9tiger9

Success!!!! Disconnected black wire from caravan plug as down to earth, found a connector for 13 pin wiring under a cover at the rear of main circuit breaker under bed in van separated 13 pin plug, tested black lead with wiring now in 2 halves. Front half ok went to back and back still down to earth, so some progress. Went back into caravan and found a small beige connector buried under a mound of wiring which had a black/white/brown leads comming out of it also out of back half of 13 core cable, split it and retested both ends for earth fault.......clear, reconnected black wire into 13 pin plug refitted fuse to car and YE HA light alround the van with the exception of the l/h high level marker lamp. Took the bulb out disconnected the black lead hanging clear of the van and tested the black wire............ down to earth the damn thing is still there, short term remedy as wifes shouting for dinner, leave plug separated. But at least i can sort this one at my leisure and not loose too much sleep over 1 missing lamp for the time being. Why dont caravan wiring diagrams look like they do in the book, it would be so easy, and service departments would not ask you to wait 4 weeks to have a look for you at an astounding £52.00 an hour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hmmm mental note to ones self, must get me a job servicing caravans. Hope someone else might benefit from my experiences over the last few days.

Thanks to all for the replies please keep them coming. I have had a look at the connectors the fitter has used and they are similar to scotchlocks which he has used in the past but these have a gel capsule surrounding sealing them, the fitter says they are an American development and new to the uk and has never had any problems with them and has done loads of Rav 4's over the last 6 years never fitted a dedicated wiring kit to one of them. Tomorrow i will try disconnecting pin 5 then 7 one at a time to try to isolate the fault, then work my way back to the 13 pin socket. till i find something. The indicators and brake lights work fine as do all the other internal functions. The caravan lights only work out at about 2.6 amps( 30 watts/12V), the car 1.8 amp so something is sucking some juice? As pin 3 is communal earth for the brake/indicators which are fine, the plug/socket is brand new so the problem has got to be somewhere in line 5 or 7 on the van. Shoved a 7N pin adapter into the 13 pin and hooked up my mates Compass van to my rav and all was ok, so i think that proves the tow bar electrics are ok.

Anyone out the towing a caravan with the 2.2 rav4 2006-2009. Just had the caravan (2010 elddis ) on the back for the first time and soon as i hitched it up it blew the car's side light/rear light 10 amp fuse in the passenger foorwell. Its not fitted with a Toyota bar as at £600+ asking price fitted it sadly was out of reach, but it has been fitted with a good quality bar by a reputable company. Everything else works fine from the 13 pin plug. Anyone else had any fuse issues whilst towing ( which it does well i must say). Steve

Hi there to all my readers, Received a phone call from customer services at Toyota UK this lunchtime. They have authorised the dealership ( Copcutt Toyota ) to refund the £153.00 cost, how's that for 10/10 customer service! Just goes to show keep it polite and to the point and success, Then again we have been buying from Toyota since 1998 and all our vehicals have been serviced by them as well. So its a drop in the ocean to what we have spent over the years with them, but still a big THANK'S Toyota anyway.9tiger9

Yes, but have put my case forward with a formal request in to Toyota UK for re-imbursment, so will see how it goes next week.9tiger9

Anyone else been charged for diagnostic time ( £153 ) after EGR valve and other defective bits replaced under warranty on a 2007 rav4 2.2 d4d. Thought these diagnostic costs would have been included in the bill sent by the dealers to Toyota for re-imbursement anyway as our car has full Toyota service history from day 1. 9tiger9