframe just turning to dust. I'm not lying here, it really is that bad.

So I'm going to have a think about it, and decide on Monday whether this goes to roffle or what happens. 

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  • St.Jude changed the title to Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - Happy New... Dangerous Defects.

Oh, I would also like to add that the arse of my jeans decided to split today once I got home. A day after we go in to this Tier 4 bullshit, meaning I had to go to Tescows and pay too much money (£16) for a pair of fashionable jeans that are too damn comfy to be any use. 

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2 hours ago, Ian_Fearn said:

I think so.

But given the total bullshit I got with the catalytic converter I bought for it that turned out wasn't for the car (credit card charge back pending on that btw) I'm reluctant to buy that unless I know for certain it fits the car.

So, hopefully on Saturday, my local Toyota branch will be open and I can try and get a part number and search for it based on that. 

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I would have thought it fixable, the only concern being the extended use of profanity in the phrase “ohhhhh fuuuuuuuckin helllllll”. Whether used by an MOT man looking at a subframe or your GP when looking at your X-ray or blood test results, it’s generally not good.  At all.  

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My advice would be sack this right off.

Your subframe won't be repairable (will need removing from the car anyway), fitting a new one will be hard to get and prohibitively expensive.

A good used one is the best bet but replacing a used rusty Toyota subframe is not fun. Everything will be seized in and you will need all new bushings and bolts etc which will cost a small fortune etc. 

Get it on a ramp and try and loosen some bolts and you will see what I mean, they will not budge. 

Did a rear one on a 2005 mr2 3 years ago. £330 new for the part from toyota. Toyota wanted a grand labour so did it myself. All new bolts at a tenner each etc. 

Honestly just get underneath it and think long and hard before you do anything like order parts or pay any more money.

It's financially completely pointless and if anyone is thinking this will be easy has never done one. On a new car yes..fairly straight forward. On this...absolute nightmare.

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I did the front subframe on my Suzuki Baleno and I was surprised how straightforward it was. I did make sure that bolts we well soaked before starting.

My MOT tester had told me that fixing the subframe rust was no longer allowed but if it couldn't be seen then nobody would know.

I took the slightly rusty one off and it was absolutely fucked in places you couldn't see!

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