Rav4.3 T180 - Particulate Filter Or Not?

[Steve-Jeep]

Hi Guys,

This is my first post.

I bought my 2006 RAV from a lease company late last year, with about 40k miles on the clock. During the limited test drive in solid traffic, I noticed that it had a large flat spot, which I thought might be a turbo problem; however the price was right, so I chanced it.

During the drive home, I noticed that there was some turbo boost available, but it came in rather late (about 2800 rpm). At home, I stripped the input elbow off the turbo, and found that the rotor could be freely turned by hand, the bearings appeared sound, and the waste gate could be remotely operated. Back to the drawing board!

I read about EGR problems on this site, so I stripped it down and cleaned out a pile of carbon deposits from the EGR valve and the inlet manifold area, and used an industrial vacuum cleaner to ensure that the ports were clear.

Performance was now restored to acceptable levels, and this happy situation lasted for about 500 miles when on an unlit road at night, in a tremendous rainstorm, the dashboard lit up with multiple warnings, and the RAV went into limp mode. Since there were no terminal-sounding noises, or loss of function except power, I thought that water might have got in somewhere it shouldn’t, so I nursed it to the next town and disconnected the Battery for a few seconds to reset the system. This got me home, but over the next few days, the problem recurred, with a reset lasting anything from 2 miles to about 35 miles. I got my friendly neighbourhood dealership to download the fault codes for me (no charge) and most significant was p2002 – a blocked Particulate Filter. I took the RAV home to look it over and consider the next move.

Whilst trying to get a good view of the particulate filter, I noticed a couple of black hoses, about 10mm in diameter, which came from the particulate filter area up to a sensor unit, which is located at the rear of the engine bay beside the diesel injector control unit. I surmised that this was a differential pressure sensor, which ‘looks’ at the input and output pressures of the filter in operation and triggers the warnings if a large enough difference might indicate a blockage. I tried placing a couple of clamps on the hoses to produce a “No pressure difference” signal to the system, but it wasn’t fooled by this - The warnings came on after driving 100 metres.

The hoses are secured to the sensor unit by spring clips, and are easily removed without tools. They have colour-coded marks to aid correct assembly. I disconnected them and used a spare bit of pipe to breathe down each one to see if there was a blockage. One of them showed no resistance at all, but the other was completely solid. I set my air line to 4-Bar pressure, and gave each hose a blast for about 15 seconds. When I checked again, both hoses were clear.

Since clearing the blockage, the RAV has done about 1750 miles without any problems. It occasionally blows a bit of smoke for a few seconds, but I guess that this is the normal function of the 5th injector.

I wouldn’t advise everyone to be so adventurous without knowledge or experience, but in this case, I think it may have saved me quite a bit.

[Offroadster]

Hi Guys,

This is my first post.

I bought my 2006 RAV from a lease company late last year, with about 40k miles on the clock. During the limited test drive in solid traffic, I noticed that it had a large flat spot, which I thought might be a turbo problem; however the price was right, so I chanced it.

During the drive home, I noticed that there was some turbo boost available, but it came in rather late (about 2800 rpm). At home, I stripped the input elbow off the turbo, and found that the rotor could be freely turned by hand, the bearings appeared sound, and the waste gate could be remotely operated. Back to the drawing board!

I read about EGR problems on this site, so I stripped it down and cleaned out a pile of carbon deposits from the EGR valve and the inlet manifold area, and used an industrial vacuum cleaner to ensure that the ports were clear.

Performance was now restored to acceptable levels, and this happy situation lasted for about 500 miles when on an unlit road at night, in a tremendous rainstorm, the dashboard lit up with multiple warnings, and the RAV went into limp mode. Since there were no terminal-sounding noises, or loss of function except power, I thought that water might have got in somewhere it shouldn’t, so I nursed it to the next town and disconnected the battery for a few seconds to reset the system. This got me home, but over the next few days, the problem recurred, with a reset lasting anything from 2 miles to about 35 miles. I got my friendly neighbourhood dealership to download the fault codes for me (no charge) and most significant was p2002 – a blocked Particulate Filter. I took the RAV home to look it over and consider the next move.

Whilst trying to get a good view of the particulate filter, I noticed a couple of black hoses, about 10mm in diameter, which came from the particulate filter area up to a sensor unit, which is located at the rear of the engine bay beside the diesel injector control unit. I surmised that this was a differential pressure sensor, which ‘looks’ at the input and output pressures of the filter in operation and triggers the warnings if a large enough difference might indicate a blockage. I tried placing a couple of clamps on the hoses to produce a “No pressure difference” signal to the system, but it wasn’t fooled by this - The warnings came on after driving 100 metres.

The hoses are secured to the sensor unit by spring clips, and are easily removed without tools. They have colour-coded marks to aid correct assembly. I disconnected them and used a spare bit of pipe to breathe down each one to see if there was a blockage. One of them showed no resistance at all, but the other was completely solid. I set my air line to 4-Bar pressure, and gave each hose a blast for about 15 seconds. When I checked again, both hoses were clear.

Since clearing the blockage, the RAV has done about 1750 miles without any problems. It occasionally blows a bit of smoke for a few seconds, but I guess that this is the normal function of the 5th injector.

I wouldn’t advise everyone to be so adventurous without knowledge or experience, but in this case, I think it may have saved me quite a bit.

Nice one Steve-Jeep. I will keep this in mind if similar problems occur with my T180. You may want to consider putting this on to Technical Info, Tips and Hints

[Big Kev]

My Compliments, SJ, on your analytical skills and obvious more than usually high knowledge of these techy things.

Bad news for you is if I ever move house it will be to the house next door to you. I can wash your Rav whilst you fix mine !!!!!!

Seriously, I concur with Offroadster that this is worth posting in Techy Info Section....even I could do this.

Big Kev

[OldSkoO1]

My Compliments, SJ, on your analytical skills and obvious more than usually high knowledge of these techy things.

Bad news for you is if I ever move house it will be to the house next door to you. I can wash your Rav whilst you fix mine !!!!!!

Seriously, I concur with Offroadster that this is worth posting in Techy Info Section....even I could do this.

Big Kev

Nice write up Steve!

Cheers