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Hi Keith. Even though I have many, many years of mechanical experience I had to quit 12 years ago on medical grounds and Cat's on cars hadn't been out long on the scale they is now, hence my inexperience with Cat's, DPF's etc etc. so I thank you for your explanation. When I bought my 2012 Rav the government were pushing us into diesels hence why I bought one, now they are trying hard to get us all out of them. My personal Rav, a 150 D-Cat has yet to reach 17K so a petrol would suits me better but it's a perfect car so am reluctant to part with it as the money I would get for it I feel it's better to keep it, incidentally I have no idea if it has ever re-gen but it runs perfectly and does at least one good run every week, my wife is out in it to day, a 60 miles round fast trip. Thanks again, Mike.

Hi Excec. The thing that troubles mw about this bearing inner trach is how blue it is, suggesting it has got seriously hot and you are 'lucky' further damage didn't occur. I don't want to get involved whose fault it is you having the wrong parts fitted, and I don't think any would stand up in court, you have just been very unlucky as the job cost you much more than what you expected and only you will end up footing the bill, everyone else will deny responsible. Mike.

Hi Turge. The 2 screw holes are usually 2 very common bolts that a 13mm spanner fits, (8mm I believe) you can buy 2 bolts for a minimum amount, bolts are better than screws, more leverage! Keeps the questions coming and use WD40 or similar on the bolts and anything that looks seized on in your country, lol. Mike.

There is no code, but you will lose pre sets

Pretty sure that you won't need a radio code.

Hi Tuge. Personally I think a spring may of broke between the brake shoes for the handbrake. All I feel you can do is unadjust the cog at the bottom and hope they retract enough to get the drum off......you will have to do this anyway to look at the bearing. Regards, Mike.

Hi Tuge. A bit more information please. Have you had the rear disc off yet please and seen the inner brake shoes, not the pads? Mike.

Yep, I had this a few years ago and the Toyota technician took it for a forced regen on the motorway using the method mentioned above. Luckily for me it worked (on the return journey) or I would have been looking at a very expensive repair. Instead, I only got charged one hours labour. A diesel car with a dpf is a strict no no if you don't put in the mileage and or do lots of short journeys. I personally hate seeing the regen in progress and seeing the plume of smoke at the rear of the car and annoying the drivers behind me, but that's how it works. I still have my Rav, it's a great car , however, it's my final diesel no matter what make it is.

Ha yeah they're the second place I go to when Autodoc are no help. You've just reminded me actually, they haven't responded to my request for a refund so I'm going to chase them up now.

Hi Mike, DPFs collect both soot & ash. When they regen. they run very hot & burn (using diesel fuel) the accumulated soot off but leave behind a small amount of ash that gradually accumulates until it fills up the unit. This is why diesels with DPFs require "low ash" oil (C1/C2/C3 grades) or the DPF fill up quicker.

As Scott has said, it’s a problem with diesels when they don’t do much mileage, and 5.5k miles per year is low mileage for a diesel. IF the cat is full it could be expensive, though I think there are companies that claim they can clean them. How successful I don’t know. I have had diesels for over 24 years, mainly for good mpg, but got to a time I was only doing 6k miles. Didn’t like the thought of low mpg of a petrol only car so turned to Toyota hybrids. Love them, wife has an Auris hybrid (first hybrid I got for myself), I moved on to Prius, with a Gen4, which is brilliant to drive,and now the warmer weather here I regularly get mid 70mpg and sometime into low 80’s. I don’t do lot of M-way miles, mostly A and B roads, and got to know how to use the roads to good advantage. Cumbria may well be good fro a hybrid, Keith.

The Carina E's master cylinder turned up today. All looked promising, got home and the two bolts that connect it to the servo are narrower - by all of 8mm. The fact I had a bad day as well meant I was thoroughly fed up! So the Corolla is still missing some Carina love John! Back on eBay again while I took stock of the situation. I don't think all of the broken screw is out of my current master cylinder, so I'm toying with the idea of bringing it to my old work place and asking them to drill and re-thread it. I'm also considering going to Mr.T as a last resort, that's even if I can get one from there! eBay has been useless to be quite frankly. I have searched plenty of times for a brake master cylinder for the Corolla and it shows me all the ones that don't fit, and plenty for Land Cruisers and Rav4's that won't fit. In frustration I went on to Google and searched for "brake master cylinder upgrade toyota corolla e11". There was a link to Team Dynamics toyota corolla on the Irish eBay site. What do you think is the top listing on this? A brake master cylinder from a 1998 Toyota Corolla. It even gave the part number on the resevoir, which I checked against my current one. And they're a match! Where is the listening based? Leeds. I went back to the UK eBay to look for this on the searches I was doing and I can't find it. The seller has put it in the right places, but whatever is going on with eBay it's just ridiculous. So I've bought that, asked for 1st class so it'll be here by Wednesday or Thursday. And let that be the end of it! Aside from that, think it's worth pointing out what is left on the car to get it an MOT. The car is missing a bracket for the back box The driveshaft has yet to be fitted (although that has been all put together with the proper grease and proper clamps this time) Brake pads and discs Tappets need adjusting Water pump needs tightening (evidence of some water leak since I fit it) Bonnet needs re-attaching New air filter General service (new oil for the gearbox and engine, filter) New indicators (which I've got) A good wash Reattachment of wing mirrors Reattachment of wipers 4 new wheels (refurbishing the alloys) The list, thankfully, isn't full of hard jobs. Well, except the bracket, but it's close now to getting MOT'ed and back on the road. I'd have been there a lot sooner if it wasn't for the dodgy brake master cylinder rebuild kit I got from Amazon. It's an ABS one by the way, best avoided as far as I'm concerned. I can sort out body work issues (they are numerous) but none of that will stop it being given 12 months of MOT. Just might spoil the photos!

You do realise that the traction battery will not charge, if required, when the gear selector is in N. I believe the owners manual discourages placing the car in N when stationary. Placing the car into P will still allow the engine to charge the battery. When the engine is charging the battery and the car is stationary move the gear selector to N and you’ll hear the difference.

👍 Spreading the Lurve ... GR8 2sav

Hi Tuge. If and when you get the drum off before you start stripping it down if you can take a photo, a close up shot of the brakes and post it on here before you do anything this may be a good idea as people (Like me) may be able to see if the handbrake lever is stuck on, the condition of the brake generally if you need further help that is. If you know what you are doing then there's no need. Either way, GOOD LUCK! Mike. (Norway is lovely!)

Hi. With the greatest of respect to you and 40 plus years in the vehicle game, trucks/cars etc I have never had a wheel bearing seized so I would think brakes straight away, either a cable rusted or a wheel cylinder stuck out due to possible lack of use of the car? So before anything else take the wheel off, undo the wheel bearing nut, whatever type it is, then get a good club type hammer if possible, the knock the drum a few times on the 'corner' and try spinning it until it goes free, then work out what has stuck. My first thought will be the handbrake cable. My second thought will be the wheel cylinder due to lack of usage If and when you get the drum off check for a wear lip around the part of the drum where the shoes don't rub and if you have the tools grind off the wear lip as it is called. What country are you in may I ask? Good luck, Mike..

Hi, I think it's more likely that the brakes are stuck on usually the handbrake cable is seized. Try jacking it up and wiggling the handbrake cable if you can find it which should help release. Also if you have and cracks/splits in the cable this lets water in which in turn seizes the brakes. A good idea also is to just the car up, use axle stands if you have then and assuming you have drum brakes on the rear a few good wacks/hits with a hammer on the drum often frees off the brakes, obviously remove the wheel first. Feel free to try and post on here again. Regards, Mike.

The other services fed by the Dome fuse are the map light, the ignition key cylinder light, the boot light and the lamp on the dash which indicates whether a door is open.

Meant to say that 55mA is an acceptable parasitic drain. Not really sure what the drain is in this case - it's stated as 0.55mV (?). It may be worth confirming the value - otherwise you may be chasing shadows.

As well as all the above, does the Rav4 have a boot light or a glovebox light? If it does, do you know that they are off? Perhaps they are fed by the same fuse?

550mA is an acceptable parasitic battery drain - albeit at the top end of the acceptability range. You may find that the dome light fuse feeds other things such as the memory power supply for the radio.

The dome light is the interior light. It could be water ingress (do you have a sunroof?) Open it up and inspect for water ingress. Thoroughly clean and dry (iso-propyl alcohol aka propanol is good for that). With everything clean and dry, measure leakage again.

Hi if you have only replaced the brake pads ,the pads will take a few miles of gentle stops to bed into a worn disc bringing back your firm pedal ,recommend a brake system bleed as well down,t hurt if not changed for a few years.