1999 Camry SOMETIMES smokes when starting

[DavidD2]

Originally Posted by AccordCodger

I see. So what years/motors are at risk? And what's the prevention? I change my oil every 5k, and that corresponds to about every 2-3 months.

I believe that all Toyotas with the 6 cylinder and some with the four cylinder between about 1996 and 2002 are the ones at risk. I Googled "Toyota sludge" and several sites came up that described the problem and the history of Toyota's response. We changed the oil about every 5000 miles, but not always at the dealership. On our replacement engine we are having Toyota do all of the oil changes. They say that their filters are the only ones that you should use.

My neighbor across the street had a 1998 and he changed his oil every 3000 miles, but his engine failed at 36000. At the time Toyota was denying responsibility, so he traded the car off and bought another new car. By the time he realized that he could have gotten reimbursed, it was too late to do anything about it.

[AccordCodger]

Well, since I was 3300 miles into my 5000 mile oil change period, I just went ahead & did it anyway. But I put in the correct amount of oil!

The smoking problem was so uncommon that I may have to wait months to convince mtself that the problem has now gone away.

Meanwhile thank you all for your thoughtful advice.

[AccordCodger]

Well, whadya know. 1 day after changing the oil, I backed my car out of the driveway and behold! A puff of smoke!

I'm baffled. I'm a newcomer to Toyotas (as you might guess from my "handle," I'm a long-time Honda owner), and if I start having problems like burning oil at my (low) mileage, then this'll be the last Camry (or any Toyota) I ever buy. Indeed, I'll dump this one in a hurry if I get any more problems that shouldn't happen at 67,000 miles.

[Toysrme]

Like I said, high oil level does nothing to your problem.
The only time high oil level normally affects anything, is if it is so high you're submerging main seals. It'd be an obvious problem 'cause there would be tons of drag from the crankshaft being so submerged in oil.



Valve stem seals.

[Brian R.]

Originally Posted by Toysrme

98-01.
I've never heard the "real" reason for the sludge.
Everything from a "poorly designed PCV system" (Which is bullshit, it's the same system on every v6 Toyota's ever made)
Oil passages were reduced in size
credesigned cooling passages

Who knows.

I've just never seen any of the reasons proven. Tho ya, most likely somewhere in the heads it's getting warmed up enough. (For whatever reason)

I don't think AccordCodger's problem has anything to do with sludge, but in response to your comment - a functioning PCV system in one engine may be inadequate in a the same engine if they made changes which increases the need for ventilation (such as higher head temperatures or greater blowby). I know, this is not proof of the problem being related to the PCV system, but just a response to your comment.

AccordCodger: I also doubt that it is the valve seals. Like you said, 67k is really low mileage to have that problem unless the engine was not taken care of. Is it possibly a fuel issue where there is a leaking injector that dumps some fuel into one of the cylinders and washes some oil off the walls? I think that is more likely...

Maybe a dose of Techron or some other fuel system cleaner would do the trick. You may need to replace an injector. See if any of the plugs looks more carboned than the others. That might indicate which cylinder has the bad injector (if that really is possibly the problem). You may buy a new injector and substitute it for one old one at a time and find out which substitution solves the problem.

[AccordCodger]

Hmm. Some good info there, Brian. Some things I wouldn't have thought of.

And - adding a comment to the valve seal suggestion - surely it would smoke EVERY time it's been standing for a while? And that's nowhere near the case. Once every 2-3 weeks more like.

[DFBonnett]

You mention that you are new to Toyotas and that the car has 67K on it. That leads me to believe that you purchased a pre-owned? I wonder if a previous owner may have had the valve cover(s) off and there is some detritus in the area of the returns that periodically blocks them allowing oil to pool and drain past the valve seals. Just a WAG, but this is a real puzzler.

[Toysrme]

I doubt it. The return holes are faily large & as little oil is in the heads at one time, They'd never back up.

If they did, you'd toast the bearings before you noticed the smake.

[AccordCodger]

That leads me to believe that you purchased a pre-owned?

Correct - I've only had it since August. And I can't speak for its prior maintenance, though from its (CarFax) history, my guess is that it didn't get any real DIY.

On the other hand, it was a repo (from owner #2) which, had I noticed, would probably have prompted me not to buy the car in the first place, since someone who doesn't make payments probably doesn't care much about maintenance either.

That said, it was a woman owner, living in a mobile home park (which here in Florida does NOT - necessarily - mean "White T...h" - she's probably in her 70's + or -). So it's more likely she got into financial problems, and went from a proud Toyota owner to bankruptcy in 3 months flat.