Is my 2.4L on it's last leg??

[aaron_c]

Hey guys, I have a question- first, a little about the car. It's a 2002 Camry, 2.4L auto, with 73k miles on it.

Now, the problem- it smokes (blue-ish) on start-up for a few seconds, and when I accelerated hard to pass someone on my way to wash it earlier today, I got a sulfur-like smell in the car (sunroof was open). On my way home, I opened the sunroof and gave it WOT again to replicate it in a different area (to make sure it wasn't a smell from outside) and I got the sulfur smell again.

The car has been treated very well it's whole life, driven by my mother until a couple days ago (she gave it to me to upgrade to a new Lincoln), so this makes no sense at all to me.

Any ideas on what the problem could be, and whether it could be something simple or serious??

thanks everybody!

[BlueFusion6851]

The blue smoke is your valve stem oil seals, my camry does it every morning and whenever it has been sitting for an hour or two. The sulfur smell might be your catalytic converter going bad. That would be my first guess.

[aaron_c]

Originally Posted by BlueFusion6851

The blue smoke is your valve stem oil seals, my camry does it every morning and whenever it has been sitting for an hour or two. The sulfur smell might be your catalytic converter going bad. That would be my first guess.

The valve stem oil seals- how much will it cost to have them replaced? And how urgent is it?

[workerant]

73K is not a problem with Camry. Many drove them way above 100K. Just need some fixing and Ur baby should be good as new.

[aaron_c]

Yeah, I've always heard that the 2.4's were borderline indestructible, so I wasn't too worried, but I hate that it smokes on startup- I'm a bit of a perfectionist lol. I'm selling my previous vehicle ('99 Dakota), so I'll use some of the cash from that to fix this car up...haven't decided whether I'm going to trade it in and use the $5k or so from the truck to get something a little more sporty like an '03ish maxima, or just hang onto this until I'm out of college.

thanks for the help!

[TRD VVTi]

The blue smoke on start up after the car sits is probably the valve seals as stated above. Unless you are consuming a decent amount of oil I wouldn't bother fixing it. GM cars used to be notorious for leaking valve seals. I had a Monte SS that gave me a pretty good puff of smoke on start up and I never fixed it. The car started doing that at around 100,000 miles and I drove it to over 230,000 miles, without a problem.

The convertor probably isn't going bad, you are smelling sulfur burning off in the catalytic convertor. Lower quality fuels will many times have a higher sulfur content. Even after using a higher quality fuel for some time, you may still get the smell but it should lessen over time.

[aaron_c]

Originally Posted by TRD VVTi

The blue smoke on start up after the car sits is probably the valve seals as stated above. Unless you are consuming a decent amount of oil I wouldn't bother fixing it. GM cars used to be notorious for leaking valve seals. I had a Monte SS that gave me a pretty good puff of smoke on start up and I never fixed it. The car started doing that at around 100,000 miles and I drove it to over 230,000 miles, without a problem.

The convertor probably isn't going bad, you are smelling sulfur burning off in the catalytic convertor. Lower quality fuels will many times have a higher sulfur content. Even after using a higher quality fuel for some time, you may still get the smell but it should lessen over time.

Oh okay, thanks for the reply! I definitely run the lowest grade of fuel possible lol, so that's probably it.

[TRD VVTi]

Originally Posted by aaron_c

Oh okay, thanks for the reply! I definitely run the lowest grade of fuel possible lol, so that's probably it.

Why would you do that? Usually gas prices are the same, so you might as well use a quality gasoline like BP/Amoco, Shell, etc.

[touringcamry]

Originally Posted by aaron_c

Oh okay, thanks for the reply! I definitely run the lowest grade of fuel possible lol, so that's probably it.

Do you mean low grade as in no-name stations or 87 octane rating?

If you mean 87 octane - there's no need to change this unless you notice detonation.

[aaron_c]

Originally Posted by touringcamry

Do you mean low grade as in no-name stations or 87 octane rating?

If you mean 87 octane - there's no need to change this unless you notice detonation.

I mean 87 octane- I almost always get it at Wal-Mart or Sams, but I don't know what brand they use.

[Mistabullet]

Try these brands: Top Tier Gasoline: Retailers

Check out the homepage for more info: TopTierGas.com

[aaron_c]

I think there's a Chevron near here I can go to- does wal-mart likely use a poor brand of fuel?

[Mistabullet]

Next time you go there check the pumps to see if you can see any brand names such as Conoco or Phillips 66. I believe these two distribute their gasoline to various chains.
I myself use Chevron (87) for my V6, so far so good.

[CharmCityES]

i just use 87 octane exxon or mobil gasoline in my car....runs just fine and no sulfer smell...maybe you should try running name brand gasoline and see if the smell stops?
the blue smoke is leaking valve seals...not an urgent detail honestly, unless the car is burning massive amounts of oil

[eaglesvr]

About start-smoke and how I got rid of it

02 camry le 4cyl smoke at startup.

I think that valve seals don't do a big harm and one can live wit that but anyway I'm glad that could handle that. I read that burning excessive oil poisons the cat-converter and o2 sensors.