Bluish Smoke Starting From Cold And Knocking Below 2000Rpm

[avensis06]

Hi all,

Please bear with me as i am a new member .

Just recently purchaces an avensis 2.2d4d t3s estate. had one previous owner from new and has been serviced every 10k by toyota upto 90k(May12). The owner traded in recently and i bought from trader. Car is immaculate inside an out and engine bay. The car is now 114k and has not had its 100k and 110k service. the prev owner has been doing c16k per year and i assume has not bothered to service it in the last year cos thinking of trading( I hope). Anyhoo, first starting the car from cold you get thick buish white smoke? and it is a quite knocky below 2000rpm. I feel it pulls like a train above that, but i have the eml, vsc and trac off lights. As it is overdue its service i checked the air filter and it is pretty black on the foam base. I have read the horror stories about the head gasket and started to get a bit paranoid, but temp hold constant and the coolant looks like lovely cherryade. the car is booked into toyota for a service next week and im hoping the service will help. Im hoping it is nothing major because its my first toyota and its really staring to grow on me.

p.s. i would say the fuel consumption is not as good as it should be.

Any feedback opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

[waqar_lionheart]

Hi Paul,

I generally dont like to be the bearer of bad news but I have to say that blue smoke is not good at start ups or even when the engine is warm. If you only have blue smoke at start ups than your valve seals might be leaking. This allows engine oil to seep into the combustion chambers when the engine is turned off and when started again, the engine oil in the combustion chamber starts to burn producing blue smoke. I would suggest that you check your engine oil levels immediately and see if it is decreasing. If you get bluey smoke all the time, then I think you might have bad or scored as they call it piston rings which when move take oil with them into the combustion chamber which gets burnt and produces a BLUE smoke. If oil level is not decreasing then you got nothing to worry about. Although I have not heard of anything else causing blue smoke. I hope other people more experienced than I could take your worries away. Hopefully, all your problems will be solved just by a good service.

Best Regards,

Waqar

[alan333]

Good advice there. Blue smoke = oil, white smoke = water, black smoke = diesel.

[avensis06]

thanks guys,

Im hopefully receiving a blutooth obd2 scanner to find out fault codes as i have the eml, vsc and trac off lights also.

[avensis06]

If there are any others with opinions I'd greatly apprecate.

Thanks,

Paul

[waqar_lionheart]

On topic of vsc and trac off lights, it could be as little as a little faulty switch in your brakes.

[waqar_lionheart]

Also having said that, I have read on other forums that most toyotas will throw all these lights together?????????????? NOT SURE BUT MOST PEOPLE SAY THATS THE CASE. hope this helps.

[avensis06]

Hi Waqar, my blutooth obd2 arrived today. I plugged it in tonight and used torque lite on my sons tablet. got codes p0400( this then indicated EGR??) also got p1238. I put on Shell £150/litre diesel last night to see if any help. Also when i was just out after reading codes the warning lights have gone - still knocking when accellerating upto 2000rpm. I wonder when they change the filters next week if that'll make any difference?

Take care,

Paul

[waqar_lionheart]

Hi Paul,

Yes p0400 is your egr valve. This is pressure regulated valve which opens and closes depending on pressure of exhaust gases and air and recirculates these gases and hot air back into the engine as hot air burns more readily thereby increasing engine fuel economy greatly. Now the problem is that diesel has a by product of carbon/ soot which over a period of time clogs up egr and many other apparatus recirculating air. I have dissected one such engine air intake and was shocked as to how blocked it was. Anyways, it may also mean that your pipes that take air to and from may have a massive puncture. Generally either of these two conditions would result a sharp drop in power when the valve opens as engine suddenly suffocates as no air is getting to it. A more unlikely problem is ur egr wiring has gone a bit nuts. Since its a pressure regulated valve and not electronic wiring issues would only cause a light to come on but no loss of engine performance.

Now the solution: follow the thread from this forum about egr valve cleaning somebody has done a very nice tutoriAl on how to clean it. Try putting in injector cleaner first of a strong type this may help as well.

The other fault code relates to turbo over boost condition. This in my opinion is a side effect of your current problem as turbo over boost might be occurring to compensate for this loss. I would look at ehe valve cleaning definitely first and then think about anything else. I really think this should be a service item sadly its not so u either buy a new one from toyota try kingo lindop toyota or anyone else you fancy or just clean it or get it clean it is a very easy fix and I won't pay anyone to do mine I ll try to do it myself first.

Regards,

Waqar

[waqar_lionheart]

Could be your pcv stuck open

[Konrad C]

Does the 2.2 diesel have a bad reputation of blowing head gaskets due to warped heads?

These engines which showed promise have a problem.

Search the forum.

Konrad

[avensis06]

Just got in from Halfords with my wynns egr cleaner and the car as making heavy duty knocking now - sounds like a tractor. Really starting to worry now. the fault codes are still the same. At least the egr looks easy to get at.

[avensis06]

well,

got EGR off okay, and its absolute;y black, as is manifold and the pipe that feeds back to intake. Please tell me once i de gunk this, my car will stop sounding like a cement mixer. Also, when i was coming into drive it was as if the trac control or abs was trying to kick in. Id greatly appreciate any input at mo.

P.s. have the manifold soaking in the wynns overnight and the EGR is in the garage to soak overnight - sprayed both part liberally.

anxious,

Paul

[The Cav]

The best advice is .....

1st and foremost clean the EGR valve

[avensis06]

Thx Cav,

Giving it a good scrub in the morning with old toothbrushes

[avensis06]

and more egr cleaner!

[JAPCAR]

I've got similar problem- white smoke when start cold engine (but not always) and knocking (short detonation) in low revs-1000-1400 , not always as well...

My avensis is 2.0 D-4D, 2006, engine 1AD-FTV. I got EGR, MAF sensor, SCV valve cleaned but no changes.

I red somewhere possible problem is one or more injectors over fueling...I don't know if it's possible that happened just on 80K miles engine...

[avensis06]

It lives!!! gave it a good scrub today, put it back together said a small prayer and... no lights on dash yippee!!!!! took it for an Italian tune up on Mway. stil knocking at low revs like previous post mentions; Hoping that service with new filter will help :D

[avensis06]

Hey Japcar,

Have you had any fault codes read on yours yet?

Cheers,

Paul

[JAPCAR]

Hey Japcar,

Have you had any fault codes read on yours yet?

Cheers,

Paul

No I havent fault codes.I use Techstream program and can read/erase codes and see live data as well.I don't know if values off parameters I see are OK...

[Phil24RN]

Is the knocking definately coming from the engine bay?? Or from the front wheel area??

[JAPCAR]

Is the knocking definately coming from the engine bay?? Or from the front wheel area??

I think it's from the engine.For example I can provoke knocking if I drive on second or thirt gear, take away foot from pedal until revs drop around 1000-1200 and push sharply the pedal again. I hear short metal knocking (like old petrol overloaded engine) until revs go over 1400...then it's OK.

[avensis06]

I get exact same Jap car

[JAPCAR]

I get exact same Jap car

I asked T. dealer (without diagnostic) end he said probably engine burns oil but I know it doesn't. The problem is somewhere else but don't know where...

A possible cause is faulty one or more injectors but why just in low revs? My car has just 80K miles...

[blackcts]

Japcar what do you think of techstream mate?