threepot

Regenerating / burning out a DPF should not result in white smoke if operating correctly.

800 miles later - still no white smoke 😱

I would suggest you have a vane control issue. When you remove the controller, do the vanes open and close fully with no sticky sections? Make sure the vacuum pipes are all in good order too. I would suggest your issue is, the vanes are not tightening up to spool quickly enough, but them when the boost is made it cannot gently modify the vane possition to control the maximum target boost amount - this is the spiking on the datalog graphs.

I don't think this is sinister, I just think it's plain incompetence. Every time I send injectors away for testing they always tell me they are defective - trouble is 10k miles after you fit new injectors they no longer perform like a new injector, thus out of spec, thus defective. It's pretty standard procedure in most garages, take injectors out, send for testing. Injectors checked in situ... well there are live correction values so you can see weak ones and over fuelling ones - you also listen to them with a stethoscope, a good guy knows what good and bad injectors sound like. It doesn't give exact test figures like bench flow testing but has served many well so far! Keep in mind I bought my Rav4 from a Toyota main dealership, and they had spent a fair chunk of customers money on it and they couldn't make it run! So main dealer or back street garage, they are all as useless as each other. Doesn't help when garage staff wages are £15k to £30k a year - a decent diagnostic technician knows they can get £50k to £100k+ working self employed. If they can fix it great, but it depends how convoluted of a route it takes them to get there. If I need tyres, brakes, exhausts, suspension bits I use a "garage". If you need something complex fixing find an Auto electrical diagnostics specialist.

I would suggest you are in a the typical scenario of the blind leading the blind! People are making stab in the dark guesses to solve your issue. If its a pump problem, or a learnt values problem, or SCV valve issue, the fuel pressure value in the live data would tell you this - e.g. target v's actual pressure. If it's an injector leaking problem then the same target v's actual pressure value will tell you this. We have ODB2 diagnostics with measuring blocks/live data for this exact purpose..... but no they'll take your vehicle apart instead 😱

"An hour into the journey we got limp mode and all the usual errors" "No-one told me about code reading, possibly as I didn't ask... Can I do that?" Get your little scanner out and tell us the fault codes! This post is hearsay without some factual fault code info 🙂

You need to do some simple tests.... When it doesn't start, will it start with a bit of easystart / butane / solvent etc sprayed up the intake airbox? Get some kind of OBD2 scanner which shows you live data, then when starting you need to watch for values:- 1) engine speed 2) MAF airflow 3) Fuel Pressure Both symptoms - reluctant starting, albeit non stating when hot, and poor starting when cold are most likely caused by the same item. If I was to randomly guess, I would suggest you might have a reluctant crank sensor or TDC/Cam sensor, they often get worse when hot.

So I decided to undo the 5th injector clamp, but keep it in position ready to clamp off the 5th injector if I see smoke again. Then I will know the cause of the smoke. And if I never get the white smoke then the software update may be the answer. Part of me wonders if its to do with the DPF regen cycle. The other day when it was smoking, I had just done a "between towns A road" type drive at a steady 55mph. Then I hit stop start traffic as I came into town. The other day with the big clouds of white smoke; I wonder if it had started a re gen burn off cycle, but been caught short as I hit the slow moving traffic. Other people have complained about this issue I can see on the internet, I wonder if their vehicle has some underlying issue which is causing it to keep trying to regen the DPF. I've had no smoke this afternoon and tonight what so ever ??? Only time will tell. Make of that what you will! Other brands of car terminate the DPG regen process as soon as the road speed goes below 60km/h. I've done loads of weird DPF issue jobs over the years, but I rarely get any Toyota's in to fix as they don't really go wrong. It's usually European cars with these sorts of issues. So my experience of the details of the systems operation is somewhat lacking.

There are 3 values in the live data blocks which I think are to do with the 5th injector.

I have removed my EGR blanking test plate which did not highlight the issue:- I have clamped off the fuel feed for the 5th injector with a brake hose clamp:- I will road test again when I have time and report back.

Just come back from road test - the software update has not cured the smoke problem !!!

I think it might be caused by a poorly sealing 5th injector nozzle. When the vacuum flap closes under low load conditions I wonder if the induced vacuum causes diesel to seep past the seal in the 5th injector - but only once its been used a couple of times after the warm up period (a few EGR + 5th injector cycles) In all fairness I don't know how long this has been like this, I've only owned it for a good few months, then I only do long journeys late at night when there is no traffic and dark so I wouldn't see the smoke. During the day I only drive it for very short journeys. Because I have a few different cars to use the Rav4 is often at the end of the list. I think you can see the 5th injector in the live data, but I will look later. This is all a solvable issue, it just needs a bit of tinker time.

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 🙂

That's how they should be driven!

WTF has happened to this forum, is it dead?