steveski

You got me curious Neo. Last night my wife drove my 95 and I followed her. I had water dripping out of the rear mufflers. She stopped at a light and quite a bit came out after it sat for a coupe minutes - mine does it as well. It may not be to the extent as yours but mine did it also. However I did not see the vapor/smoke as you have.

19psi

how far do you drive every day? maybe you just have a huge amount of condensation in your exhaust that never gets burned out if you have a short few mile drive.

jeffls400

Neo-

Check out Blackstone Labs for an oil analysis. They will be able to tell you if anything is majorly amiss in your engine. I am willing to bet that your engine is fine. For $20, you will at least get some peace of mind.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Jeff, thanks for the lab link. I'll consider it.

19psi, .. I thought about that, maybe there is just alot of water in the exhaust for whatever reason -- But I've driven over 200mile stints since I've gotten it,.. Put about 2k on it or so.

I have two schools of thoughts here-- Its fine, just let it smoke its normal,.. and that is curious, but doesn't look like anything ..
I'm with the latter of course.

The video, if you watched it sucked. Not much I can do about that,.. but maybe I'll get a clip on a restart with substantial smoke that will show on the camera well, and you might be a little more interested.. who knows.

But, why would the exhaust after 30minutes of running blow out water on the garage door everytime it is revved?


Because my fuel tank has water in it? Hrmm.. Thats a ton of water, no? No problems with the car running with water in the fuel tank?

I have seafoamed the tank once.. dunno if that helps or not.

What is a safe product to put in to help get water out of the fuel,.. (Where if you don't have water it won't mess things up )



So basically this is either absolutely nothing,.. but normal function of the vehicle,.. and a bunch of water condensates and it smokes all the time.. just how it runs,..

or the lightest head gasket leak one could possibly have,.. but unlikely.

water in the fuel tank.

water in the oil -- (Not happening)

Steveski,.. interesting report on your 95. Your wife think you were crazy? Or is this the norm? -- Honey, I need you to drive my Lexus around the block while I look at the exhaust

The water coming out itself doesn't bother me that much,.. water is water -- Big deal right? It is the smoke,.. I need something to analyze the exhaust, that would solve the 'mystery' -- A machine that hooked right into one side,.. and measured whatever chemicals were in the mix.. And at what ratios. (Also someone who knew the proper levels that need to be shown from a 'normal' vehicle).

I'm sure this 'device' exists,... But I guess in the mean time, I just keep monitoring fluids and hope it goes away.

Alot of you are probably like, man I didn't see much of anything in that video.. except some water, .. your fine.

What you didn't see was a constant stream of smoke -- which I know was visable after the first rev for a few seconds on camera.. --

It is this constant stream of smoke coming out of the exhaust in daily driving that bothers me for several reasons:

1) It makes the Lexus look like a hoopty.

2) Cars aren't supposed to smoke any color (all the time), it is an indication of a problem however large or small.

3) It is staining the surrounding paint.. and already has the bumper above the exhaust.. though I imagine normal exhaust will do that.. as Lexus aligned the exhaust very close to the bumper cover.

Nonetheless thanks for the tips -- When I figure something out I'll let you know,.. if you think of anything let me know.

Take care,

kens97sto

I watched your video.. IMO there is nothing wrong with your car. there will alwas be some moisture coming out.. it is a by product of combustion. The amount of vapor will depend on the humidity and temp at the time. If you are not loosing coolant, you dont have a blown HG... you can have an analysis done on your coolant and oil to verify that they are not mixing. You could also pull the spark plugs, if you are burning coolant, one or more of the plugs will look very different than the others.

How far are you driving it each day? If you are only going a few miles, water can build up inside the exhaust system, normally it would be blown out, or dry out when everything got nice and hot. But the exhaust system on the LS400 is rather long, and has several mufflers, in different places, where the water can collect in these if you dont drive it far enough each day.

Go and run the heck out of the car, get the exhaust nice and hot... do a good highway run... get off the HWY, and check it.. I bet it is less noticable.

Best of luck.. I would not worry.
Ken

19psi

have you ever looked at teh exhaust after running it for any of those long trips? the condensation will just build up and build up inside the mufflers if you don't drive it long enough to burn everything off. most cars exhaust systems rust from the inside out becuase of this very reason. cars that drive long commutes have less exhaust rot problems.
i'm not saying you don't have a problem, but i always like to eliminate all the easy cheap things first with 100% conviction before i condemn something expensive.

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I have, in a way. I remember looking at it after I drove 120miles or so, (highway).. and then parking, the next morning starting, and it was there full force still.


I drove abotu 20miles at 65mph last night, and when I got back in the car to leave, 5 hours later.. I looked and it was smoking.

I am with you, I don't want to condemn it with anything -- But I also don't want to be foolish. I just find it odd that the car smokes like this so much. Honestly, I can understand the its normal because of Water build up, H20 from your cats and so on -- But I don't see most other cars doing it. Which is why it isn't *that* normal.. You know? That is my only thing,.. someone who knew nothing about cars would either ignore it because they don't care.. or be like, oh my gosh, my car is smoking and bring it to Lexus for a fix. Lexus would do *something* to make it stop. Because when you buy these new, and even most of you guys vehicles aren't smoking like this all the time.. There is some sort of 'fix' for the issue. Even if it is harmless water. Besides go drive it 50miles at 55+mph everyday --

Don't get me wrong, I understand all you guys are saying, and I agree. I mainly am just keeping the eye on the coolant reservoir. If that stays up, then it just can't be a HG leak. Nothing else makes White smoke but Crazy Rich conditions (which I can live with) -- Water (I can live with.. but still curious if I could reduce or eliminate it to some degree) -- or Coolant/PS .

Coolant is staying rock solid on level. PS is plugged. Gas mileage is good.. so I wouldn't think an overly rich condition other than on the warmup loop.

Yesterday, I started it up first thing in the morning and watched it.. Just barely smoked.. camera wouldn't pick that level up -- Just as you guys can't tell the degree its smoking because the quality was so bad. When you finally saw some smoke it was alot thicker than it appeared. Anyhow,.. when I started it it was a minute amount of steady smoke. So I put the camera back there just so I could rewind it to see what it did. And got in the car and revved it three times.

Watched the video and each time I revved it would blow out considerably thicker smoke than the constant stream. Might seem obvious, but just made me think. Trying to piece together clues.

I can't understand it building up so much water in the exhaust if its driven and then garage kept. Humidity levels leaving so much water in the exhaust that idling for 45minutes doesn't come close to heating up enough to burn the water? By the way it smokes , if it is strictly water, then it would be a gallon of water spread out, that is barely being vaporized. (Though we saw it spit a good quarter cup of water when I revved it against the garage door.. so maybe it has that much in it) --

Just no other vehicle I've owned has done anything remotely close to this.

Bah, oh well I guess.. but don't you sort of see my point? It smokes, there must be a way to make it not smoke. If it was so usual for cars that don't take long drives everyday to smoke,.. why don't all the cars in my neighborhood that drive little short stints to work and back smoke like this when driving by, or backing out of their respective driveways?

Thanks for the encouragement.

kens97sto

You could idle it for 2 DAYS.. at idle it WILL NOT burn off the water collecting in the exhaust, there is not enough heat or flow to at idle.... in fact the longer you idled it, the more water you will see when you finally move it. I see it all the time when sitting at a stop light.. the car in front takes off.. and there is a nice stream coming out the muffler tip.

Keep checking the coolant.. if it stayes up then you can be sure your ok.

Also.. coolant has a sweet smell when it burns.

Ken

19psi

well, at this point, all you can do is watch your fluid levels. you're right it shouldn't smoke/steam that much wehre you notice it like you do, but if you're not losing any fluids.....

smell that steam. it should smell like coolant if it is, like a weird chemically sweet smell. if you want to know what coolant steam smells like, open your coolant reservoir when it's warm not hot! and sniff. then compare your exhaust.

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

It is an odd smell -- Almost like it isn't just 'gas' -- But a chemical smell of sorts.. Anyhow, the coolant isn't moving -- So it can't be it.

Though smelling my reservoir is an idea..

Suneet

I have the same smell! It reminds me of when you run seafoam through the car, that's what it smells like.. always mostly when I start it cold.

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Yup Suneet -- Not sure if its quite that strong, but yes -- Sort of like Rocket fuel -- Doesn't smell like coolant, but not necessarily like pump gasoline alone either.

You do have a leak of sorts though right Sun? And you are thinking it is external, but have just been monitoring it for the time being?

If an O2 sensor was gone the computer would spit out an error code wouldn't it? Cars should all have on board diagnostics that are more advanced in verbosity imho. Even in the mid 90's -- I remember the computers I used then, and what was affordably capable.

Todays new cars should be fantastically verbose,..

It should have either a small Readout on the NAV screen (if so equipped) and a USB port to plug into a laptop/pc etc, that will read/list any and all minor and major troubles. Say things it has noticed that isn't large enough to set off the CEL -- But still good to know.

Things such as Air to Fuel ratios, and Mappings, Pressure readings, voltage readings on sensors.. blah blah -- But all in real time as the car is idling on your laptop. You could rev it up and watch the screen on whatever setting it is put on,.. or drive it down the road letting ithe computer record data. See what the horsepower curve is and torque.. (Yeah getting a little more advanced there,.. but that is still cheaply done.. Measuring G forces and 0-60/quarter mile, fuel economy and so forth is all really cheap in terms of computer hardware).

Sort of surprises me how non-sophisticated the diagnostic systems are on *new cars are. This isn't to say these types of 'informational' systems have to be tied into the direct function of the car.. Where it would hinder an 'old school' mechanic, but it would be an invaluable tool for those who can handle operating a computer -- (Which are many)

How is that for going off topic.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Between my LS400 and GS430, and my old GS300, they all "smoked" way more than most other cars, especially when the weather is cool. Even in the hot summer, after a long drive I notice a little bit of white "smoke" coming out of the tails. It was especially noticeable with the old GS300, it smoked like crazy when cold. However none of the cars had any problems because of this smoke, no burned oil, no lost coolant... its just the moisture, thats all. Don't worry about it. And if you have a coolant leak under the engine, its most likely your water pump.

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Och -- That is just weird. Think the Cats in these cars are just really 'GOOD' ? And produce a ton of water? How do these cars do on emissions testings.. Or are they just pass/fail?

Water is produced through the Cats,.. so if a ton is common resulting in steam/smoke produced through the heating of it, then they must really work well. Maybe they work better with some age? I wonder if the cats were removed if the water would cease? I wouldn't do it, just be an interesting experiement.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Well, all of them passed the pretty strict NYC emissions inspection with flying colors - with numbers of emissions WAY lower than maximum allowed. And LS400 really doesnt blow headgaskets unless extremely overheated. It's an all aluminum block and head, and the seal that it formes is much tigher than an iron blocks.

However the water pumps on our cars apparently suck badly. When I bought my LS in the summer of 2006, It was slowly loosing coolant, and I mean very slowly, I've added less than a gallon over the course of a year. However, in fall of 2007 it started overheating a little, and loosing coolant a little faster. I've determined it to be the water pump, and replaced it. The old water pump had "2003" stamped on it, so it was only four years old and had already failed. However, to be fair I'm going to add that the coolant that was in the car when I bought it wasn't red in color... it was kind of orange, and smelled somewhat like your regular green antifreeze. I think the previous owner, or his mechanic, must've been adding green coolant to the red coolant, making a deadly mix for the water pump seal. It is clearly stated in the owners manual that alcohol based coolants will cause the water pump seal to fail. It is essential to use Toyota red antifreeze and nothing else. The problem is, usually no repair shop has it, so you have to watch them and make sure they dont add the green stuff.

So if you're having your slow leak, its probably your water pump.