RAV4's - what to look out for? **Updated**

[dnalunchie]

What sort of fuel usage are we talking here? Ball park anyway. Only reason for considering really is price / comfy ride to work. With the quakes it's become a real drag to daily the Levin. If I got it i'd probably just keep it till I got bored then flick on.

Watch out for wet grass, even if its the 4wd model its not a 4x4 and it will get stuck on wet grass, or even a slippery car park! You know where I am to call for a recovery. Lol

Will keep in mind

she gets around 400kms from a 55 tank around auckland.

[BZG Wagon]

My sister had the first gen with a centre diff lock and it seemed to cope alright with the little bit of offroading I did.

Like others said; drinks a lot of fuel for a small car.

Overall I liked it, other than it being so girly looking.

[Elmo]

What sort of fuel usage are we talking here? Ball park anyway. Only reason for considering really is price / comfy ride to work. With the quakes it's become a real drag to daily the Levin. If I got it i'd probably just keep it till I got bored then flick on.

Watch out for wet grass, even if its the 4wd model its not a 4x4 and it will get stuck on wet grass, or even a slippery car park! You know where I am to call for a recovery. Lol

Will keep in mind

she gets around 400kms from a 55 tank around auckland.

Dam, Id be happy with that. I get under 600km out of a 90L tank of diesel.

[edwagon]

What sort of fuel usage are we talking here? Ball park anyway. Only reason for considering really is price / comfy ride to work. With the quakes it's become a real drag to daily the Levin. If I got it i'd probably just keep it till I got bored then flick on.

Watch out for wet grass, even if its the 4wd model its not a 4x4 and it will get stuck on wet grass, or even a slippery car park! You know where I am to call for a recovery. Lol

Will keep in mind

she gets around 400kms from a 55 tank around auckland.

I got nearly that (350ish) from my 1uz surf!

A friend has a 3sge one and it goes ok, but uses a heap of fuel. And it looks like a middle aged woman's car. Ugh

[holden_fan2005]

What sort of fuel usage are we talking here? Ball park anyway.

$&#$% heaps. Took the old ladies one up the mountain (3sge auto 4wd) and I think we went through a couple of tanks or more getting there and back.

My V8 soarer worked out to be more economical...


Buy it. Tidy it up. Sell it = profit.

[Bling]

Got a text to say they wouldn't make it as the cambelt was busted....

What I found out"
3sge, 4wd, lack of servicing obvious as it uses oil.

Towed it as the cambelt appears to be missing some teeth now. Only did a quick look as it was stuck next to busy roundabout, but crank turns and cams don't, can't be too many other things

So new questions...

How much oil usage could be considered 'ok' for a 3s?
How much am I looking at for a 2nd hand 3s? Better off rebuilding?
What will the consequences be of low oil / lack of oil changes?

A lot of the above are similar to my 4age, but I just don't have experience with 3s engines. Mine lacked servicing, uses oil etc, but has run fine for my entire ownership. Are the s3 engines just as durable, or will such abuse pretty much be a death sentence for it? I know run bearings are a fault with the 3s, so is it just a matter of time before this one dies now?

Cheers, all the questions are due to the fact the value has plummeted even lower now to almost nothing. So it may be a side project I take on.

[Mr Revhead]

Is there a lot of oil underneath and back of engine? They can leak lots there.
No way to tell what lack of oil changes has done. How long between changes and. dor how long?

[Bling]

Didn't get a really good look to be honest. Only got access to the crank area and did notice oil on the block. But not getting run over was my main priority Quite possible for some to be leaking, but she did say mechanic said it didn't look to be leaking oil.

How frequently i'm not sure, but i'd say closer to worst case scenario rather than regularly... It appears the cambelt is the original. Why no one servicing this picked it up i'm not sure. Couldn't see any obvious markings to say it had been done so just assuming. ~150k isn't bad I guess Oil light has been on in the past.

Assume typical nz service schedule which is fix something if it's a WOF issue. Add oil if light comes on....I had to laugh though really....

May have another look at it in a couple weeks or so. I'm not sure they will put any more $$$ into it, so it could be going CHEAP. I just need to work out costs involved with getting it back on the road. At the same time as learning how to do cambelt change etc. Another project I don't need, but could learn a bit.

[Dell'Orto]

I'd walk away unless is gonna be a grand or less, if the motor has been that neglected whats the rest going to be like?

[Bling]

Yeah for sure, I know what you're saying. I don't even know what they will end up doing. But if they offer it for next to nothing i'm just seeing what it's going to cost to get it back up to a good standard. I think i'd walk at anything over $500. Body / interior is tidy.

[iOnic]

I'd strip and check/clean the motor out, throw a new set of bearings at it and a whole seal/gasket set if everything looks good. 3SGE's are common as shit but I don't know what differences a Rav one has but since you'll have both motors you should be able to swap over all ancillaries. Neglected 3S is bad news, if it uses/leaks oil - it's gonna cause you headaches at some point.

This is all assuming it's cheap as shit. They aren't worth much at the best of times.

[Leon]

run away

[Bling]

I know that is the sensible / easy answer

Pick-a-part opening soon, I could potentially fix it up for not too much. Bad condition ones seem to go for ~2k, good condition ~3.5k. If I can get it for next to nothing / free though, i'm just afraid i'll be too tempted. So just doing some homework in case that happens.

[crispy'86]

I'd walk away from it to be honest, if the engine is in that condition you can guarantee the rest of the drivetrain and vehicle has been abused. It'd be a hell of alot of work to do that and then have the trans or centre diff pack in. We had this with the same year rav before i left work for my holidays and the belt was about to break. Really bad on full lock so = centre diff fail. I've been thinking of this scenario if i ever buy another car with maintenance. It's bad enough with our fielder that uses oil and that's a 2000 with 152000 km's

[Dell'Orto]

Buy it for $500, transplant 3SGTE into, do helis, profit

[Al]

C'mon Brad. Nothing with a 3sgte ends up with a profit!

[dnalunchie]

C'mon Brad. Nothing with a 3sgte ends up with a profit!

or does helis

[fuel]

Do the NZ-new ones come 3S-GE? Also are 3S-GE engines of that era interference or not? If they are non-interference I would just fit another cam belt and just fix up any other issues as they arise. I've found 3S engines can be leaking for ages (usually from oil pump housing) and don't so any damage unless run bone dry.

[Dell'Orto]

C'mon Brad. Nothing with a 3sgte ends up with a profit!

Replace profit with relief then?

[Bling]

Not sure if it's nz new or not actually. My list of things to check was sort of irrelevant today. Going to wait and see what happens, but may try find a 2nd hand belt to throw on and see how the rest of it runs. Still wof/reg for a few months. May not happen so not making any big plans.

Just chucking a belt on (new if rest is fine) and rolling as is sounds like a pretty good plan.