2011 Dcat White smoke problem

[ToyotaGang]

My car still smokes but I don't care that much more. The MPG has gone up and it smokes alot less. Eventaully if anyone finds a fix for this I would fix it too. But for now I guess I just have to live with it. 

[ernieb]

I’ve always used supermarket fuel and had no problems with any of my cars. I did try some of the up market fuels for an extended period and checked mpg against my previous records and there was an improvement but nowhere near enough to justify the increased costs. I also fired some acceleration tests and could not detect any difference. I’m a sure they are better but for me not worth the cost in the long run, but each to their own.

[Heidfirst]

  

3 minutes ago, Stivino said:

What  S̶n̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶o̶i̶l̶ additive package are you recommending? 

I am not but the various fuel companies add additive packages to the base fuel (which is what comes out of the refinery).

 

[ernieb]

Just now, Heidfirst said:

I am not but the various fuel companies add additive packages to the base fuel (which is what comes out of the refinery).

 

Agreed, that’s always been the case. I just wish our nearest Costco had a fuel station my son and daughter in law get a great fuel a pt a very competitive price.

[Stivino]

10 minutes ago, Heidfirst said:

  

I am not but the various fuel companies add additive packages to the base fuel (which is what comes out of the refinery).

 

I know very well what comes from the refinery.  As well as being friendly with a driver, I also know a chemist who works there.

People shouldn't be fooled into thinking that because they pay the highest price, they are getting a better product. 

[rickywales]

In my last job we maintained trucks for a oil distribution company and also had a key fuels bunker tank on our site which was at the entrance to cardiff docks, we also maintained Morrisons tankers (trailers not trucks) The Morrisons drivers were adamant that they would not fill their personal cars up  at Morrisons as the diesel was so bad, they would fill up at our diesel pump though, I was told by the oil distribution company that it was the same fuel, apparently the bulk distribution point in the docks is a Texaco facility as is any fuel that is loaded into the tankers there be they morrisons, texaco or anybody else, when I said this to a Morrison driver he reckoned there was different additives added at the distribution site which made a difference (although the  oil distributor said this was not the case) And that we should be more concerned with Bio Fuel Percentages and the Fame content of the fuel

We used this fuel in our company vehicles over the last few years with no issue, make of it what you will and apologies for the length of the post

[ernieb]

I had a Yeti a few years ago, the 2nd one of 3 actually, that I filled with diesel that had a Bio Fuel, and the car ran like a brick. I’d fuelled up to drive home from Cornwall and decided that I’d stop when I’d burnt off a gallon to fill again to help dilute the affect. This was repeated at every opportunity on the way home.

[velles2003]

Hey guys. I have a rav4 2011 2adfhv 150bhp with the same smoke problem. My injector values seem to be fine and I suspect the 5th injector. I think it's the leeking that causes smoke and bad mileage. My mileage is 24mpg in town and 33 on motorways. What is a good mileage. Is this normal? 

Thanks 

[ToyotaGang]

If it smokes it's not normal. These engines should go around 18km/1L. If you have been following us in this chat you will know me and 3 people replaced the 5th injector and it made no difference. Of course the car ran better but the smoke was still there. I have been driving my 1adftv with the same issue for 1 year now.

[Infiniti]

On 10/29/2021 at 10:20 PM, velles2003 said:

Hey guys. I have a rav4 2011 2adfhv 150bhp with the same smoke problem. My injector values seem to be fine and I suspect the 5th injector. I think it's the leeking that causes smoke and bad mileage. My mileage is 24mpg in town and 33 on motorways. What is a good mileage. Is this normal? 

Thanks 

Hey,

I was one of the individuals who replaced their 5th injector, and it truly made no difference. All I did was waste £50 and 30 minutes of my time. Honestly, the only methods I have found online to actually solve this issue is replace the DPF, which is a very expensive option and will eventually develop this issue again, or remove the DPF and map it from the ECU, many garages offer this option for around the £300-500 mark, depending on their experience and workmanship. However, doing this is obviously illegal, and if a terrible job has been done will fail an MOT.

Either find an MOT tester which is willing to not ridiculously check the DPF, or live with the issue. An MOT tester under current laws is not allowed to remove parts from the car, if you have an under shield and the DPF is not easily visible, they will not see the welding marks (even if done by an unexperienced person).

I didn't really find it make a difference to my MPG after changing the 5th injector, I just now live with the intermittent issue of copious amounts of smoke.

I also got a carbon clean done, and I would recommend having this done, but it didn't solve that issue either.

I hope this helps, but if you're anything like me you will still investigate yourself and come to the same conclusion.

Good luck!

[velles2003]

thanks for your answers. I will try changing the 5-th injector, cleaning the EGR (again), maybe changing it since it costs 100USD and maybe cleaning the DPF since the car has 225k km on board. The Toyota dealership in my town said.. well maybe its the injectors because the car has 225K driven. I was thinking... well maybe i should've bought a vw or a skoda or any old rust bucket instead...  i didnt heard any of my friends complaining about injectors or this kind of troubles of their cars.

i apreciate your kind answers. thanks!

[igormus]

On 11/30/2018 at 1:09 AM, threepot said:

I thought I would document my experiences with this issue here for others to see.

My 2011 Rav4 Dcat Automatic has a little problem, once it is warm after driving a couple of miles, when I accelerate from standstill in slow moving traffic I get quite a large cloud of white/grey smoke behind me. The sort of cloud that makes people stay further back as it smells like a dirty diesel.

The vehicle has 60,000 miles almost bang on.

The oil and filter is clean as I changed it last weekend.
I fitted a new diesel filter at the same time.
I have Toyota Techstream diagnostic software running as I specialise in auto electronics as my profession.
There are no fault codes on any of the vehicle systems.
The injector coding is all programmed correctly.
The injector correction/cylinder balance values are all within a "reasonable specification"
Although 1 injector is showing nearly -2 trim while the others are +0.1 to +0.8 which could be showing that 1 injector is losing its spray pattern.
It runs and drives perfectly (except for the smoke)
I have performed the fuel pump learn function, and the injector balance trim function, I have reset the crank angle learn values.
The DPF shows normal pressure readings and does not appear to be clogged with soot.

Tonight I made a little EGR blanking plate, wondering if it was swallowing too much of its own exhaust gasses - this has not resolved the smoke 😞

An I have just performed the Engine ECU software calibration update as highlighted in TSB:-
EG-0096T-1011 "08-AD engine: Intermittent white smoke is coming from the exhaust. ALA30,ALA35"

Before the update my engine ECU 895364201000 was running version 342B0400 and now it has been updated to 342B0600

To perform this update I downloaded the CAL download from here via my VIN number https://www.toyota-tech.eu/CAL/VINDecode.aspx

Then I used Toyota Techstream in J2534 passthru mode using a Ford VCM2 interface that I have.

Attached are pictures of the update before and after.

If this solves the problem I will post back to let other owners know this potential solution.
Otherwise my next plan of attack will be to blank off the 5th injector fuel feed to see if this is the cause of the issue.

If anyone has any suggestions or feedback I am all ears 🙂

 

i am inclined to inspect and test injectors + MAF and turbo (vanes moving and vacuum impulse tube)

cheers \ Igor

[velles2003]

so i am in digging mode. i think that techstream values for the 2AD FHV default data list have been updated or improved. here are the latest values if someone needs them. one can compare this values to the car readings and see im the dpf pressure is wrong, the 5th injector gives more fuel and so on. 

1672375712_datalistactivetest.pdf

[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!

[velles2003]

i am still waiting for an order to change the 5-th injector. meanwhile the smoke got quite bad and was present on every drive. my trip home from work is about an hour in horrific trafic and it always starts smoking at the same point in time.  

my observations till now: it smokes when the engine is warming up (coolant is 70deg. Celsius), the smoke smells really bad of diesel. i stopped and smelled it. its definitely diesel fuel.

i tried updating the ecu but i had no luck because i was using a cheap mini vci cable interface and could not get it to connect with techstream 16 Calibration wizard (CUW). 6 euros wasted on a day license. i dont know whats up with that because techstream works very well with this cable. 

cleaned the EGR. read the DPF differential pressure values: a bit above normal but still in good limits from the normal values.

CLAMPED the f.ing fifth injector and ... the smoke is less. i mean sometimes smokes a litle bit, a few seconds and then it doesnt smoke at all. its clear to me that this is my problem. 

i will update after i change the injector.

 

[Jeya]

hi from France !

 

Same problem here, on my lexus is220d, with the d4d 177hp, white smoke when the engine is about to be at normal temperature.

 

I've already changed : 

DPNF with temperature sensors

differential pressure sensor

EGR

lambda sensor

MAF

turbo pressure sensor

intake temperature sensor

engine temperature sensor

5th injector

Lexus France told me my ECU is updated with the latest software

 

And still smoking...

It always happen in the same conditions : cold weather, and after small journey.

For example : I drive for 6km in town, I stop the engine for lunch. 45 min later I go back to work and 2km later, in the same location, white smoke during 10 seconds...

 

After reseting the ECU, no smoke for 3 ou 4 days...

 

 

[ToyotaGang]

I talked to a Toyota mechanic about this smoke. There was a update to fix this but it did not work until they found out it's the dpf and not the ECU. He said it's the dpf because when the car smokes there is no more catalyst in the dpf to burn. So when the car regenerates the diesel that gets sprayed in the dpf and the diesel evaporates and thats where the blue smoke is coming from. Also the cars only smoke when they get up to temperature and the ECU is thinking the dpf is ready to regenerate but there is no more catalyst in the dpf so the diesel just everporates. Other automakers said the dpf should be changed every 130000km while Toyota never said that so these D4D go to around 200000km and the dpf is worn out. Many people has tried a aftermarket dpf but it still smoked and it has to be a oem one. He also said if the 5th injector is clogged it's also bad and there is a small chance that it's not the dpf

[Jeya]

so you're telling me that I need a toyota/lexus dpf to avoid this smoke ?

[Jeya]

and another question :

 

why always in cold weather ? never in summer for example 

[ToyotaGang]

Yes you need a Toyota/Lexus original dpf to fix this issue. In cold weather you can easily see the smoke while in the summer you don't see it very much. Thats because steam is easier to see in cold weather. But in the summer you car is still smoking and you can tell by looking at your mpg which should be very low if you have this problem. But don't take my word 100%. Be sure before changing the dpf and you can ask your dealer to see what they recommend. 

[Jeya]

I've had the same issue with my original DPF, that's why I changed it.

 

seriously, this engine is really difficult to understand...

[velles2003]

Yeah.. Seems like this is a difficult problem to solve. 

I changed the 5th injector and so far it seems fixed. No more smoke. But... If the problem hasn't been fixed I figured I could connect just the wires to the old injector not plugged in the exhaust while the new one is in place. 

Cleaning the DPF costs 100€ while an aftermarket one is 450€ +labour hours. 

Many people have solved this by removing the DPF by remapping ecu. Which is offcourse illegal. 

[Jeya]

yes, i'll try to plug an old injector to see if the smoke stop

[velles2003]

This is a nice troubleshooting guide for the fifth injector. 

I think it's in Russian but it translates nicely in Google Chrome 

https://auto-master.su/toyota-rav-4-2ad-fhv-engine/dtc-p1386

[velles2003]

Fifth injector changed. Now it doesn't smoke at all.