How to Replace Windshield Washer Reservoir 2005-16 Toyota RAV4

Hi, I'mGeoff from 1A Auto. Today, I'm going to show you how to replace this washer fluid reservoir in a 2010 Toyota RAV4. If you need this or any other parts for your vehicle or the tools that you need to get the job done, check us out at 1AAuto.com.

Okay, so we're going to get started by taking off this panel right here. We're just going to get in and these ones come out. You just push down the center and you can pry it up like that. That one's already down, get in like that, push. There we go, there's that one. You can go ahead and do the same with the rest of them. Then, you can go ahead and this just lifts, slide it back and out.

All right, so now we're going to go ahead and take off the bumper. We're going to start along the top here. There's a couple of these push clips and then two Phillips screws. To get these push clips off, you just get in under with a screwdriver, pull up the top and then it pulls right out. You can go ahead and do that for these other ones. Then, while we're right here, we'll get this Phillips. These screws ended up being a little rusty and they're kind of stuck. We're just going to get a little bit of rust penetrant in here, give that a second to soak in. All right, now that we've given that a minute for the rust to break free, we can just go ahead.

All right, we got that one out. Then, we can go ahead and get this other one on the other side. Then, right here, this is actually one of those pop clips too, so we just need to pry up the top of it and then it comes out. Right here, we have another clip that attaches this liner to the bumper. All you need to do is turn it a quarter turn and then it'll just pry right out just like that. Okay? Then, after you take this clip out, this just separates away. You can see hiding behind right here, we have another 10 millimeter screw that secures the bumper to the fender. You can go ahead and do the same thing on the other side.

Now, we're going to take a look underneath. We've got a bunch of things that we need to remove to separate the bottom of the bumper. We've got some more of these clips and then we've got a couple of screws that are either 10 millimeter or Phillips. We've got here, here, here, which we are missing, here and then here and here. All right, just like the other ones, we're just going to pop out the top. These ones are down on the bottom so, of course, they've filled up with all kinds of sand and road junk over the years. These are not coming out very easily. There we go.

If you wind up breaking any of these plastic pieces, we sell an entire kit of Toyota fasteners on 1AAuto.com. Now, let's go ahead, we'll get off these 10 millimeter screws, one there. There would be one there and there and there. We're going to skip right to here and this one right here. All right, now that we've got all the fasteners off, all we have to do is get a good grip and rip. Look at that, I got it all in one go.

All right, we're going to go ahead and remove the pumps. There's actually two pumps for this reservoir, one here and one behind it. Ideally, you do this while the reservoir is empty. We're going to have to drain out all of this fluid, so I've got a bucket underneath. I'm going to pull this pump out. It just pulls straight back, and then we'll let it drain out before we take out the other one. If you need to, you can grab a flat blade screwdriver just to give yourself a little extra prying force. Just be careful of the gasket right here, we don't want to break that because then it might end up leaking later on. There we go, there.

Then, right here above the pump, we've got a level sensor that we also need to get out. We're just going to get in here with our flat blade screwdriver. There's a little tab on the bottom of it, just pry and it comes right out. Before we go ahead and take the reservoir the rest of the way out, we just need to get some of these things off of retainers that are on here. We're going to just pull that wiring harness aside. We're going to pull out one, two hoses. Ah, there's another bolt back there that we couldn't see before. That's why we do it in steps. There's one more wire back here. We just need to get in here and pry out the retainer. Here we go.

Then, while we're right here, we can disconnect the filler neck. It just slides right off. Right, now we just have three 10 millimeter bolts that we need to remove. There's one back here, one right here, and one at the top. I'm going to start with this one in the back. We're going to do the same thing with the rest of these. All right. Now, we'll just get this last one at the top. Then right over here, there's a little hook holding a tank up for us so it'll stay there. After we take the bolt out, just lift it up and it comes right out.

All right. If you've got some bolts that need to go into hard to reach places and you're worried about dropping them and never finding them again, little trick you can do is put just a little piece of tape on your socket and then stick the bolt in and it'll hold onto it until you thread it in. Now, we're going to go ahead. We're going to set the reservoir in position using the hook on the side here. I'll just line up the hole, start the bolt in. I'm not going to go all the way yet. I'm just going to put it in enough to hold it in place. Then, I'm going to go put the other two. Then we can go back around, tighten up all the bolts.

We're going to tighten these up. They just need to be snug. You don't want them to be too tight, because we don't want to break any of these pieces here and have the reservoir flopping around. We'll put this wire retainer back in its spot right there, just clicks right in. We can take the filler neck and that's just going to slide right on too. Just make sure you've got it down all the way so that this rubber gasket is going to prevent fluid from leaking out when you fill it up. We're going to come around to the back, and we can put these hoses back in their retainers. They have these little spots on them so you don't pinch the hose.

Okay, we're going to come around the back here. We're going to put our pumps and the level sensor back in. All right, so to get this back in, we're actually going to take the gasket off first. There's the gasket. We're going to take a look at it real quick, look for cracks or dry rot, anything like that. If it's still not nice and rubbery, then you're going to want to replace this to prevent leaking from the tank. Then, we'll just go ahead and you can fit the gasket right into the opening on the reservoir. Then, you can take the pump, just give it a nice firm shove right into the gasket.

You can see how there's a plastic rim on the pump. You want the gasket right up against that rim to make sure it's seated all the way. Then, you'll be able to do the same thing with the other pump right here. Okay, so we're going to go ahead and put the level sensor back in. If the gasket came out with the sensor, you can just go ahead, pull it right off. Take a look at it, make sure there's no cracks or it's getting dry or anything. This is what's keeping the fluid from leaking out. If this is cracked or damaged in any way, then you're going to want to replace it. Whoops, I'll just put the gasket into the opening first.

Okay. Now that we've got the gasket back in the reservoir, we're going to go ahead and just push the sensor right in. You want to make sure that you've got it facing the right direction. Otherwise, when the tank is full, it's going to say it's empty. There's a nice flat piece on the bottom here. You just want that to be straight down. All right, then we'll just take this wiring right here, just slip it back in that hook.

All right, here's our bumper. We're just going to set it in place right here to start with. I'm going to take my two screws to hold it in place while I work on the rest of the stuff. I'm just going to put them in loosely now. We'll come back and tighten them down at the end. All right, so now that we've got it secured up top, we can go ahead and start putting it back in place over here. We've got some some tabs on the back of the bumper here that just kind of rest underneath the headlights. Then, we've got these tabs, they're going to lock in right here. Make sure you get these ones right under the headlight, and then these ones will press right in. Then, you can go ahead and do the same thing on the other side.

Okay, we're going to go ahead and take this 10 millimeter screw that holds the bumper onto the fender. We're just going to get it started here. All right, and then we're just going to tighten that until it's snug. It doesn't need to be too-too tight, just enough to hold on. All right, now that we've got that screw taken care of up there, we can take the rest of this panel, slide it in behind the bumper, get this piece tucked into this bracket right here. That piece fits in like that. Then, we take this pin, it's got the little wings on it, they line up with the slot in this bracket here. When everything is lined up, you can push it right in like that.

Then, to secure it in place, you can take a flat blade screwdriver or something similar and just give it a little turn and now it's locked in. Then, you can go ahead and do the same thing on the other side. Okay, now that we're down here, we've got some screws and some clips that we need to put in. We'll start with the screws. We're going to want one going here and here. We were missing a few, but if you still have them, you're going to want them all along here. We'll start down on this end.

Okay, we've got our screws in. Now, we've just got one of these clips that goes in on this side. Push it in to lock it, and then another one on the other side. All right, so now that we've got everything on the sides and underneath finished, we can come back up here to finish up the top. We're going to tighten down these screws and then we've got three more clips to put in right here.

We have our clips that we're going to put back. This one in the middle has a bumper on the top of it, so we're going to start with that one. We just slide it right in, push it down to lock it, and then you can do the same thing with the other two. Now, we can go ahead and finish tightening down these screws. All right, now we can go ahead and put this trim piece back. It just sits in like that. Then, we're going to secure it with a whole bunch of the clips with the center button. We'll start down on this side. Just push it in, push down the button. Okay, now we're going to go ahead and refill the washer fluid reservoir. Right here is our cap, washer fluid only, going to open it up.

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