2003 RAV4 - strange rattle

Aug 15, 2006 2 Replies

everyone,



i feel like a tool asking, but my wife has a nice little silver 03 rav with an automatic tranny, 4cyl, and the B package. its never been hit. sadly, when it warms up it develops a rattle that is coming from under the vehicle when you accelerate. it sounds like a loose heat shield. you only hear it when warm and upon acceleration. i use 87 octane - but higher grade fuel has not stopped it. i have gone to 3 dealer for a total of 5 times, and they cannot find anything wrong with the car. maybe it is just a normal sound - but it clearly has a loose-rattle feel to it. am i alone?



harry in montreal



It's likely a loose exhaust manifold heat shield. I'm not that familiar with the RAV4 but I know that this is a problem that plagues Tacomas.

Were it mine, I'd take the service manager for a drive to point it out to him.

-- Mike Harris Austin, TX

I agree, get the service dude to hear it. Could also be baffles/cat converter contents rattling.

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