Codename47

I recently bought a 2014 Toyota Camry for my wife after trading in the Toyota Aurion ( smoke issue). 

My brother owns 2013 Camry and have had no issues with it and also being Toyota as everyone said above, cheap to maintain and reliable car.

Agree with @campbeam, get someone to look at your rocker cover. If you are not bad at DIY, you could do it yourself. Make sure you get rocker cover gasket and the sealer for it. 

Top advise on injector cleaner, I had to use that few times.

On 12/15/2017 at 10:57 PM, Kluger KXR said:

@campbeamis inspected the PCV valve today and screwed it back in with the piece of Chux, the smoke was still there. i have cleaned the existing PCV valve and to me it looks fine as its rattling/making that click noise when i shake it.

@Codename47 with the oil flush, ive carried out the flush twice with a gap of 200kms. first with the liqui moly engine flush and then with diesel fuel. im plan on running this oil for atleast 1000kms now. and then go for a third flush. so by removing the rocker covers, do i also remove the sump pan as well? 

 

I did the rocker covers only at the start and , made sure all the drain channels are clean. I used ATF (automatic transmission fluid to remove all the sludge. Next time when you do oil change put 5 Litre engine oil and 1 Litre ATF to clean up the sludge in other parts of the engine. 

Sump will be a hard job if you are doing by yourself as it will need seals/gaskets. Try taking it to a mechanic to do that. 

Did you check your oil filter ? Previous owner must not have replaced it in 20-25k kms . Mine was clogged, and it was that bad that I couldn't recognize whether it was filter or just mud in oil.

9 hours ago, Kluger KXR said:

my mechanic is reluctant in opening the valve cover as he thinks its pointless. i know what you mean with that but im gonna find someone else to do it for me coz he’s a bit up himself and doesnt like to be told what to do. like today when i got the engine flush done for the second time i told him to take th sump pan off so that we could inpect it as i have my doubts that its going to be pretty sludgy but then he was like it will be sludgy, but that wont cure the problem. take off the sump pan of any used car 5-6 years old, you’d be surprised by the amount of sludge in there. 

about that noise from the engine when i rev up from idle and smoke comes out of the exhaust, the sound is more like an engine knocking sound but the i doubt it from the engine itself as the car is accelerating beautifully. and i just release the throttle out of caution when i can see the car behind me covered in a smoke cloud. its embarassing though. 

im really confused here,  not sure if should even keep the car. but it would be really upsetting to let it go. 

any recommendations/ master mechanics in melbourne ??

Hi Mate,

I have had same experience with my Aurion (poorly maintained). It has same engine 2GR-FE 3.5 V6. This is a known problem toyota wide. These engine do build up a lot of sludge in the engine due to not servicing them properly. I would say @campbeam has been dealing with this issue longer than me. 

I would go by his advise. Open up both the rocker covers , buy replacement rocker cover gaskets from Toyota and clean them both nicely.

Drain the oils, do a ATF/Diesel flush and practise this for next 3-4 weeks. You will have blue/white smoke during startup due to the oil sitting in the intake manifold, thanks to your stuck open PCV valve.

I rang Toyota Australia to get the PCV valve, they had none in stock Australia wide. I have ordered one PCV valve from US, message me if you want it as I've traded my Aurion already. 

You are right, it is very embarrassing to see the cars behind you stop because they cannot see anything. 

Day 6 - after 40km drive it started smoking again!

So looks like it will need to be cleaned again -_-

Just an update:

Day 4 , no smoke so far. I haven't drained the 5L(Engine oil)+500ml(ATF) yet. 

I will be doing a drain this weekend and refill with 5 L engine oil + 1 L ATF 

An update with the issue

On Tuesday last week: I added 5-600 ml Penrite ATF Multi Vehicle (I have about 2 cans lying around ) and gave the car to Mechanic. 

He works for Toyota and is aware of the issue. He opened both rocker covers and gave them a good clean. Also cleaned the intake manifold. 

Drain channels seems to be cleaned and looks like ATF has cleaned the rocker covers nicely.

No smoke today morning. I will update this thread with any issues I encounter.

Also, I picked up 2x 6 Litre Castrol Engine oil (10w40) for $19.95 each for next few services that am going to give it a final clean up.

I found an Aurion owner doing a Diesel flush which fixed his smoke issue. Please check comments section and my comment regarding this thread 

13 hours ago, SkuxxAzn said:

@Codename47

Sorry for the lack of update, I've been swamped with work.

After installing the PCV Valve, it was still blowing white smoke, but only on start ups. After about a week, the white smoke has stopped all together (only really shows when I start the car first thing in the morning, but it's extremely faint, so it's probably just moisture)

I drive through a fairly open road on the way home from work, so I floor it/push it just to see if it was still blowing thick clouds of smoke whenever the VVTi/Downkick happens

So far, no smoke.

I think this has solved the issue, (Touch wood) Will keep this post updated if any changes occur.

For anyone else thinking about replacing the PCV valve, it was only about $32 from the Toyota Parts Dealer

Thanks for the update. I ordered the part after speaking to @campbeam. I have dropped the car at mechanic's place to clean other rocker cover. (one has been cleaned) . I am hoping to get the car by next monday. Let's see how it goes. I will update you too once the car is back.

I have ordered Oil filters in bulk as well, so let's see how it goes.

PCV Valve ( Positive Crankcase Ventilation Valve ) Part number is  12204-31040

None in stock in Australia, bought from US seller

how did you go with the PCV valve replacement? Did you fix the issue?

Thanks mate,

I tried contacting Toyota Cranbourne for replacement PCV and they said there is none in stock! so might have to live with it for now? and keep doing oil changes -_-

I started to work after looking at your posts. You've done a great job.

Yes, I tried opening the rear rocker cover but the screw behind intake manifold was stopping me. I will use your advise in regards to changing oil filter. Is there a second PCV at the rear ?

I bought an Aurion from a private sale about 7 months ago with around 150k kms on clock. The owner seems to be very positive on the servicing and intervals ( he had this car for 10 years). But, the car was poorly maintained which I got to know when I got it serviced. The oil filter cartridge was never changed (it was heavily sludged). The car ran beautifully for about 10,000 kms after that service, Fully synthetic oil change every 5000 kms .

My car experienced the same issue while coming back from chadstone to my place which is about 30 kms. The VSC light came on and the car would shudder and blow blue smoke leaving the cars behind in a smoke cloud. 

I spoke to a mechanic who works for a Toyota Dealership and he suggested that the engine sludge issue is very common on Toyota V6 engines (2GRFxx) in Aurion/Kluger.

Poorly maintained V6 Toyotas suffer from engine sludge causing drain channels to block and also PCV valves.

I have done about 7-8 oil changes after using different engine flushes and car still blows smoke for long drives. I did flush yesterday with commercial grade engine flush from a mechanic and seems to be okay for now.

I have cleaned the sludge in the bonnet side of the rocker cover but other side still has a lot of sludge in it. I will update you guys on how I go this week after getting the side 2 of the engine cleaned.

Just to show you the amount of sludge in one side, please see photo attached that I took.

Please let me know if any of you guys have had success 

Might be completely irrelevant, I have had the VSC sign turned on due to engine sludge issue on my Aurion.