White Smoke

Hello, my 2016 has white smoke at startup that then goes away. I am not losing any fluids that I can tell, and it drives great, like it always has. I have searched on this subject and I see a variety of issues that it could be. It only has 98,000 miles and I am hoping it's not something major, but I do see plenty of posts that lead me to believe it might be. Not a very mechanical guy here so I'm hoping on some other reason this may happen other than something major. Not sure what I am asking other than maybe someone has run across this and maybe has some ideas as to what it could be or if there is anything I can check. I'll be taking it into a shop tomorrow

 

White exhaust on startup, especially in cooler winter months is commonly condensation. Water vapor is a byproduct of combustion.

 

some early model 4.0 engine had headgasket problem,ck oil cap to see if white foam stuff is on the cap. Good luck

 

Those were common issues in the 05-06 variation. His 2016 has the second variation of the 4.0 engine.

 

That's normal condensation in the exhaust.

 

What does the smoke smell like?

If you are burning oil, it tends to have a slightly blue haze to it, it smells different than exhaust, and it lingers.

If it’s normal water vapor, it should smell like your normal exhaust, and on really cold days, it will vanish into thin air.

If it’s coolant, you’ll probably see other problems…potentially your coolant level might be low, coolant in your oil (oil and water make mayonnaise), or it might run weird.

 

Thank you for the responses so far. When I say smoke, I mean white smoke, for like 30 seconds where there is a noticeable smoke cloud behind the car.

 

Thanks. I don't think it water vapor, more smoky and smells like exhaust, maybe a little burnt smell in it. It's a descent amout of smoke, very noticeable, then after 30 seconds or so it stops from the exhaust and the smoke just floats away.

 

"Smoke" on start up usually indicates valve guide seals or valve guides.

 

This still sounds like condensation to me. But, keep an eye on the oil and coolant level, and check for signs of a bad head gasket. Also, you could pull the spark plugs out to check if they look fouled up.

Hopefully it's just condensation.

 

If its white and happens in the winter but not in the summer then yes condensation.... It can have a slight lawn mower like smell for the first 30 seconds before the cat warms up and starts working.

But if its happening year round and has definitely developed recently than I agree with others that it warrants investigation. You got the usual tips - watch for oil residue in the coolant (indicating coolant getting past the head gasket). Watch for the oil to look milky (reverse situation).. If neither symptom but the oil level declines than as noted above could be valve seals.

Good luck.

 

I’d get one of those antifreeze test kits that detects combustion materials in the coolant. Better to know for sure rather than speculate.

 

Another option to determine if it is coolant due to a head gasket problem would be to pull the plugs and check compression in each cylinder.

Having said that, I can't remember the last time I used a compression tester. Is that still a common practice? Still available?

 

Very recent, or happening for a while? What I’m getting at - is it possible that something contaminated your fuel?

 

My 2006 Tacoma (4 cylinder) puffs a lot of white “smoke” at startup because of the secondary air injection system, which is designed to reduce emissions by blowing air into the exhaust system during cold start, thus warming up the catalytic converter more quickly. The blower sounds like a jet powered vacuum cleaner. It runs for about 30 seconds, depending on how cold it is outside, and it’s pushing a lot of unburned fuel and water vapor through the exhaust, which makes it kinda stinky.

The 4Runner is equipped with this system as well (two blowers, one for each cylinder bank), and will do the same thing. It’s especially noticeable in the morning when the dew point is close to ambient temps because water vapor will condense more easily. Folks who live in arid and semi-arid locations probably wouldn’t even notice.

 

Thanks everyone for your input. I took to Toyota and it was the valve seals , a $3950 repair at the dealer btw. I'm looking around now for a cheaper repair shop.

 

How did they determine that?

 

They removed the intake and found a good amount of oil , other than that I'm not sure. They did initially run it through the system to see if there were any codes for misfires or any other issues that popped up.

 

That’s alarming that a fairly new 5th gen has bad valve guide seals.

 

I'm still not entirely convinced. Have you noticed oil loss? There's normally some oil in there because of crankcase venting.

 

Agree

 

I have not not, but I don't change my own oil . No one has ever mentioned it and I have not noticed it when I check my oil level.