2.0 VVT-i T25 - White Smoke Avensis - BigMo30
Hi

I have a Toyota Avensis 2.0 vvt-i 2003. It is a T25 model and has covered 78,000 miles. I have owned the car for 2 months now and have noticed there is usually white smoke from the exhaust. It sometimes gets a little better as the car has been driven for about 30 minutes.

At first I thought it could have been due to the cold but the weather has got better over the last few days and I could still see smoke this morning even though it was 13C. It is worst when pulling away and sometimes when sitting idle but it isn’t thick smoke.

The funny thing is the car does not overheat at all. I have sat for hours in traffic without any issues. The coolant level hasn’t dropped at all as I have marked this on the expansion tank and the colour is nice and blue. The oil was changed by my mechanic about 1000 miles ago and looked fine as is the replacement oil. Dipstick looks good, oil filler cap looks good. I have driven it about 2000 miles now and none of the fluid levels have dropped at all not even half an inch. It starts first key, has plenty of power in every gear. No misfiring from what I can tell.

The only problem I have had was that it was showing the EML which I checked was the lower Lambda sensor. This is the one after the cat. I checked the resistance on this and it was 0 so I have had this replaced yesterday and cleared the fault codes and the light hasn’t popped back. But the smoke is still there, any ideas on what else I should look for?

I have a block test kit arriving in a few days and will check the coolant with this but nothing seems to point at the head gasket other then the smoke. I would appreciate any help I could get with this.

Mo
2.0 VVT-i T25 - White Smoke Avensis - Peter.N.

It probably isn't smoke but steam, the sort of weather we have been having for the last couple of months has been causing this with my cars - although diesel. If you are not doing a high mileage and so not getting the engine really hot it could be condensate lying in your exhast system.

2.0 VVT-i T25 - White Smoke Avensis - BigMo30

Thanks for the reply. I have been thinking the same but when I notice its just my car doing it on the street its always a little worrying!

Should there still be condensation in the current climate?

2.0 VVT-i T25 - White Smoke Avensis - Peter.N.

I'm not getting a problem with mine now but you could have water laying in the exhaust.