2010 Avensis 2.0 D4D Major White Smoke (DPF fault?)

[MElliottUK]

Hello, i'm hoping to obtain some advice from people on this forum  I have a ongoing fault with my family car and its getting to the point whereby it might need to go to a DPF specialist I am however looking to avoid this at all cost mainly as I have a young family and spending cash that does not exist is far from ideal.

I bought a 2010 Avensis Estate with only 50,000 miles on it 3 years ago. About 2 years ago I noticed the odd white puff from the exhaust and thought nothing of it thinking that the DPF was doing its job. the white smoke is very similar to this video (note this is not my car):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5BH-ZqCKNw

Recently the car has got worse, on most trips out the car produces this white smoke. The car will then stop producing this white smoke (DPF regen cycle complete?) and the car will run and accelerate hard without even a hint of smoke i therefore don't believe the car has a serious engine fault. Over the past 3 years i have never seen a fault code displayed on the dash board and even when the white smoke is being produced no failure is displayed. I have rev'ed the car heavily during this white smoke period which has had no negative or positive effect. Generally the engine works and operates fine, no stalling or bad performance and the car passes its MOT.

I therefore have a few questions:

1. Is this a DPF fault or should i be looking elsewhere such as fuel filter, EGR valve ect?

2. Is this a common fault recognised by Toyota, i ask as the smoke is intermittent and any garage may charge me for 'no fault found'?

3. Does anyone know of any Specialist garages who could look at this in the Lancashire (Preston) area?

4. Is there anything i can do? such as buy some diagnostic equipment or do any basic home maintenance to mitigate/fault find, I know enough about cars to do basic servicing and brakes/discs etc.

5. Will unplugging the DPF pressure sensor prove anything? will this also log a dashboard fault that i cannot clear down?

Any help is much appreciated,

Matt

EDIT - Forgot to add the car has done 65,000 miles and is a 2.0 D4D

[Heidfirst]

Hi Matthew, welcome to TOC 

How many miles on it now? just noticed the edit - so you have done 15,000 miles in 3 years , what sort of driving do you do - mostly short/urban?

Does it have a full service history (& when last serviced)?

[MElliottUK]

Hi, its done 65,000 miles and it was serviced (oil and filter) about 8 months ago. The car has has the fault pre and post this service (oil change had no effect).

Thanks

[Goncas_pt71]

Hi MElliottUK

I came accross similar behaviour on my T27 110000km 2.0 D4D Avensis. It started after havingpassed around3 months without going on highway. The smoke puffs started to happen more often after some time. At the end I gave it a run on highway, doing some 10 to 15 min at 140km/h then 100km/h and so on for around 250km long. Then back on the next day. After that it stopped doing the white puffs. 

On the manual it says we should do some 120km/h during 10 min times to times.

Also it was told to me that in city driving there is a different method of cleanning the DPF that was by burning some fuel and oil somewhere thus the white/blueish smoke. We should never disconnect the engine qhen it's on that stage. The 10million question is: how the heck we know it's doing the regeneration process?? It seems we need to look at the rpm and see if it'a bit higher the the normal idle - I must confess I've nerver managed to see that. 

It should have some kind of warning that the car was doing the cleaness!!!

Hope this helps.

[MElliottUK]

10 hours ago, Heidfirst said:

Hi Matthew, welcome to TOC 

How many miles on it now? just noticed the edit - so you have done 15,000 miles in 3 years , what sort of driving do you do - mostly short/urban?

Does it have a full service history (& when last serviced)?

Its mainly used by my wife foe runs to work, urban less than 8 miles at a time. I know this is not ideal however it gets used as the main family car at the weekend so also gets the odd run on the motorway. Ive also driven it to Devon and France to find it still smoking at the other end.

[Heidfirst]

1 hour ago, MElliottUK said:

Its mainly used by my wife foe runs to work, urban less than 8 miles at a time.

It will barely have reached normal operating temperature, especially in winter. This type of use is pretty much guaranteed to cause DPF issues in any modern diesel.

The white smoke may just be the DPF trying to regenerate & it keeps coming back every trip because it is never being given the chance to complete.

[MElliottUK]

Still doing it, garage says its overfueling but cannot pin point fault. Anyone have any ideas, i thought about disconnecting the 5th injector to see if it makes a difference. 

[SAM LOVERS HER TOYOTAS]

Software update maybe?

My hubby had a similar issue on his t27...same year and litre as yours...and it seems to have cured the issue...for now🤫

[MElliottUK]

I have just managed to connect the car to Techstream diagnostics, it appears to have failed the MAP test, screen shot of pressures is provided below:

I have found the MAP sensor, any tips for cleaning this, a few questions:

Do the pipes just pull off?

what is the grey cylinder that sits in between the EGR/Manifold and the sensor? could this also be blocked?

Any tips to ensure the pipes are clear and not coked up?

Could this contribute to my white smoke issue?   

[MElliottUK]

Cleaned the EGR which didnt fix the issue, does anyone know where the 5th injector is located as i wish to disconnect it? 

[Savi]

On 12/10/2018 at 10:33 PM, MElliottUK said:

Cleaned the EGR which didnt fix the issue, does anyone know where the 5th injector is located as i wish to disconnect it? 

I know it is quite old post. But I was wondering did you fix the problem? I also do have the same propblem.

[Andy D4D]

Snap, car runs fine but puffs white smoke for a few mins then clears. This pattern is happening daily now on its local runs.

[Heidfirst]

Hi Andy, welcome to TOC 🙂

I presume that you have a 2007 T180 rather than a 2.0 D4D as afaik a 2007 2.0 D4D should not have a DPF? Is this mainly used for short local runs or what sort of driving? How many miles on it?

Have you tried giving it a long motorway run at speed to allow the DPNR/DPF a good chance to regenerate?

[Andy D4D]

Thank you, yes I have the T180 DCAT 2.2 and it is mainly used for local trips.

It has 78k miles on the clock.

I have occasionally driven longer runs from 30mins to 2hrs, this didn’t really make much difference to the routine shorter trip the following day where smoke drifts out usually starting at the same landmark about 5mins into the journey, they on and off until destination is reached. I had heard a rumour that the regeneration occurs above 40mph, is this correct? as mine puffs out at standstill but more noticeable with a little speed.

If it needs regeneration/cleaning can this be done without driving to help it, I have recently replaced a totally blocked EGR value and cleaned a sooty 5th injector so wondering if anything else could be cleaned/replaced?

Any help suggestions welcomed.

[Savi]

Hi,

I heard it from another source mentioning that one of the user cleaned their DPF at home after removing it and then mounted it back to the car. Later they did a DPF reset to fool the ECU that it is a new DPF and it worked!  I also wanted to give a try!

[ToyotaGang]

Yeah. I have also trying to find a fix for this in 1.5 years but still no fix. Many people have fix this in different ways such as replacing engine sensors and disconnecting the Battery for 15 min and the one you told about resetting the DPF. 

This guy with a Lexus IS220D with the same AD series engine did pretty much the same as you told and fixed:

https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/107523-potential-fix-for-is220d-white-smoke-smells-of-diesel-poor-mpg/

[alexsystemf]

I asked my mechanic and he told me 1) DPF Regeneration -> So I bought Toyota Techstream diagnostic tool (USB-> OBDII) and i scanned it and it's all good with the readings on the Differential pressure sensors (DPF)
Alongside with the DPF might be the Diesel Injectors. These Denso injectors are notorious for failing prematurely so you either replace them (250€ each ) or you clean them or you repair them. You need to go to a special place for a) removing the injectors (it's not easy for me to do it) and b) test their pressure and behavior , clean them and test them again.
I also cleaned the EGR Valve with hoven cleaner (dissolves burned stuff) but no difference.

BTW if the DPF differential pressure is <10 under load , then you are all good. That's what i read.
So i conclude no1 issue are the injectors.

I got 136.000km on a 2011 Toyota Verso 2.0 1AD-FTV

BTW 2: If you buy new injectors you have to program them in the ECU in order to be able to calibrate them.

I hope i helped, please share your issues and solutions as well.
Cheers,
Alex