[thierry]

Hi all,

I'm new here and a recent owner of a 1996 rav4 4x4 auto, 5 doors. The car looks and drives fine, as far as I can tell (one of the nicest cars I ever drove).

There is one thing bugging me: when turning and accelerating at low speed on a dirty road (dirt and gravel on asphalt), it's very easy to get one of the rear wheel to skid (the inside one as far as I can tell). I try to avoid it as much as I can, and that requires a light foot on the gas pedal when leaving my alley.

Does anyone has an idea what it means? A defective rear differential? A car with the center diff locked? I don't know much about the car history, because it's a reexported model from Japan. Don't even have a owner's manual...

Thanks,

Thierry

 

[kidong]

Nothing you can do to prevent that. You might add a rear strut bar to prevent much roll, thus the front, but as long as you keep light footed, it will be good for you.

It's good the RAV4 has more power to the rear compare to the CRV. That's what most car owners want anyway. Not to mention you're driving in a low traction area. Pretty normal for any 4x4

 

[rav97]

It shouldnt really lose traction that easily........if its got LSD , it could be a problem there

 

[thierry]

Well, in answer...

When it happens I'm in first gear so it's hard to get any body roll at that speed .

About a possible rear LSD, how to know if it's the case? Can someone or the local Toyota shop know out of the serial number?

I tried to read some info on rear axle/diff problems diagnosis but couldn't find anything that applies. The car is not noisy at speed (not enough for me to say there is a problem), there is no strange behavior when driving at normal speed, and when manoeuvering at low speed on asphalt it doesn't happen. It's just that when turning from my alley, there is a patch of dirt on the right where the inner wheel goes.

Is it possible the car is providing too much torque to the rear, causing the rear wheel to loose traction? The car has the O/D Off light blinking irregularly when warm, and the dealer mechanics said it was a sensor malfunction.

Well, maybe I should not worry too much about it :?

Thierry