White Smoke

[dogfish1]

Hi all, I wonder if anyone has had this problem with their Rav and can tell me what it might be. Today I loaded up my 2002 Rav4 D4D, hooked on my caravan and set off on my hols, - or so I thought ! I got 5 miles from home, just climbed a long uphill drag, looked in my mirror and couldn't see my caravan for white smoke. I stopped asap and turned the engine off, I started back up to move 50 yds to a safer place, with more white smoke and fumes coming from the exhaust. I called out the breakdown service who came about 45mins later and started up, no smoke, he followed me home while I towed the caravan up another long hill at 55-60mph, still no smoke, got back home breakdown engineer looked at the Rav again, no pressure on opening the water resevoir, the oil/dipstick appeared normal. I dropped off the caravan and drove to a local 4x4 dealer who had a look but couldn't shed any light on the problem, he said if it was head gasket it would still be smoking white from the exhaust. Have any other Rav owners had this problem, it seems ok at the moment, but I don't want to go away and make things worse or do serious damage.

Thanks

T

[bothwell_buyer]

Any smell. I would tend to guess the clutch...

[dogfish1]

Would the clutch make white smoke from the exhaust, nothing at all from the engine bay ?

[Davrav]

Would the clutch make white smoke from the exhaust, nothing at all from the engine bay ?

Could you sense a diesel smell?

[dogfish1]

No diesel smell, more of a chemical type smell.

[korat102]

If it was a sweet smell I'd suspect coolant which might indicate problems with the head gasket but your mechanic scotched that idea.

A more acrid smell with bluish/white smoke could be transmission fluid getting into a combustion chamber (if it's automatic).

On the other hand, maybe it just overheated, towing a caravan uphill is hard work. I'd keep a very close eye on the fluids for a while. And when you check those fluids, be sure to check the oil and coolant for contaminants as well as level.

[anchorman]

Are you sure it from the exhaust and not something rubbing on the drive shafts or maybe the jockey wheel on the van. I'm wondering if something was catching under the weight and had cooled by the time the recovery man got there?

[igormus]

Hi all, I wonder if anyone has had this problem with their Rav and can tell me what it might be. Today I loaded up my 2002 Rav4 D4D, hooked on my caravan and set off on my hols, - or so I thought ! I got 5 miles from home, just climbed a long uphill drag, looked in my mirror and couldn't see my caravan for white smoke. I stopped asap and turned the engine off, I started back up to move 50 yds to a safer place, with more white smoke and fumes coming from the exhaust. I called out the breakdown service who came about 45mins later and started up, no smoke, he followed me home while I towed the caravan up another long hill at 55-60mph, still no smoke, got back home breakdown engineer looked at the Rav again, no pressure on opening the water resevoir, the oil/dipstick appeared normal. I dropped off the caravan and drove to a local 4x4 dealer who had a look but couldn't shed any light on the problem, he said if it was head gasket it would still be smoking white from the exhaust. Have any other Rav owners had this problem, it seems ok at the moment, but I don't want to go away and make things worse or do serious damage.

Thanks

T

hi mate

the white smoke is normally caused by:

- broken cylinder head gasket;

- late injection timing.

The above can be easily checked via tail exhaust pipe.

Other source like clutch disc (i doubt it) smells very toxic and not in question basing on your records.

Now you'd consider the above twos. IS engine being started well? If positive then consider minor overheating due to caravan towing. Cheers/Igor

[Bodgit-fixit-run]

I left my jockey wheel down once. It melted at the hub. No noticable smoke though.

[dogfish1]

Hi all and thanks for replies. We tried driving the car hard at high revs, nothing, so decided to have another try at getting away with the caravan.

The site we go to is about 60 miles from home. Everything was still loaded in the caravan and car, so we set off exactly the same as the first time, got here with no more white smoke at all, strange ! The one thing we did have to do was get a new Battery as the old one died. We still don't know what caused the smoke, all of the above comments would have been possibilities, but just to be clear, the smoke only came out of the exhaust when the engine was running, nothing was rubbing as when I turned the engine off the smoke stopped, and when I restarted so did the smoke, and we remove the jockey wheel to avoid grounding due to the towbar on the Rav being so low. A total mystery !!

[anchorman]

Maybe the extra load has purged the EGR. You could help that situation by avoiding supermarket diesel.

[igormus]

Hi all and thanks for replies. We tried driving the car hard at high revs, nothing, so decided to have another try at getting away with the caravan.

The site we go to is about 60 miles from home. Everything was still loaded in the caravan and car, so we set off exactly the same as the first time, got here with no more white smoke at all, strange ! The one thing we did have to do was get a new battery as the old one died. We still don't know what caused the smoke, all of the above comments would have been possibilities, but just to be clear, the smoke only came out of the exhaust when the engine was running, nothing was rubbing as when I turned the engine off the smoke stopped, and when I restarted so did the smoke, and we remove the jockey wheel to avoid grounding due to the towbar on the Rav being so low. A total mystery !!

hello

besides of my previous post - -i consider one more possible reason as timely lack of an el signal (before TDC) to an atomizer solenoid coil resulting the same outcome. Cheers

[martin carpenter]

I thought I would see if any one on the forum would be able to help. My wife has a RAV4 T180, 2006. It has had pretty much everything done to it over the past three years. It had a new half engine three years ago, followed by a full engine 2 years ago, Toyota supplied both although we had to contribute half the cost. The car has around 110k miles on the clock, the new engine was fitted at around 92k miles, at the time of the engine change we had a new clutch fitted, and new turbo, in total costing us nearly £4k.

Since then we have had new EGR valve fitted, around 3k miles ago.mWe had a new DPF fitted after a terrible journey from bucks to the north east, just under 1k miles ago. The car went into limp mode and we spent 20 miles at 25 miles an hour before finding a dealership who was able to perform a regen and get us back on the road. We then had about 500 miles of trouble free motoring and was averaging around 35mpg. This was the third time we had to do a regen in 6 months and looking at the forums people were saying replace the DPF after 100k miles, so that's what we did, the old one came out pretty clean.

Since then however mpg has fallen dramatically, to around 24.5mpg. The car produces thick clouds of white smoke that are usually after the engine has warmed up and over 2,000rpm. At the last service everything was checked by our dealer including any sooting of the DPF or EGR. The could not find anything wrong, but attribute the White smoke to excessive diesel in the fuel mix which is getting burnt off. Whilst in the garage at CSG Amersham, a Toyota service manager was in looking at another t180 with similar problems and after looking at our vehicle was unable to diagnose the problems. We have had the software update to “cure” the issue to no avail, and we also know that there is not excessive oil in the engine – which could be another source of the issue. Oh and we only use Shell or esso diesel. So at the moment, Toyota and CSG a in Amersham are stumped what to do.

I have also read that once the DPF has been replaced it takes the ECU around 5,000 miles to relearn the driving style ? Really ?

So we are currently having to drive this around despite the fact it is really unfriendly to anyone travelling behind us, and costing a lot more money to run. We have calculated we have spent around £7k in the last three years on engine related issues, which on hindsight would have been better spent on a new car, but as we have spent the money would really like to know if anyone has any bright ideas. My wife's idea is to park the car at CSG and post the keys through the letterbox..I am at the point where I think it's not a bad idea...

[78Portellen]

On 09/04/2015 at 2:53 PM, martin carpenter said:

I thought I would see if any one on the forum would be able to help. My wife has a RAV4 T180, 2006. It has had pretty much everything done to it over the past three years. It had a new half engine three years ago, followed by a full engine 2 years ago, Toyota supplied both although we had to contribute half the cost. The car has around 110k miles on the clock, the new engine was fitted at around 92k miles, at the time of the engine change we had a new clutch fitted, and new turbo, in total costing us nearly £4k.

Since then we have had new EGR valve fitted, around 3k miles ago.mWe had a new DPF fitted after a terrible journey from bucks to the north east, just under 1k miles ago. The car went into limp mode and we spent 20 miles at 25 miles an hour before finding a dealership who was able to perform a regen and get us back on the road. We then had about 500 miles of trouble free motoring and was averaging around 35mpg. This was the third time we had to do a regen in 6 months and looking at the forums people were saying replace the DPF after 100k miles, so that's what we did, the old one came out pretty clean.

Since then however mpg has fallen dramatically, to around 24.5mpg. The car produces thick clouds of white smoke that are usually after the engine has warmed up and over 2,000rpm. At the last service everything was checked by our dealer including any sooting of the DPF or EGR. The could not find anything wrong, but attribute the White smoke to excessive diesel in the fuel mix which is getting burnt off. Whilst in the garage at CSG Amersham, a Toyota service manager was in looking at another t180 with similar problems and after looking at our vehicle was unable to diagnose the problems. We have had the software update to “cure” the issue to no avail, and we also know that there is not excessive oil in the engine – which could be another source of the issue. Oh and we only use shell or esso diesel. So at the moment, Toyota and CSG a in Amersham are stumped what to do.

I have also read that once the DPF has been replaced it takes the ECU around 5,000 miles to relearn the driving style ? Really ?

So we are currently having to drive this around despite the fact it is really unfriendly to anyone travelling behind us, and costing a lot more money to run. We have calculated we have spent around £7k in the last three years on engine related issues, which on hindsight would have been better spent on a new car, but as we have spent the money would really like to know if anyone has any bright ideas. My wife's idea is to park the car at CSG and post the keys through the letterbox..I am at the point where I think it's not a bad idea...

Hi Martin,

I've been suffering similar problems with my motor. Nuisance white smoke. I wondered if you managed to get to the bottom of it?

Thanks.

Joe

[Scotrav]

I have the same problem on my 2011 D4D RAV. 85000 miles. Been checked by my local garage and 2 Toyota main dealers, no error codes, car runs great, can do 45 mpg on long run at 60mph but intermittently  emits huge clouds of grey smoke when up to running temp. It is booked in to recommended main dealer but nervous as they can’t quote a time and charge £95 per hour. Should say just passed it’s MOT in the last month. Love the car but very embarrassed when this happens 

[Sooty]

Hi Scotrav,

Just a guess, but could it be the DPF purging itself?

[78Portellen]

3 hours ago, Scotrav said:

I have the same problem on my 2011 D4D RAV. 85000 miles. Been checked by my local garage and 2 Toyota main dealers, no error codes, car runs great, can do 45 mpg on long run at 60mph but intermittently  emits huge clouds of grey smoke when up to running temp. It is booked in to recommended main dealer but nervous as they can’t quote a time and charge £95 per hour. Should say just passed it’s MOT in the last month. Love the car but very embarrassed when this happens 

Hi mate, I sincerely hope you get it sorted. I had an avensis T180 and tried all kinds including dpf removed and cleaned but nothing worked. It ended up at an injector specialist who said it was a call between replacement sensor or dpf - or both. By that time I'd already spent a fortune and decided the extra costs were too much and got rid. That was two years ago. Absolute nightmare. Toyota? Never again! Good luck - Joe 👍

[Scotrav]

That was the suggestion from one of the dealers.. a forced regen. I don’t understand why it would smoke so much and do it for 2 or 3 days then stop. This car is used to do long runs, for example from Glasgow to Carlisle and back 2 days on the trot, no smoke on the way down smoked all the way back, smoked all the way down on the second journey then stopped for a couple of days. The EGR valve has been cleaned, I had a chemical clean of the dpf and the 5th injector replaced no difference. The problem is both injectors and a dpf replacement costs a fortune. 

[78Portellen]

You'd think the Toyota brand is synonymous with reliability. The same problem haunted me for months mate. Depending on whereabouts the dpf is located in your engine you might want to consider cutting your losses. In my avensis the tech bods at Toyota thought it was a great idea to bury the dpf in the bowels of the engine, so each time I got it seen to I was forking out mega bucks in labour. Long and costly process of elimination. Literally wore me down in the end. Literally finished paying for the car and repair bills two years after getting rid! The engine also had to be rebuilt because of well documented head gasket issue. That alone cost me nearly £2k. Toyota? Steer clear buddy, your wallet will thank you 😉

Forced regen? If I had a pound due every time that was suggested...

[Ezcritique]

Pray.... I always thought white smoke was something to do with a new pope

[Scotrav]

That was the suggestion from one of the dealers.. a forced regen. I don’t understand why it would smoke so much and do it for 2 or 3 days then stop. This car is used to do long runs, for example from Glasgow to Carlisle and back 2 days on the trot, no smoke on the way down smoked all the way back, smoked all the way down on the second journey then stopped for a couple of days. The EGR valve has been cleaned, I had a chemical clean of the dpf and the 5th injector replaced no difference. The problem is both injectors and a dpf replacement costs a fortune. 

[Scotrav]

The car goes in on the 9th of September and I am sure this dealer will find the problem this is last chance saloon which hopefully won’t bankrupt me! Keep you posted

[78Portellen]

Good luck, I'd be interested to know how you get on 👍

[Ben 1983]

Any updates on the issues? Mine smokes a lot and I'm at a loss as to what it is

Cheers

[Dippy]

Mine smoked for a year after the DPF was changed, Toyota looked at it 2-3 times and couldn’t find anything. Eventually a trusted garage went back to first principles and found the fifth injector was goosed. Coded it out (controversial I know), it’s been fine for a year since.