D-Cat Smoke But Not The Egr?

[rkdl28]

Hello folks, Happy New Year to all. I've been getting a lot of smoke recently during acceleration as I pull away under load. This doesn't happen until the engine is warm and the best example is when I've just come off the motorway and I pull away at the lights when it is really noticeable. Seems to settle down once in 5th gear and may or may not return when I start off again. I recently changed the heater plugs and have taken off and cleaned the EGR which to my surprise didn't seem particularly dirty. The needles etc all moved and worked fine. Is it possible the unit is faulty? If its any use, the smoke seems to be 'lighter' in density than normal diesel exhaust if that makes sense! Sort of drifts upwards! Its colour isn't distinctly black, blue or white but I'd lean more towards blue. The exhaust smell is different too. Could it be an oil issue? All other areas work fine. Any help would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Rob

Toyota Avensis D-Cat T Spirit 2003

[Heidfirst]

a 2003 D-CAT, that's a pretty rare beast afaik.

Anyway, I can think of 2 scenarios (& there may well be others that I'm too thick to think of):

DPF regeneration (unless this is what you meant by EGR but the 2 of course are different).

Head gasket failure - check coolant level & whether there are white/pink splatter marks by the expansion bottle.

If it's hg failure it could be interesting - Toyota acknowledges a problem (although iirc the TSB doesn't cover 2003) & has an extended warranty for this issue to 7 years or 112k miles but your car is 8 ...

blue smoke would tend to make me think of oil though ...

[igormus]

Hello folks, Happy New Year to all. I've been getting a lot of smoke recently during acceleration as I pull away under load. This doesn't happen until the engine is warm and the best example is when I've just come off the motorway and I pull away at the lights when it is really noticeable. Seems to settle down once in 5th gear and may or may not return when I start off again. I recently changed the heater plugs and have taken off and cleaned the EGR which to my surprise didn't seem particularly dirty. The needles etc all moved and worked fine. Is it possible the unit is faulty? If its any use, the smoke seems to be 'lighter' in density than normal diesel exhaust if that makes sense! Sort of drifts upwards! Its colour isn't distinctly black, blue or white but I'd lean more towards blue. The exhaust smell is different too. Could it be an oil issue? All other areas work fine. Any help would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Rob

Toyota Avensis D-Cat T Spirit 2003

hi mate

undo rubber hose on the suction manifold thats goes from turbocharger and look whether an oil traces are available. if positive then your turbocharger wants new shaft seals as well as bearings (if worn down). but in general there are many reasons with the same outcome (blue smoke).

by the way --- what is the fate of an engine air filter ???? may be it is guilty giving no sufficient air for turbine? cheers/Igor

[dervdave]

hi mate

undo rubber hose on the suction manifold thats goes from turbocharger and look whether an oil traces are available. if positive then your turbocharger wants new shaft seals as well as bearings (if worn down). but in general there are many reasons with the same outcome (blue smoke).

by the way --- what is the fate of an engine air filter ???? may be it is guilty giving no sufficient air for turbine? cheers/Igor

As igormus has said and the proof could be on the (or not) the dipstick if the motor is burning oil.

[cabcurtains]

Am with the others:

Check Oil Level if its using a bit it due to a leak (eg on the turbo) it could trash the DPF.

Check Coolant level if its using a bit it should be pressure/sniff tested to see if the head gasket is ok.

Or it could be the DPF ageing and making more smoke than usual during the re gen cycle which only happens when the engine has been hot for 15-20 minutes and used at speed eg motorway.

The tinge of blue i.e oil smoke is a worry as if its not sorted it will lead to more issue than a seal on a turbo.

Issues with EGR valves usually involve black sooty smoke.

[rkdl28]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Pardon my ignorance but if the DPF is at fault is it something that can be replaced and if so how? Rec

ently put a second hand turbo unit on it and it seems to work fine.

Cheers again,

Rob

[cabcurtains]

The DPF can be replaced by Mr T, however the price will be high.

How long is it since the turbo was changed? What caused it to fail? How many miles has your car done?

[rkdl28]

Hi, I bought a second hand turbo off eBay last year as the other one wasn't working. I had a new engine fitted by some cowboys the previous year so I'm not sure why it stopped working. The car has done about 105k. In truth it has been a nightmare from the start but I really thought things were finally ok after the heater plugs were done and it ran fine with no noticeable smoke for a couple of months. It then spewed out a cloud on the motorway and the engine management light came on and it went into limp mode. My Stepdad is a mechanic and does the work but is baffled by this.