Hello:

I have a 2001 RX300 with a little over 100k miles. Lately after having it parked for a few hours or overnight, I turn it on, it exits out white smoke from the exhaust. This smoke emission lasts for about 20 seconds or so, not too long, but during this period it is quite a bit. After that it becomes totally transparent. The engine runs like new so does the transmission.

Also it has been dripping oil from under the hood. My garage floor is getting all stained.

I have to take it to the mechanic but I was wondering if anyone has any idea what I am up with? Want to be prepared before I stand in front of the mechanic.

Thanks.

 

Well, sounds like you have an oil leak! The white smoke could be burning engine oil or coolant. Look in your coolant for traces of oil and in the oil for traces of coolant. Could also be a plugged CCV valve. Have your mechanic take off the valve cover and check for sludge.

 

Are you suggesting that the oil might be leaking out of the engine and entering into the coolant hose? Does it mean that the engine will have to be opened? That sounds expensive. Note the engine seems to be running like new. If coolant and engine oil would be mixing, the engine should have some vibrations/knocking?? Long time back I used to have a very old car that had this kind of problem.

 

Oil produces black smoke.
Water condensate and coolant produce white smoke but coolant smells different.

Stopping after 20 seconds would make it seem to be condensate but you say the volume of smoke is quite high. If it is coolant the coolant levels would be dropping. Check the radiator to confirm.

 

The engine may have a blown head gasket...but they usually don't appear out of the blue. Did your car recently/ or previously overheat? Whats the coolant level in the overflow...and whats the coolant level in the radiator (open only when cold)? What color do both of those coolants look? If you do suspect it's a head gasket you can get a cheap kit to test if the head gasket is blown, they are not too expensive.

 

White smoke - check coolant. Black/blue smoke - burning oil. Another byproducts of white smoke is are you using regular fuel perhaps and the fuel is just not burning clean.

 

Smoke from burning engine oil can be black, blue or grey ("white-ish"). I just had a blocked CVV in my BMW530i. Every time I started the car after a cold soak (6 hours +) I got billowing whitish-grey smoke from the exhaust for about 10 seconds. After replacing the CVV - nothing.

 

Hey guys:

Thanks for responding.

I took it to my mechanic and he suggested to have it diagnosed at the dealer first. He was also mentioning the condensation. He said that sometimes the muffler gets too much moisture (Houston is too humid), and because of the condensation you might get the smoke.

I am thinking about taking it to the dealer. I have never taken it to the dealer for as long as I have owned it. Do you guys think the dealer will honestly diagnose the problem or they will just try to rip me off? I have a feeling that it is outside the engine since engine runs very smoothly and only for the first 10 to 20 seconds is when I get the smoke. However there is this other issue of oil dripping (I don't know if they are related or independent) under the hood.

And the level of coolant is half way between min and max. I never had to fill it up. The color of the coolant is red, I think it is its natural color. However if I touch it I find it a little sticky not too much though. I am not sure if thats normal for the coolant or it is because of oil mixing with the coolant. Haven't checked the radiator itself for the coolant level though. The car has never over-heated or anything.

Thanks.

 

what is a cvv or ccv? what does it do? did google search and nothing

 

CrankCaseVentilationValve - they are both the same depending on where you capitalize. It takes crankcase vapors and feeds them back into the engine via the fuel/ir intake plenum for further combustion (to reduce emmisions). If the system malfunctions, oil can get into the circuit, be burned and give off smoke from the exhaust. As I said earlier, this can be black, blue, or whitish-grey, mostly after a cold start.

 

Hi y'all,

My 1999 RX300 was smoking blue on every start and intensely burning oil (a quart every 300 miles or so) for over 4 months. Note that it started burning oil within oil changes over a year ago and gradually got worse some months ago.
After reading a lot of long threads on ClubLexus, I started by changing my PCV valve (plastic to another plastic) which only worsened the oil burning and smoking issues (Sidenote: I actually had the lower end of the old valve broken and lost in the baffle - after vacuuming to no effect, I left the broken part there and inserted another PCV valve - with a bit of assurance from an auto mech's answer on https://www.justanswer.com/car/c2ilq...mmet-1999.html). My local mechanic (whom I had not yet shared my clublexus research findings with) kept telling me I may be needing a new engine very soon as repairs/replacement of piston rings and valves were not just expensive but did not have long-term warranty.
However, I strongly felt my engine wasn't gone for good. So, I bought a 3rd gen rear valve cover with the metal pvc and was waiting for gasket and extended hose to get to me so I can send my car over to my local mechanic for valve cover change and other necessary maintenance. Note that around this time, my oil consumption had got so bad that an oil quart was burnt in just 2 days city driving (just over 50 miles total driving) that I had to park the car for a while.

While randomly surfing the net , I found myself on an "oil consumption" thread on "toyotanation.com" forum (https://www.toyotanation.com/threads...ption.1655608/).
Long story short, the thread starter (a toyota highlander user) was also contemplating change of valve cover but ended up doing a PCV reversal hack (with tips from someone who did it a long time ago).
His testimony spurred me to getting hoses and fittings and doing the pcv reversal myself at home and guess what? Since then, with over 300 miles driven (50% highway miles at over 60mph), no smoking and no single shortage of oil on drop-stick.

My sincere appreciation to all the contributors that have made my research worthwhile.

Hoping my attestation helps someone someday just as I had been helped.


Gerald