99 camry dying? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

ItZtHaFuZzMaN · 10-26-2007, 07:09 PM

I've got a 99 japanese built camry 4cyl w/ 161k on the clock running strong. in the morning during cold starts she starts to cough up kind of a white grayish smoke puff or 3 then quiets down like its not even on. I've noticed this sometimes when i start in the afternoon after parked for 6-8hrs. could it be possible that this is due to a change in my driving habits over the last yr and half? b/c i used to used cruise mostly for long 2-4hr highway miles. now all i do is drive her for about 10-20 miles per a day? oh and she's got all the maintenances up to date w/ oem toyota pieces.

dc_98_cam · 10-26-2007, 08:43 PM

Possibilities:

Inspect vacuum hoses .... vicinity of EGR valve or modulator.

Remove EGR valve .... clean tubes with solvent ... look for carbon buildup.

Idle Air Control System ....

Any more symptoms? DTC codes?

nitehawk55 · 10-27-2007, 03:58 PM

Hmmmmm......are you losing antifreeze ? Sounds like something leaking into a cyl or 2 and burning off when starting and it doesn't take much so the loss of cooland might be almost unnoticeable . If it was oil it would be blue smoke but white to me sounds like AF .

marc780 · 10-27-2007, 04:30 PM

It could just be condensation from the air? You live in florida where it is humid to be sure...and in the morning almost all cars anywhere are going to be dripping (clear) water out the tailpipe for several minutes, simply due to moisture inside the exhaust system from overnight.

I dont believe your driving habits are a factor in this problem, a 10 mile drive is plenty of time to warm up the engine and burn out all the moisture, especially in florida.

first find out exactly what is coming out the tailpipe. start the engine and go back to the tailpipe and look at what is coming out. Stick your finger in there and see what you have, If it is water and the water is clear, then count yourself lucky and you can drill a tiny hole (1/8") on the bottom-most part of the muffler to let condensed water drip out instead of building up in there and corroding things.

But if the liquid is the same color as your antifreeze then you have internal coolant leakage, most likely a blown head gasket. If you have been having to add lots of coolant lately - and you didnt mention anything about the coolant level going down - then this is more proof that this is the problem. A blown head gasket is usually fixed by replacing the head gasket (and maybe having a valve job done and replacing the timing belt if the engine has alot of miles and about due).

Before assuming a blown head gasket, though, test it further or have it tested. If you are going to diagnose this yourself you get to play detective now and for that you want to check the following things in no particular order: overheating, spark plugs, compression check, cooling system pressure check, oil color and level.

You didnt mention an overheating problem so i'll assume none. (no overheating is a good sign that maybe the gasket isnt actually blown).

If you do a compression check you are looking for low compression in two adjacent cylinders. If you have high compression in all cylinders, this is great and indicates valves and rings in good shape - but there could still be a blown head gasket anyway (the gasket could just be blown on the outside portion or next to a cooling passage).

So now to check further, you can remove the spark plugs and look at the tips, normal plugs have tan or dark grey/even black tips. If they are rusted or look washed clean or are wet with water, this is another sign of a blown head gasket.

Also you can pressure test the cooling system. to do this you put a cooling system pressure tester over the radiator cap hole/coolant fill cap hole, seal it on there and pump in about 15 psi. A healthy engine will hold 15 psi as long as you want, but if the pressure needle slowly drops, you have a cooling system leak somewhere and probably in the gasket area, given the smoke out the tailpipe.

And also, have you noticed milky colored engine oil or even worse, oil level going UP? this is a sure sign too, of blown head gasket.

But dont assume the worst from all the gloom and doom i have been saying because it may be something minor or even normal - since the condition is intermittent and only happens with engine cold, maybe just retorquing the head bolts would fix it! (If you do try this be sure to retorque them only repeat ONLY with the engine overnight cold. And of course, use the proper tightening sequence too.)

Black95Cam · 10-29-2007, 12:53 AM

imma throw my idea out. on my 95 1mz it does that too. especially on a cold start. its revs up to about 1800-1900 rpms then once its gets warmed up its goes down according the temp of the engine be warm up to normal operating temp. the white grayish smoke, imma gonna guess on that but i think its when the car is warming up its running rich.. also about the afternoon starts.. my does that also.

ItZtHaFuZzMaN · 10-30-2007, 08:06 PM

marc780, thanks and all who shared their 2 cents...i think marc this is mostly the build up of moisture like u said. I mean sometimes there are times where I c water being blown as far as a foot from the tip of the exhaust from the pressure on a very nice day. Other than that there can't be any blown head gasket probs. Normally I would wait about 3-4mins for the motor to warm up so it idles quiet below 900rpm so she runs smooth all day. Thanks again, although I wish my car insurance covered if that did happen so I can fix to get into a new ride.. heh. Still love my baby.

marc780 · 10-31-2007, 11:30 PM

Quote:

think marc this is mostly the build up of moisture like u said. I mean sometimes there are times where I c water being blown as far as a foot from the tip of the exhaust from the pressure on a very nice day

.

This is very good news for you and your car as it means you are talking about a normal condition i think...so long as the water is clear water, then it is not coming from inside the engine.