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Power Loss & Lots Of Exhaust Smoke After Oil Change


elCommando
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Hello people, my car is the Toyota Corolla 2.0 D4D [1CD-FTV].

I got my car MOT'd and I also got the oil & filter change on Monday. Since then, everything has gone downhill.

As soon as I left the garage on Monday, I was driving home when all of a sudden I lost power uphill and my car started stuttering/jerking. I thought I was in the wrong gear but that wasnt the case. I googled it and some people suggested it could be an overfill. At 4am in the morning, with a cold engine and flat surface I checked the dipstick and the oil seemed an inch / half an inch over the maximum mark.

Anyways took it back the next day to the mechanic and he checked the dipstick and said the oil level was ok but I wasnt convinced. I still made him take out around half a litre of oil. Since then, the car was driving slightly better, but when the engine warms up then the loss of power and smoke from exhaust come back.

And that seems to the problem; the car is driving fine when cold but when it is warmed up it struggles uphill.

What do you guys think? My gut feeling is that the mechanic did overfill and the oil has blocked my cat converter?

PS. I bought the oil a month before and kept it in the boot of my car, could that have affected the oil quality?

Thanks in advance

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Back in the day, my old Escort struggled uphill, with smoke and misfiring. Turned out to be gross overfill, which allowed much crankcase thrashing and then oil into the combustion chambers. Petrol engines don't like that! Nor do diesels I expect:) Suggest check the oil level again and if over max reduce it ASAP.

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Was it the right grade oil for your car ?

Keeping it for a month or so has no effect as long as the cap is firmly on and no air gets in.

Is the oil level now on or below the dipstick max , if above then it needs some more taking out.

( you only need to leave if for 20 mins after switching off to check the level, rather than 4am !)

I'm not a diesel man, but belive a common problem is the EGR valve can cake up at the best of times, so perhaps an overfill will have worsened that, think you will find threads on how to clean it in this forum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaust_gas_recirculation

Assume the air and oil filters were also changed ?

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potentially could also have coated sensors meaning that the car isn't setting the right mixture etc.?

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Back in the day, my old Escort struggled uphill, with smoke and misfiring. Turned out to be gross overfill, which allowed much crankcase thrashing and then oil into the combustion chambers. Petrol engines don't like that! Nor do diesels I expect:) Suggest check the oil level again and if over max reduce it ASAP.

Did it have any long term affects on the engine? Thanks for the reply.

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Was it the right grade oil for your car ?

Keeping it for a month or so has no effect as long as the cap is firmly on and no air gets in.

Is the oil level now on or below the dipstick max , if above then it needs some more taking out.

( you only need to leave if for 20 mins after switching off to check the level, rather than 4am !)

I'm not a diesel man, but belive a common problem is the EGR valve can cake up at the best of times, so perhaps an overfill will have worsened that, think you will find threads on how to clean it in this forum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaust_gas_recirculation

Assume the air and oil filters were also changed ?

Yes, it was genuine Toyota oil 5w30. I opened the 1litre a week or so ago just to have a look inside then shut it tightly with the lid and kept it in a bin liner in the back of my boot.

Also, now the oil is exactly on the minimum mark but the problem is still there. Its fine on flat roads but when the engine has warmed up then theres a lack of power and hardly any power uphill. Plenty of smoke though when i revv it hard.

How much does the EGR valve cost to clean or to replace, would you know?

I changed the oil filter too.

Thanks for the reply.

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potentially could also have coated sensors meaning that the car isn't setting the right mixture etc.?

Hmm, my cousin said the same thing. However, why does it drive fine when cold and only struggle when the engine has warmed up? I drove it today, and it seems the engine is ok but theres something stopping it, like a blockage, or resistance of some sort from letting the car move forward. Also, at what intervals should I change the fuel filter? I change the oil & oil filter every 5k miles but I've not changed the fuel filter for 10k miles now. Thanks for the reply.

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The Haynes manual says replace the fuel filter every 20k miles.

I would suggest running your oil level at least half way between min and max.

Running at min, and as you are burning oil ( smoking exhaust) then you might just run too low and do some serious damage.

Are you getting any error lights on the dashboard ? have you checked for any stored error codes ?

You need a reader or a garage to read them out for you.

The EGR valve cleaning has been covered in this and the other forums, you should find details if you search.

(I,m petrol so do not have one)

Just a long shot, given the above is all ok, wonder if the ecu has got stuck at the point where it sensed an oil overfill problem.

If you disconnect the Battery for 15 mins, then on reconnection the ecu typically has to re-learn and will run a bit strange for the first few miles until if finds the right settings.

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Back in the day, my old Escort struggled uphill, with smoke and misfiring. Turned out to be gross overfill, which allowed much crankcase thrashing and then oil into the combustion chambers. Petrol engines don't like that! Nor do diesels I expect:) Suggest check the oil level again and if over max reduce it ASAP.

Did it have any long term affects on the engine? Thanks for the reply.

Not so far as I know. But being a petrol engine, and before most of the emissions controls, it was quite simple.

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The Haynes manual says replace the fuel filter every 20k miles.

I would suggest running your oil level at least half way between min and max.

Running at min, and as you are burning oil ( smoking exhaust) then you might just run too low and do some serious damage.

Are you getting any error lights on the dashboard ? have you checked for any stored error codes ?

You need a reader or a garage to read them out for you.

The EGR valve cleaning has been covered in this and the other forums, you should find details if you search.

(I,m petrol so do not have one)

Just a long shot, given the above is all ok, wonder if the ecu has got stuck at the point where it sensed an oil overfill problem.

If you disconnect the battery for 15 mins, then on reconnection the ecu typically has to re-learn and will run a bit strange for the first few miles until if finds the right settings.

Hi,

Well, I added some oil myself and it is around the half way mark now, maybe a few mm under the half way mark.

There are no errors on the dashboard, I took it to another garage today and after taking the corolla for a spin they assumed it was the fuel system, but upon further investigation they couldn't actually diagnose the problem.

I have been advised to take it to another garage and have the Corolla hooked onto a computer, so I will do that tomorrow morning. Just wondering what type of computer will they have? Is a diagnostic device same as a computer?

I will also try the disconnecting Battery method and I'll report back tomorrow with the results.

Many thanks once again.

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It could be anything from a handheld, laptop or custom built diagnostic machine, its all about the software really, not available off the shelf without a hefty price tag.

Any Toyota dealer will do the same thing, believe they charge by the 1/2 or full hour, so no that cheap to use.

Do search on the forums on ' EGR valve ' seems a common problem , though as this thread shows it can be other things

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/110100-egr-valve-and-manifold-blocked/

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potentially could also have coated sensors meaning that the car isn't setting the right mixture etc.?

Hmm, my cousin said the same thing. However, why does it drive fine when cold and only struggle when the engine has warmed up?

when it's cold the car would set a richer mixture than when hot.

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Hi guys,

Quick update

(i) I turned the Battery off for 15 minutes and went for a drive, but as the engine warmed up to near ~60% the car started losing pick up again.

(ii) What I have noticed though is that although the car seems to lose power, the revv meter is completely normal, still on ~2000rpms.

(iii) I have it booked in tomorrow at 1pm for the computer diagnostic thing, so I'll let you know how that goes

Thanks

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  • 1 month later...

Another update:

It was the EGR at fault, still in the process of getting this sorted.

SOLVED

Hi everyone, OK I finally solved this one it was the ................... MAF sensor! As soon as I unplugged it the engine noise changed and the smoke was gone, and it drove perfect too. So thats what the culprit was!

PS. The computer did show the EGR fault code of P0400 which is why I was initially told that it was the EGR but that turned out to be incorrect.

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