Hello all. I’ll freely admit this question is more academic in nature than a pressing maintenance concern, but I’m too curious for my own good. I drive a 2009 Toyota RAV4 Sport. A couple days ago, I had the misfortune of hitting a deer out in rural Kansas (though I suppose the deer was less fortunate than I was). While assessing the driveability of my newly-rearranged front end, I noticed a cracked plastic container dangling down under the car (circled in the attached photo. figuring out what it did or held seemed kind of important, but I just couldn’t make sense of it. Here’s what I know about it:
-It has a single hole, roughly quarter sized, at the top.
-It looks to hold about a quart, but was dry on the inside.
-It would have originally been behind the driver’s side headlight, or near there.
-It is not a coolant overflow, wiper fluid, or brake fluid reservoir.
I’ve looked at engine diagrams online, with no luck.
Any ideas?
@VOLVO_V70 True. I admit this is more curiosity than necessity based, but I’ve also got a feeling the list of replaced parts will be long. It’s something I’m mulling over while I wait for the estimate.
Aha-perfect! That’s the diagram I was looking for! I wasn’t expecting it to be part of the air intake system, so I wouldn’t have found it. Thanks all-I’m going to go read up on what exactly that thing does. I can check my one new thing learned off my list for the day.
Not sure what that part does on your car, but on my Corolla there’s a weird banana-shaped gadget, an offshoot of the air intake path. It’s purpose is to hold a supply of filtered air all ready to go into the engine on rapid accelerations. Without it, accelerations might be slowed a bit due to the time it takes the air filter to filter a bolus of air. And it probably smooths the air flow enough that it improves the accuracy of the intake air flow measurement sensor. My guess anyway.
