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RAV4.1 potential purchase - advice needed...

2K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Blogson 
#1 ·
Hi all,

Having recently moved to a small village 2 miles horizontally and 500 feet vertically from the nearest main road we are looking to pick up an AWD vehicle before winter starts to bite.

Of of my wife's colleagues is looking to sell her 2000 RAV4 3-door 2L (the "Reebok" special edition model) for a decent price. We've currently got it on loan for a test drive and overall it seems in great condition for its age (88k miles on the clock).

The one thing that's concerning me is that it has some quite severe rust behind the back bumper (see attached photos). It's still sound at the centre of the plate but rusted right through at each end.




I can't decide if this is structural and likely to be an issue at the car's next MOT check, or if this part is simply a filler plate between the bumper and main chassis. We will likely be upgrading to a newer 4X4 in a couple of years and I fully accept that any 14 year-old vehicle is going to have rust in places, I just don't want to end up purchasing something likely to fail it's MOT check in a few months time! It's a shame as otherwise the vehicle is pretty much perfect.

Also, if there is a rust issue here are there any other spots on the chassis which are prone to rusting that I should pay close attention to?

Thanks for your advice in advance!

Tom
 
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#2 ·
Yes, check the fuel filler tube for rust!
 
#4 ·
I've inspected as much of the fuel filler tube as I can see without jacking the car up and taking the rear wheel off and it looks fine with no signs of leakage. We've booked it in to the local garage tomorrow so they can take a look at the rusted area and tell us if they think it's likely to cause issues in the future.
 
#6 ·
Thanks RTexasF - it's booked into the local garage (which is also an MOT test centre so should hopefully know what is/isn't an issue) for a check-over tomorrow morning.

Haven't seen the paperwork myself yet but apparently the rust wasn't even raised as an advisory at the previous MOT (December 2013). This surprises me as it looks pretty serious and I can't see it having developed in the past 9 months, especially as last winter was incredibly mild with hardly any salt used on the roads in this area.
 
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