I have a 96 lexus es300. The check engine light has been on since I've had the vehicle. I had it scanned at autozone and the code told me that the egr valve was bad. I am on a limited budget so I asked if this could hurt my car and the person told me it would only give me bad gas mileage. Just recently the car started white smoke coming from the tail pipe with a smell that I can only describe as burning rubber. I took it to my mechanic and he scanned the code again and the only code showing up says "egr valve lift sensor". I had him check the head gasket and he assured me that my head gasket is not bad. My question is, could the egr valve lift sensor be causing the white smoke from my exhaust, or do I have another issue. I have read up on the forums and heard stories similar to mine that were fixed by replacing the ECM. Can anyone help me please?

 

White smoke usually means a blown head gasket. Has the car been overheating? Does the oil look watery and similar to chocolate milk?

The exhaust smelling like burning rubber is weird. If it's a BHG, it should smell sweet and like coolant.

 

The head gasket isnt blown, I've already had a mechanic look at it and check all the fluids and pressure of the engine. I am not leaking any coolant, and my oil seems to be fine. THe smoke is real thin and almost seems like vapor. It is not a constant smoke either. It generally smokes pretty bad when I first start it up, and when I am hitting the gas. When I let off the gas or idle the smoke goes away. I am not losing any performance in my lexus either. If I didn't see the smoke I would have no idea that there is anything wrong with it at all.