Talbit

There's another post floating around on this same subject. Isn't it a shame that they go to all the trouble of having this whiz bang computer calculation and it's so far out of whack, it's absolutely meaningless! Talbit

Nil is the best answer, or another would be "Don't hold your breath!!!" But again, they might agree. They need your custom aspecially if you are paying for the service. Did you have to fight them to get the rebuild? My dealer said they could do the rebuild but couldn't guarantee it would fix it. Fills you with confidence doesn't it! I'm up to 33,500klm now and I'll be putting about 500ml in soon. I can't see me reaching 100,000klm before my three years is up. Talbit

JTSA, Welcome to the forum. It's been pretty quiet lately. I think most people have given up and are willing to live with it. Have you read the entire forum? Quite a drama but you'll see from the forum members that the rebuilds don't work. The reason they overfilled it was because of two things, 1: They are incompetent and 2: they are hoping you don't notice and the light won't come on before the next service! But overfilling is an absolute No-No. You can do more damage than you'd want to think about. Cheers and good luck. Talbit

LJA, I presume your RAV4 is petrol. I can't comment because I've got a diesel but just take note of my previous post on the 12th Feb. Don't trust car computers and salesmen!! Cheers Talbit

Blacktux, If Toyota say the "normal" consumption is 250-300ml per 1,000klm then that relates to 2.5 to 3 litres per 10,000klm. That's got to be excessive in anyone's book !!! I recon this is the consumption Jennifer was getting. Again, I haven't seen this figure actually published anywhere, but I think it might be a figure in the TFN58/14. The TFN58/14 is a confidential internal document for Toyota dealers and is subject to copyright. I'm not sure it it's TFN or TNF. Talbit

It seems we can't place the "Customer Information - RAV4 Diesel Engine Oil Consumption" mentioned above on this forum because of copyright issues. And I'm having a terror of a time sending it to Trent, the Super Moderator. So get onto your dealer for a copy or if you get stuck send me a message here with your email address and I'll send it to you. But as I said before, it doesn't say all that much and it certainly doesn't place a figure on the acceptable consumption expected. Talbit

I haven't seen anywhere where Toyota has actually published a figure. It does say in my handbook that the vehicle is expected to consume some oil but doesn't place a figure on it. At my first 10,000 service when I made them aware of my concerns, they typed a figure on the invoice of "1ltr every 10,000km". I don't know where this figure came from - certainly not from a publication available to the public. I find this amount acceptable and as I've stated before, I'm willing to live with it. But if your oil light comes on twice in a 10,000 period after the level is started at the top mark - that's not acceptable. Other figures have been bandied around willy-nilly. In January this year my dealer emailed me a copy of "Customer Information - RAV4 Diesel Engine Oil Consumption". Ask your dealer for a copy. I don't know when this was first published. It refers specifically to the 2AD-FTV engine. I guess I could add it to this post but I need to check with the Forum administrator first. I could email it to anyone who wants a copy. But again it doesn't mention an actual figure. Just be careful if they eventually quote you a figure; ask them when it was first published. You need to be sure that they don't just come up with something to quote just for the sake of it. I won't be going to my Toyota dealer anymore for services. Jennifer - If they tell the new owner that it will require oil top-ups then I guess they've covered their backsides. Cheers Talbit

Whoops. Looks like I've been a naughty boy! I started a new topic today on the Rav4 saying it was a lemon and linked it to this post but it seems I'm not allowed to do that. So you won't find it anywhere. Sorry. I did notice though when Googling "Rav4 oil consumption" it can take you to other places and not to this particular forum so maybe there are concerned owners not knowing about this forum. I actually ended up on the Toyotaownersclub UK forum and guess what: they had excessive oil consumption too but that was around 2009 so I don't know what's happened since then. Also, using Google to find this post doesn't always get you here. I noticed the heading of this post has changed (for the better). I wonder how that happened. Maybe the moderator did it. Cheers

Don't take any notice of what the computer tells you about the fuel consumption. (My diesel says around 7.5L/100klm.) It's best to work it out manually by measuring the fuel at the bowser and calculating it against the klm done. Also don't take any notice of the amount of klm's they say you've got left in the tank. It's all over the shop. So is the speedo. See elsewhere on the RAV4 forum. Keep an eye on the oil consumption and please, join the "Oil Consumption" forum. Cheers

I'm not farmiliar with the unit that has the GPS in it (standard with the Cruiser) but you can get it installed in the normal RAV4 by ripping out the unit already installed and putting the new one in and emptying your wallet at the same time! My guess is it's the same unit and they just add a GPS antenna and change the SD card in the unit and you've got a fully blown GPS navigator. Just a guess. The reason I questioned you on the petrol or diesel... There is a hell of a stink going on with th RAV4 diesel. It uses excessive oil and Toyota can't fix it. Look for "Oil consumption" in this RAV4 forum. Cheers

Michael, Are you sure it wasn't asking for your "Phone Book" from the phone? Is your vehicle a petrol or diesel?

Well I never thought I would say this but I'm wondering if it's all worth the hassle. Everyone's circumstance is different but... 1: I bought mine in Wollongong - not Canberra - so I recon I'd have a tough time sorting it out long distance. 2: Toyota could save themselves a lot of grief by offering a full free service - or at least a free scheduled oil check - at the halfway mark, i.e. 5K, 15K, 25K klm etc. This way the oil level could be kept at the correct level. Most owners would never know there is a problem. The owner would then pay for another full service at the 10K, 20K, 30K klm etc marks. Of course, this would be very inconvenient for the majority of people. 3: Or you could just fill it yourself when required. But this won't satisfy those who have a real lemon like Jennifer and go empty inside a 5,000 klm period. It's pretty clear that Toyota have no solution to this problem and are incapable of doing anything about it. My local dealer has said quite clearly that Toyota Australia can't guarantee the rebuild would fix the problem. The sad thing is that they are still selling this lemon knowing full well that it has this issue. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. Cheers Talbit

Where are the other people who have had the rebuild gone?

Extra. I spoke to my dealer yesterday and he contacted Toyota on my particular case and he told me that although Toyota might agree to a rebuild, they can't guarantee it will fix it. Go figure.

I just pity the poor blighter who buys Jennifer's lemon! And it definitely was a lemon - it seems to have the worst oil consumption of all. Surely the dealer must be held responsible for fraud if he fails to tell the new buyer it's a dud. H4RD - you are right. We can't do much until we take the offer of the rebuild and go through the same drama as Jennifer. Do we travel the same path, fight them in court or just live with it. It's interesting to note that although Toyota is aware of the issue, I bet they aren't telling their new customers of this issue. Is that fraudulent?

Your warranty is now void !!! What a load of rubbish. There is absolutely no way they can use that as a reason for your excessive oil consumption. NO WAY !!! This is B.S. at its best and a classic example of how they try and bluff the customer.

I took mine into the dealer today. 27,400 klm and it was below the low mark. I didn't wait for the oil light to come on. The service manager noted the low level (fourth time now) and said he will submit the info to Toyota Australia. He said he was aware of the issue but that he wasn't aware of the TNF58/14! Where are all the others who have had the rebuild? They must be happy. I'm going to wait until Jennifer gets back onto the forum. She's pretty pee'd off at the moment and rightly so!

Jennifer, That's extremely disappointing to say the least. It's thrown a spanner in the works. I wish the others would report back with their results. Anyway, hang in there. All we can do is offer our encouragement.

I've counted 5 members who have had a rebuild and if you include the 2 more that H4RD mentioned then that makes 7 in total. Anyone want to check my figures? Welshpomie, Upsetwithtoyota, Robinsingh, H4RD, gj1965, with Sagewood selling his back to the dealer. My guess is there are many others who have noted the issue and probably many who have had a rebuild but are not on this forum.

H4RD, Welcome to the forum and for telling us your story and please rant as much as you like !!!. Please keep reporting back with your progress. What makes you think that Toyota was aware of this issue in 2013? Do you have any evidence for this? For the service manager to say that he has never heard of the problem is a disgrace but is also their normal response! There is at least one service alert relating to this issue that he should have been aware of. I'm sure there are many others that we aren't aware of! Your comments are valuable. So your dealers' mechanics have done two rebuilds already? Now that's interesting! If they'd told me that I would need to keep topping up the oil within the service period then I certainly wouldn't have bought the car. No one would have bought the car !! Jennifer... My oil level is just at the bottom mark now at 27,200klm. So I'm expecting the light to come on at any minute although I don't think I'll wait until then. I'm not sure how much lower it needs to be before the oil light will come on. Cheers Talbit.

Robin, Thanks for getting back to the forum with your encouraging report. So far it seems that the rebuild is doing the trick. I think up to date there are about 4 rebuilt engines with owners saying they are happy so far. Can you tell us if you got a lot of oposition from your dealer or was he happy to go ahead and do the rebuild? Cheers Talbit

To all members who have had a fully synthetic oil installed by Toyota. It seems some have had synthetic oil installed with no improvement in the excess oil consumption. I'm keen to know what the brand and grade of synthetic oil has been used. It might be written on your last service invoice. At my 10,000klm service they installed "Toyota TGMO 10W-30 SM" and I was losing oil. According to Google, this is a "mineral" oil. Toyota have now filled mine with "Caltex Havoline SIN 5W-30" at my 20,000klm service. At this stage, my oil level is remaining steady. Caltex recommend this oil for our RAV4's. Another fellow I met up with has had the same synthetic oil installed during his first service without speaking to Toyota about the oil loss issue. He has his serviced at the same dealer as me. To be honest, I'd be surprized if this change will make a difference but I guess we can hope for the best. Cheers Talbit

Grant, Thanks for the feedback. 800ml in 3,600 km is a lot, probably one of the highest we've seen in this forum. It appears as though there are now two forum members who have had the rebuild and one who is still waiting (Jennifer). I'm sure there are many others who are not on this forum. If I decide to do the big push for the rebuild I might ask for your dealers name and any contacts at Toyota Australia. I'm not sure if they'd appreciate a letter to head office complaining of bad customer service. Talbit

Further to the frustration !!! It's interesting that some dealers are doing the rebuild. They must have the okay from Melbourne and Japan. So that means that Toyota Australia is fully aware of the issue and have decided on the quite expensive fix. But then the other dealers aren't aware of it - or they say they aren't. So this is where we must keep on their backs. The dealers don't want to do the fix because they won't make any money out of. Talbit

Grant, Welcome to the forum. It looks like you certainly have been given the run around. It seems your oil light was coming on every few thousand klms. Your experience with the dealer is typical. Some dealers say they are aware of it and some others say they are not. The TNF58/14 mentioned by RSECHI in this forum should go to all dealers. It seems they don't bother to check them. Bad management in anyone's book. It's interesting though that some dealers are doing the rebuild while others are not offering unless they're pressed. The overfill happened to me too. They weren't too concerned. I drained the extra out myself. I recon they just overfill hoping that the oil light won't come on before the next service. My dealer told me that they just pour a set amount in from a calibrated container. But clearly, the guy who does it doesn't bother to check the actual dipstick level. Anyway, we are all keen to hear of the result of the rebuild so please keep coming back and checking in to this forum. At the moment I'm running on full synthetic and to be honest after 2,000 klms I haven't noticed any difference. But I'm not confident. Did they go through the synthetic oil routine with you? Jennifer - The delays in your rebuild is nothing short of disgraceful !!! Hang in there. Talbit.