Who is currently waiting for a drive unit replacement?

[TonyWilliams]

The motor has a 5 year / 60,000 mile warranty.

In addition, you can go purchase the Toyota Platinum USED car warranty for up to 5 additional years / 60,000 additional miles. This usually requires a vehicle inspection if you are not buying the warranty during a purchase or l aww from a Toyota dealer:

"Used Toyota vehicle within current plus 9 model
years old and up to 150,000 total vehicle miles.
See your dealer for eligibility requirements on non-Toyota
vehicles. Used Vehicle plans are available
through your Toyota dealer only...."

 

[davewill]

I'm considering the odds that I might dodge this bullet.

There are 29 individuals taking an interest in this thread. If each one represents 10 others who are not on the forum, then that could be around 300+ affected. If the odds are 300 out of 2,000 then maybe there's a chance. If everyone active here represents 100 silent others, then I should probably be getting friendly with Thorn right about now.

I bought the extended warranty for 8yr/125K. I won't keep the car beyond that unless I've had 30-40K trouble free miles (at least on the motor) by then.

 

[tridub]

My 2012 was in surgery all day yesterday. I hope to be able to test drive my new Drive Unit Friday or Saturday...

 

[kingkos]

Picked mine up from the dealer yesterday and wow, what a difference! I was just starting to get to the point where I was getting used to the noise and it bothered me less and less every day, but now that I have a quiet car, I love it. They also replaced the battery coolant pump, but only charged me for the part ($500).

I noticed that a lot of people have actually had multiple DU replacements indicating that they hadn't actually corrected the defected part. Does anybody know of the latest DU replacements actually last, or will I have to go through this adventure again in a year?

 

[agleung]

Took my 2014 RAV4 EV with 43K miles in (Carson Toyota) for the drive train whining yesterday. They said I am eligible for a replacement under warranty and they are ordering the parts.

My 3 year lease is ending in June. I will have to decide about keeping or returning. A silent drive train will certainly steer me toward keep driving it. I need new tires and the 50K service is coming up. That will be ~$1500 on top of the residual of ~19K. Not sure if I can purchase extended Toyota platinum warranty if I am past the 36K mile warranty. Anyone else in the same boat?

 

[TonyWilliams]

I'm confident that you could find one of the many dealers who will sell you the new car Toyota Platinum warranty (particularly since you're under 36 months) for up to 10 years / 125,000 miles since the car was sold new.

Otherwise, get the used car Toyota Platinum warranty for up to 5 yr / 60,000 miles

 

[n3ckf]

I noticed that a lot of people have actually had multiple DU replacements indicating that they hadn't actually corrected the defected part. Does anybody know of the latest DU replacements actually last, or will I have to go through this adventure again in a year?

I've heard of people (including Tony) getting 2 in the same vehicle.

However i got mine replaced at 25K (it was pretty loud by then, i started noticing it initially around 10K) and i'm now at 61K (so 36K on the new one) and i'm just starting to notice the sound. (its not loud enough that i'm certain it wasnt there before, which was the state around 7 or 8K on the original one).

I expect it *will* get louder, but its doing so slowly i may never really get annoyed by it. (Tesla Model III on order, i expect that once the III arrives i'll just drive the Rav4 a lot less, but i probably will keep it).

 

[smkettner]

My original developed the whine at low speed. Over time it was louder and also became more at higher speed.
Replacement is near silent at low speed but high speed (~50mph) started on day one slightly but very noticeable in just a few thousand miles.
I expect to go in for a second swap before the 60,000 warranty is up.

 

[davewill]

This was my second. The word over on the Tesla forum is that about a year ago, Tesla started reworking the drive units with a proper fix rather than with the same old part that was failing before. No one will really know until they find they DON'T need another replacement.

 

[tridub]

I got a new DU in my 2012 a couple of weeks ago, and I'm very pleased with the results. The car is now as quiet as a church mouse pissing on carpet in a vacuum! It makes my 2014 seem a little loud by comparison.

 

[smkettner]

I got a new DU in my 2012 a couple of weeks ago, and I'm very pleased with the results. The car is now as quiet as a church mouse pissing on carpet in a vacuum! It makes my 2014 seem a little loud by comparison.

Please give a 90 day report.
My DU replacement was good but still a bit of a disappointment.

 

[Spiffster]

I must have gotten lucky with our 2012 RAV4. We have almost 60k on the original motor and other than a few trips to the dealer for recalls we have spent almost nothing on maintenance. I did have to replace the 12v battery, but thats it. Motor has got a bit of a Jetsons car sound thing going on but its certainly not loud. I actually think it sounds kinda cool.

The RAV4 has been our go to family car and its been driven relatively hard since my wife seems to think she's Parnelli Jones... dont tell her I said that, but its true. Anytime we go anywhere together, I insist on driving to keep my blood pressure down. Not only that but its been driven in all sorts of extreme weather here in CO.

Either way, we did get the extended warranty, so we are good till something like 2021. Very, VERY happy with the car so far. I just hope I never have to ship it out to CA to get any major work done, like DU replacement, but it almost sounds like that may be inevitable. I will keep my fingers crossed.

 

[ddoxey]

Well, this is a little unsettling.

The part number on my drive unit is G1100-0R011.

Does the -F on this Tesla part number indicate this is a revision F drive unit? At 27k miles I imagine mine is in the window for failure.

 

[agleung]

Update. I waited about 1 month for the replacement DU and brought it in to the service department on Monday. Picked up a silent RAV4 on Tuesday but noticed that the range estimate dropped from 120 miles with AC off to 89 miles with AC on ECO HI whereas before the replacement and reseting it typically goes down about 5 miles when turning on the AC. I am waiting to hear back from the service department. I wonder if anyone else has seen this behavior and if it is something that needs to be fixed. I am hoping it will re-calibrate itself over time but a 30 mile drop is a big change.

 

[TonyWilliams]

... I wonder if anyone else has seen this behavior and if it is something that needs to be fixed. I am hoping it will re-calibrate itself over time but a 30 mile drop is a big change.

Please post Guess-O-Meter (GOM) questions to the appropriate thread:

http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=825

If you want to reset the GOM:

1) turn the RAV4 off. Do NOT leave the fob in the car (you could accidentally lock yourself out)
2) make sure it's not plugged in
3) disconnect the 12 volt battery
4) leave the battery disconnected overnight

When you reconnect the 12 volt battery the next morning:

5) you should see a spark when you reconnect the 12 volt battery. If not, then it was not fully disconnected or the car was left on, or was charging
6) you will hear the brake booster power up
7) you will see "LO" and a full energy gauge (all 16 fuel bars illuminated). This tells you the the GOM was reset
8) with the key fob present, press the ON button while also pressing the brake pedal
9) Wait for the navigation to spin up (about 20 seconds)
10) press the ON button a second time, while also pressing the brake pedal


Your GOM is reset. There's absolutely nothing additional that the dealer can do except placate you.

You will need to reset several things, the most important for many people being the charge timer.

 

[locman]

Just got a DU replacement due to motor whine at 88k miles covered by extended warranty.
This is my second replacement. The first was at 40k miles about two years ago.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Just got a DU replacement due to motor whine at 88k miles covered by extended warranty.
This is my second replacement. The first was at 40k miles about two years ago.

I'm right behind you... 87,000 miles, waiting for motor 2.

First one went at 11,000 miles.

 

[Kohler Controller]

I'm still waiting on my first replacement. Currently at 95k miles. Got approved around 85k miles. Been gradually getting louder since 40k miles.

 

[califteacher]

This may be a good thread to post my experience in having our drive unit replaced on our 2014 Rav4 EV at 25K.

I can remember the exact day when our drive unit began making noise. It progressively got louder--a whine that could be heard at between 14-22 mph, which would then dissipate or be drowned out by road noise as the speed increased.

We reported it at our 20K service and had it added "to the record." We were told at that time that the whine was "within specifications."

At 25K, (May 2017) with the whine having grown louder, the service dept. at Tustin Toyota agreed that there was an issue and agreed to contact Toyota.

I was surprised to receive a phone call at 9:30 PM about two weeks later, from our very pleased service advisor, who said that our new drive unit had come in. Neither he nor I had expected to have a replacement unit sent out so quickly. The service advisor mentioned that the parts mgr. wanted to get the unit installed quickly, as other dealerships were clamoring to get their hands on it.

Even though the dealership had not performed a drive unit replacement previously, everything went smoothly. We were provided with a loaner car since the repairs took the full day and then some. The whine is completely gone now. It is so nice to have our quiet Rav4 EV back again.

Compared to the many negative experiences and long waits that I had read about on this forum, my wife and I were lucky to have timed things just right--maybe Toyota had just taken possession of a supply of drive units...who knows?

On another note, as mentioned in another post, it does seem like our Guess-O-Meter (GOM) reads significantly lower since the drive unit replacement. I was interested to see Tony's suggested GOM reset instructions and may have to take that step in time.

 

[ddoxey]

This may be a good thread to post my experience in having our drive unit replaced on our 2014 Rav4 EV at 25K.

I can remember the exact day when our drive unit began making noise. It progressively got louder--a whine that could be heard at between 14-22 mph, which would then dissipate or be drowned out by road noise as the speed increased.

We reported it at our 20K service and had it added "to the record." We were told at that time that the whine was "within specifications."

At 25K, (May 2017) with the whine having grown louder, the service dept. at Tustin Toyota agreed that there was an issue and agreed to contact Toyota.

I was surprised to receive a phone call at 9:30 PM about two weeks later, from our very pleased service advisor, who said that our new drive unit had come in. Neither he nor I had expected to have a replacement unit sent out so quickly. The service advisor mentioned that the parts mgr. wanted to get the unit installed quickly, as other dealerships were clamoring to get their hands on it.

Even though the dealership had not performed a drive unit replacement previously, everything went smoothly. We were provided with a loaner car since the repairs took the full day and then some. The whine is completely gone now. It is so nice to have our quiet Rav4 EV back again.

Compared to the many negative experiences and long waits that I had read about on this forum, my wife and I were lucky to have timed things just right--maybe Toyota had just taken possession of a supply of drive units...who knows?

On another note, as mentioned in another post, it does seem like our Guess-O-Meter (GOM) reads significantly lower since the drive unit replacement. I was interested to see Tony's suggested GOM reset instructions and may have to take that step in time.

I would be interested to know if you got a revision-Q drive unit.