White smoke on start up

[coopersmummy06]

I've got a 2006 Aurion ZR6 blowing white smoke on start up. It started last week on Friday. My partner said it smells like burning oil and might be a head gasket.

The car is well over due for a service which is getting done tomorrow.

Am I going to be in for a rude shock like my engine is dying?

[Beep Beep]

I've got a 2006 Aurion ZR6 blowing white smoke on start up. It started last week on Friday. My partner said it smells like burning oil and might be a head gasket.

The car is well over due for a service which is getting done tomorrow.

Am I going to be in for a rude shock like my engine is dying?

Whatever it is... it's sounding like it's going to be expensive.... really really really expensive.

[coopersmummy06]

It's also only when it's cold. Like first thing in the morning or after work if I don't go anywhere on my lunch break.

I can go to the shops for an hour and it's fine. Or drop the kids off at daycare and it's fine. So it's not every single time I start the car.

[Pah]

Sounds like its just the cold on start up. Mine has smoke on cold mornings, if it was oil it would be blue smoke not white. Good luck with it hope its nothing :D

[coopersmummy06]

Sounds like its just the cold on start up. Mine has smoke on cold mornings, if it was oil it would be blue smoke not white. Good luck with it hope its nothing :D

I'm hoping it's just because i've missed a service or 2 due to being flat broke. My oil is not a pretty colour.

There's no engine lights, no stalling, no jerky movements or weird engine sounds.

The smoke does smell though and there's a lot but it goes after about 10 seconds.

Sorry, i'm really starting to panic that i'm going to get a call from the mechanic tomorrow telling me it's going to cost me more than an arm and a leg.

Edited June 9, 2011 by coopersmummy06

[xpedite]

It could be the valve stem seals.

[Buff Hamster]

If you want to confirm it's the head gasket just press the accelerator when it's idling and you should see A LOT of white smoke come out of the exhaust.

[jeffy]

its probably just the condensation built up in the muffler during cold days, saw this in my mates car when driving up behind him, there was water in the muffler,

[DJKOR]

its probably just the condensation built up in the muffler during cold days, saw this in my mates car when driving up behind him, there was water in the muffler,

I've never had condensation smell like burning oil which is what the OP has said. Not trying to say this isn't the case, but the OP did mention when it is cold and by the description "after work if she didn't go anywhere for lunch" would lead me to think she doesn't mean climate cold, but the engine being cold.

[CONROD]

If your engine is not missing when idleing and there are no air bubbles being pumped into your coolant expansion overflow bottle you can forget about having a blown headgasket,unless of course you have had a coolant leak and totally ignored it the same way you have with your oil,( if you were to remove a rocker cover,dont be surprised if all the cam gear was covered in nothing but hard black caked on sludge) as it sounds like your car only ever gets driven a short distance every day with a lot of stop/start and the engine never really attains operating temperature to burn off all the impurities and get rid of all that moisture in the exhaust system which bye the way going by your discription is purely water vapour due to cold morning/cold engine /warm exhaust gases.Please dont think I am being a cruel bas*ard but to own a vehicle and say you have missed a couple of services,so that relates to no fresh oil for the past 20-30,000 km,depending on what service intervals you run at, anyway thats my 2 bobs worth,hope all is not what it seems for you and best of luck with the outcome,

cheers

[coopersmummy06]

Just took it to the mechanic. Will have an answer soon and I'll update.

I don't think your cruel at all! I was the moron that didn't get it serviced properly. I was uneducated about service costs and Toyota charge a mint. I didn't think I could take it elsewhere. More fool me I suppose. Anyway. After talking to the mechanic because it's been so long since my last service I will be getting it done every 5000 km's to clear out the sludge.

Fingers crossed this is going to cost me a fortune but I should have an update in a few hours.

[coopersmummy06]

So far nothing but sludge in the sump.

[coopersmummy06]

He thinks valve stem seals if the smoke doesn't go away. Which he thinks it won't. I'm just hopeful.

Of it does get worse. $2000 to replace them roughly.

[CONROD]

Hi Coopersmummy06,Thanks for not taking what I wrote personally as there was no mallis intended.In one way its a blessing that he said Quote;He thinks valve stem seals if the smoke doesn't go away. Which he thinks it won't.

At least he is more or less eliminateing the rest of the engine

What I would be inclined to do is change the OIL AND FILTER using a 10w40 or 15w40 something slightly heavier than the 10w30 ,but I wouldnt go too heavy and use the run of the mill 20w50 although in the hand book toyota approves its use,as you need to maintain good oil flow to prevent big end starvation, untill such time as all that thick sludge sh*t has gone,and all the oil passages/galleries feeding the valve gear etc are free and clean and are able to do what they are suppose to do.You might have to run a chemical sludge remover/oil cleaner through the system, like they do to clean diesel engines,to remove sludge/soot and free up the rings,(might pay to ask,but get their reassurance that it wont further complicate the matter.

Make sure that the oil filter is changed at every oil change, as all that sludge has to end up somewhere.They would have to be the easiest filter to change and being an element if you study the bottom of the housing upon removal it tells you of any metal present in the oil,any way COOPERSMUMMY06 if it is valve stem seals its not something that has to be done ASAP,all it will mean is you will burn a little bit more oil than you should,mainly at Idle and going down hill with a trailing throttle as the engine produces high vacuum and sucks oil past the stem seals and guides,

best of luck, take care,

CONROD

[coopersmummy06]

He cleaned out the entire sump. Not sure what kind of oil filter he used but I'm going back in 5000kms for another service to ensure the sludge is clearing.

Might try to buy a new car in the mean time as we have baby 3 on the way. More room won't hurt us!

There is minimal smoke on start up so far. For a day there was no smoke at all but it started again yesterday.

[N3ptuNe]

Sorry to be so frank, but do these guys have experience with the 2GR-FE/FSE engine??? Sounds like there gonna cost you a fortune guessing to me.

Edited June 13, 2011 by N3ptuNe

[adventurer007]

Is white smoke on cold startups that much of a big deal ?

3 guys leaving the office at 3am on a 5 degree morning, a Commodore, a Lancer and my Aurion. All 3 blowing white smoke like crazy.

[DJKOR]

Is white smoke on cold startups that much of a big deal ?

3 guys leaving the office at 3am on a 5 degree morning, a Commodore, a Lancer and my Aurion. All 3 blowing white smoke like crazy.

You have to be more accurate with your terminology. What you describe is water vapour which is the result of the hit exhaust gases heating up the moisture in the cool air, much like when you exhale in cold air. Smoke is mostly the result of burning something.

[adventurer007]

Apologies if my terminology is unclear, but it really does sound like the TS's issue.

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It's also only when it's cold. Like first thing in the morning or after work if I don't go anywhere on my lunch break.

I can go to the shops for an hour and it's fine. Or drop the kids off at daycare and it's fine. So it's not every single time I start the car.

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[DJKOR]

Apologies if my terminology is unclear, but it really does sound like the TS's issue.

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It's also only when it's cold. Like first thing in the morning or after work if I don't go anywhere on my lunch break.

I can go to the shops for an hour and it's fine. Or drop the kids off at daycare and it's fine. So it's not every single time I start the car.

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To some it may sound like that's what coopersmummy06 was saying, but to me, I also look at the fact that she mentioned "or after work if I don't go anywhere on my lunch break" which may not necessarily be a cold enough time for such a thing to happen. Also she mentioned "The smoke does smell though and there's a lot but it goes after about 10 seconds" which leads me to think it may be more than just water vapour since on days when it's cold enough for it to form from the exhaust, you will typically get it for around a minute or so.

[zrrrrr]

its probably just the condensation built up in the muffler during cold days, saw this in my mates car when driving up behind him, there was water in the muffler,

spot on jeffy, if the smoke goes away, then u can rule out a leaking valve seal, head or ring/cylinder damage. as your catalytic converter turns vapours and fuel to water the water does hang about in in the cat/exhaust. when u start the car it gets hot and heat and water = ........ steam. so unless your oil consumption is more than a litre per 5k. dont even fret just service when you supposed to and itll be sweet.

[Leadingshield]

Newbie here who has just gone through the same problem. I have a 2006 Aurion, only done 55000km and had the same white cloud of smoke upon start up and if I had left the car sitting for more than an hour or so, it also started smoking when I turned a sharp left hand turn and accellerated out of the corner???? Was told by many that it was probably valve stem seals.........until I came across a mechanic who actually took the time to research the net and start at the obvious!!

As it turns out, it was, as is this case, related to a big build up of sludge in the system which in turn had blocked the PCV valve open, which in turn allowed oil to be sucked into the intake manifold which sat there and was ready to blow a big cloud of smoke when vehicle was started up.

The PCV valve was cleaned and replaced which allowed the motor to breath as it should, but because of the high sludge build up in my motor, the possibility of the PCV Valve blocking again was inevitable, so to help as a temporary fix, the mechanic also fitted a by-pass can from the PCV Valve to the intake which helped to catch any oil before it got to the intake should the valve block again (which it did).

To permanently fix the problem, the rocker covers and sump had to be pulled off and the thick, licorice lick sludge was removed, the oil pick up was thoroughly cleaned, everything was assembled and then a new oil filter put in, a high detergent oil was added, then the vehicle was run for a week, with no smoke issues. After a week, 500ml of diesel fuel was added to the oil and the vehicle was started and left to idle for 15 mins, the oil was then drained (and it was reasonably black from the small amount of sludge left in the motor) the filter was taken out and replaced and then a high quality oil....Castrol Magnatec 10w-40w was used.

This was a week ago and I have not had any more problems with smoke and the by-pass can is still there just in case, but I have never had to empty it since the majority of the sludge was removed. The PCV valve has not blocked up again...........YET!!!!

Why Diesel in the oil some of you may ask ???? Diesel is a high detergent fuel and does not act as a solvent in your engine like commercial "Engine Flush" treatments, therefore is not detrimental to your engine. This is an old-time trick passed onto me by an elderly gentleman who also used to add diesel into his fuel tank to act as an upper cyclinder lubricant.....of course his car used to use standard petrol.

Should you wish to take this route in fixing your vehicle, just be prepared to spend a fair amount of time and cleaning solution to clean your left hand rocker cover where the PCV valve is located as the baffle around the valve is not removable and this is where you need thorough cleaning, so do as I did and fill the baffle area through the PCV valve opening (with the rocker cover upside down) and prop the cover up so it doesn't fall over or let too much cleaning solvent out and just let it sit for 15 mins or so, then place a finger over the pcv valve hole and shake the fluid around to loosen up the sludge, then drain and blow out using a compressor and repeat as much as is needed until you see very little sludge coming out from under the baffle and the cleaning solvent is reasonably clean.

I hope this helps not only for the person with this problem, but any future people who may have smoke problems.

The cause of this costly exercise............using cheap oil......not having regular services and driving short distances on a daily basis!!

As the saying used to go........"Oils ain't Oils Sol!!"

[Wildseven]

Interesting read. Now I must think twice about my valves and remember not to forget about it. :)

[Silver-Aurion]

Hold on, sludge? How is there sludge? Did you not service the car on time or at all?

[heathaurion]

Hi coopersmummy - mine is doing exactly what you described... What did it then out to be and what fixed it for you - cheers