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Mikey7436

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2020 Toyota RAV4 XLE Premium
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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I have searched around and couldn't find heat issues except for the hybrid.

I have 20 rav and in the winter my heat is completely horrible in my opinion. For instance today was -10 Fahrenheit with a wind chill of -40. I drive about 20min to work. In that 20min it takes to get to work my feet are still cold. I do remote start it for about 10min before I leave. So that means I'm letting my car run for about 30min which I feel should definitely get some good heat. This isnt new neither this has happened ever since I got the vehicle. Yes I know -40 is cold but all of my previous vehicles were just fine in the cold. This is my 1st 4cyl so maybe that's why?

Anyone else have issues or ideas on what is causing this?
 
#2 ·
For comparison, I had -10'c. Started car, max fans on windshield, scraped snow for ~5mins and cabin was warmer when i got in. Don't know about feet situation though because warm air goes upwards anyway, I wear winter boots. I don't have remote start, but does it max the fans?
 
#3 ·
Now it's just me, but I have found during our very cold weather we have had over the last few days day times high -32c with high wind chill, yes it has taken a long time to warm up the vehicle driving around, I don't have auto start so usually once I am in I start the vehicle & start driving & leave the internal temp set at 20c within a few minutes you can feel some heat coming out of the heater core. It's not blasting hot, but the interior just seems to warm up fast that the if I crank up the heat straight away the max.
 
#4 ·
Back in the day we used to wedge a small piece of cardboard in front of the radiator, like he lower 1/3 or so.
You have too much cold air passing through the radiator, the coolant is being cooled too fast and let back into the engine.

Wind chill is nearly unnecessary as you're already creating your own wind chill by driving into the cold air. Driving 40mph through -10 ice cube air just can't warm the radiator quickly enough.
 
#6 ·
NoMoreDomestic said:
Back in the day we used to wedge a small piece of cardboard in front of the radiator, like he lower 1/3 or so.
You have too much cold air passing through the radiator, the coolant is being cooled too fast and let back into the engine.
Click to expand...
On modern cars, the thermostat keeps the coolant from going to the radiator until it reaches 180 or 190 degrees.

OP, what does the temp gauge on the dash show after you drive a few miles? If that shows low, you may have a bad thermostat.
 
#7 ·
i use an engine block heater and a battery charger to help with the cold starts.

nice to have some heat in 1/2 a block or so.

a bit of cardboard in front of the radiator helps when below -5F
just watch the temp gauge for sure.
and remove the cardboard when above 30 deg F.

running at inter state speeds when cold it is real hard to get any heat with the air flowing hard at the front of the radiator and engine.
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
FKHeath said:
On modern cars, the thermostat keeps the coolant from going to the radiator until it reaches 180 or 190 degrees.

OP, what does the temp gauge on the dash show after you drive a few miles? If that shows low, you may have a bad thermostat.
[/QUOTE the temp gauge is at halfway like it usually is.
Click to expand...
 
#9 ·
I do find it take a while for the car to warm up and find the coolant temp and oil temps stay pretty low. The transmission keeping the revs below 1,500 RPM doesn’t help and I do use sport mode to warm things up and accelerate more aggressively. Yeah fuel economy sucks but at least I’m warm.

Here I had takeout in the car and wanted to keep it warm. Got the interior to +24C while it was -27C outside.

On a side note the rear defrost sucks too.


Image
 
#10 ·
Fortunately, I live in the south and I don't see -temps. At least by the fahrenheit scale. Anyway, as suggested above, could be a faulty thermostat. In past vehicles, due to not using the heat much, the heater core could gunk up. Or if coolant was added to the system that didn't like the previous coolant, could gunk things up too. Which could be possible if you bought it used and don't know what the previous owner did. A back flush of the heater core would generally fix the issue. But the first thing to check is if there is air in the system. I don't think we have a bleeder screw, so you will have to go a different route. This video should be pretty basic and cover our vehicle as well.

 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
Like I said though this is the only vehicle I have had that is having this issue my past vehicles no problem in the cold. My wife's f150 gets so hot you have to crack a window even at this cold temp.
EL_CID said:
Fortunately, I live in the south and I don't see -temps. At least by the fahrenheit scale. Anyway, as suggested above, could be a faulty thermostat. In past vehicles, due to not using the heat much, the heater core could gunk up. Or if coolant was added to the system that didn't like the previous coolant, could gunk things up too. Which could be possible if you bought it used and don't know what the previous owner did. A back flush of the heater core would generally fix the issue. But the first thing to check is if there is air in the system. I don't think we have a bleeder screw, so you will have to go a different route. This video should be pretty basic and cover our vehicle as well.

Click to expand...
EL_CID said:
Fortunately, I live in the south and I don't see -temps. At least by the fahrenheit scale. Anyway, as suggested above, could be a faulty thermostat. In past vehicles, due to not using the heat much, the heater core could gunk up. Or if coolant was added to the system that didn't like the previous coolant, could gunk things up too. Which could be possible if you bought it used and don't know what the previous owner did. A back flush of the heater core would generally fix the issue. But the first thing to check is if there is air in the system. I don't think we have a bleeder screw, so you will have to go a different route. This video should be pretty basic and cover our vehicle as well.

Click to expand...
I bought it brand new. I did put a little coolant in which was the recommended. So there should not be any air in the system. It is odd though my temp gauge is sitting halfway when driving which it is suppose to but if I stop and park somewhere the gauge will move down to a quarter. I have never seen a vehicle like that.
 
#12 ·
Mikey7436 said:
Like I said though this is the only vehicle I have had that is having this issue my past vehicles no problem in the cold. My wife's f150 gets so hot you have to crack a window even at this cold temp.


I bought it brand new. I did put a little coolant in which was the recommended. So there should not be any air in the system. It is odd though my temp gauge is sitting halfway when driving which it is suppose to but if I stop and park somewhere the gauge will move down to a quarter. I have never seen a vehicle like that.
Click to expand...
This is a sign of a faulty thermostat. But it is also a sign of air in the system. If you are completely full on the coolant, then we can probably rule out air in the system. Since you did add coolant, I would definitely try bleeding the system as a free step in identifying the problem. Then move onto the thermostat.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I've reread part of this thread, including the first post.

I have to ask though, is it your feet that are cold or is the cabin cold?
I have cold feet, especially in the winter. Last week it was about 30 degress when I left my house. The car was garaged, I stopped at a semi-busy coffee shop 1 mile away for a coffee on the go. The sky was 98% sunny. I dove 2.5 hours, arriving at temps about 42 degrees. My feet (foot) was semi-cold when I arrived. The heat was fine. The sun was nice. Just my feet were still cold. Has nothing to do with the heating or cooling system of the car. I probably had the temp set to 70 with floor discharge only for a lot of the trip, switching to face/floor or floor mode to suit my comfort level.

I had a newer F150 and those models have the worst floor heating on the driver side in history of floor heating. My feet were cold in that vehicle more than my previous just because of 1) my foot problem and 2) the poor duct layout on the drive floor.

So is your complaint that you and the vehicle are cold are is it just your foot/feet cold?
I can't think of a single reason why a 4-cylinder should be a consideration for lack of heating.
 
#15 ·
EL_CID said:
. If you are completely full on the coolant, then we can probably rule out air in the system. Since you did add coolant, I would definitely try bleeding the system as a free step in identifying the problem.
Click to expand...
The Car Care Nut on YouTube (Toyota dealer master diagnostician) has several videos on the Toyota bleeding procedures and the 5th gen RAV and 8th gen Camry (same engine). Boiling it all down (pun intended) all you do is fill up the radiator and the reservoir with the pre-blended Toyota pink coolant and run the engine holding it at 2000 RPMs until the electric radiator fan comes on a couple of times and make sure the reservoir is filled between the marks. He says the heater should be turned OFF in this procedure. The OPs car should be completely bled after all the driving he has done.
 
#17 ·
These engines are quite the setup.
These have electric water pump and there is a valve block (separate from the thermostat, controlled by computer) that controls coolant to the heater core and the trans cooler.
It sounds like the heater valve may close in extreme cold to get the engine block up to temp or a certain temp before it allows it to flow to the heater core.
If you are not getting any heat out of the heater, it could be the valve. Could also be a bum thermostat.

Easiest way is to take it in to the dealer to get a scan tool on it while it is under warranty to see what the temps actually are and make sure everything is working as intended.
 
#19 ·
I'm experiencing similar heat issues in our 2022 ICE RAV4 XLE. The car just had its 5,000 mile service so everything is fine from that perspective. Drove 300 miles in subzero temps and the cabin was warm but you couldn't get it hot if you wanted to. But most noticeable and bothersome (besides the rather pathetic partially heated steering wheel) was poor heating of the foot well area. I like warm feet when I drive but this car seems incapable of producing that kind of heat in the driver's side foot well. Give me an old '69 air cooled VW Beetle where you could roast your toes if you wanted to. On the plus side, even at -14 deg. F, it started up easily and ran well. I'm sure the 0W-16 oil has something to do with that.

At least we don't own Teslas where an owner reported that, in these frigid temps, the car could not warm up the battery sufficiently to accept a charge. Just another reason why an EV is not on my radar until the technology is improved, especially with regards to cold weather operation and efficiency.
 
#20 ·
Did some driving with the scanner attached.
30°F start temp in garage. Ambient is around 25
I started driving after approx 4 minutes. at this time the coolant temp was at 100 and needle was starting to move off min. Oil and trans 41/42°F. Coolant valve closed (there were 2 coolant valve IDs, this one closes if I turned temp to cold and put defrost on.. did this later in the trip so that confirmed it was likely for a heater core bypass. I had the blower on low, max temp. I forgot to check to see if any heat was coming out.)
Coolant reached 170°F after 7 minutes. Oil and Trans 68/69. Coolant valve still closed.
Coolant valve opened after what seemed that the trans/oil reached 75ish. (past 8 minutes)
Coolant didn't go into the 180s until oil/trans was above 130. (past 14 minutes)

Oil and Trans temp seemed to always be within a degree of each other. Either the trans/oil cooler was working or the trans temp ID I selected wasn't correct

Anyhoo..
Foot heater seems to be right at the edge of the knee panel blowing down between the ankles. Not like other cars that seem to blow more on the feet. Likely why feet are cold.
 
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