sitotis

The mystery that is my Lexus....
I have recently started having an issue with white smoke or vapor, that smells weird, kind of like "sour" exhaust, coming out of the exhaust. When I start the car, the RPMs rev to about 1200rpms and then drop to about 600 rpms, and at this point it starts vibrating a little bit. Once, I touch the throttle the vibrating goes away. I noticed when driving it (I've only taken it around a building since this started) that it putters a couple times when i hit the gas from idle. Then after a few putters, it's fine. It smokes more when I take off. The smoke is white, sour smelling, and dissapates quickly, like it is vapor, but I don't remember having this before. As I was jumping it to drive it to the garage to replace the timing belt (off by a tooth), I crossed jumper cables (stupid mistake, i know!) and just decided to tow it instead. That's when I blew the alternator relay and possibly my ignition coils. My ignition coils were fine before, but when i got the timing figured out, #1 and #4 were blown. They've since been replaced and it is not misfiring.

Here's some more info:

Mileage: approx 160,000
History: A single, responsible owner before I had it. Regular oil changes, good gas, etc.
Things that I have recently replaced:
OCV/OCV filter
Camshaft Pos Sensor and Crankshaft Sensor
O2 sensor (on exhaust resonator; burned the 02 sensor right up when the camshaft sens orwent out)
Crankshaft seal
valve cover seals and tube seals
spark plugs
two ignition coils (two went out and I can't affor to replace the other four until they break)
battery (began leaking acid and it froze because it was -25F at my house)
timing belt and idler pulley
oil pan seals
alternator relay

My MAF sensor looks fine. I haven't checked my PCV valve, but I don't have any oil leakage. Compression is normal. I checked my cat converter when I took it off to replace the oil pan seal and it looked normal. I'm confused about my EGR and whether this is even something I should be looking at. I have not changed out my O2 sensor, but that may have been burned up again because i had two ignition coils go and the excess fuel was combusting in the exhaust manifold resonator. Although, the car wasn't running long like that.

Here's the kicker: I have NO codes! This car is super sensitive, too, so if something is wrong, it is usually pretty vocal and the CEL comes on immediately.

My fear is that it's the ECM : (

Any thoughts?

PFB

A bad Load of fuel, one that contains water, could be one simple explanation. Did you fill it up recently?

Water in the gas tank, resulting fom extreme cod temperatures, bile driving with less tan 1/4 tank could alo be aa culprit.

Fill it up with fresh fuel, preferably from a different station, drive for a bit and see what happens


Phil

unowned

white smoke is burning radiator fluid. Sounds like you need a new head gasket.

PFB

Not necessarily true.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Have you thought about a dirty idle air control valve? Those can cause all sorts weird behaviors if they're restricted.

moonphase

Replace the fuel filter, ours had the white smoke and weird smell that cleared up after the fuel filter was replaced.

sitotis

hmm interesting..... i forgot to mention that i just replaced the fuel filter as well. basically, the only gasket/seal that i did not replace was the head gasket. the reason i don't think it's the head gasket is that it's not really smoke, it's more vapor.

i did not even think of the gas being an issue. it sat for about a month (i live in a verrrrry snowy place, so it wasn't really practical to drive) before i crossed the jumper cables and then did all of the following repairs. i will try some good gas and see if that makes her happy.

also, i will look into checking out the iacv. i'll let you know!

ps: i also forgot to mention that my oil is staying where it should, as far as i know. the level is fine. it had a fresh oil change right before it sat for a month, so that should be fine. i checked the antifreeze resevoir and there's no oil there.

thanks guys!

moonphase

If the fuel filter had something to do with it, it will take two or three weeks for the catalytic converter / exhaust to clear the smell. Ours got progressively better smelling in that time.

sitotis

Today, I went out there and drained the gas completely. I took the rubber tube off the fuel filter and hooked a hose up to it and put the other end into a gas can. Then I unplugged the starter and from there just turned the key to start it and without the starter plugged in, it just pumped itself empty. I did not mess with that gas that I had pumped out of it, so I don't really know if there was water in the gas. It was about four gallons that had been sitting for about four months, so it wasn't really worth keeping.

So, afterwards, I started it up and the smoke was WORSE!! And by worse, someone described it as the smoke bomb that James Bond uses to escape the enemy. It was that bad. Also, it threw the codes P0100 and P0110, which are MAF Circuit Malfunction and Intake Air Temperature Circuit Malfunction. I believe the MAF Sensor in the V6 ES300 serves both of those functions. So I kicked dirt for awhile and then unplugged the MAF Sensor and then plugged it back in. I also did it with the EFI Relay. Then Voila! No smoke, the codes turned off and the car ran fine.

So, I took it around the block. I got about a 1/2 mile and then we were smoking like a train again. I then bought a MAF sensor and an EFI Relay and there was no change in the smoke and it didn't throw any codes.

Also, I've checked the coolant tank and it is completely normal. No residue or sludge anywhere. I also drained a bit of the oil and there was no sign of water in there or coolant. Everything appeared to be normal. The smoke does not smell like oil, but when I put my hand in front of the tailpipe, it leaves kind of a greasy residue on my hand. It doesn't appear to have any color and when I wipe it away, it is kind of sticky, unlike oil. Also, it doesn't smell like oil, but it does smell bad. It's not really like burning and it's not really like gas, either. There is some liquid in the tailpipe that pretty much doesn't smell like anything and it's not flammable. So, I don't think it's coolant, oil, or gas. (Which are all good signs, I suppose, but they give me nothing to go on)

Any ideas? I am thinking my next step is the ECM. And if that's the case, anyone got any ideas on how to replace/reprogram it. Do i need to buy one that comes with the car key?

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

What if somebody crawled into your tailpipe and left something behind that is creating all that smoke? Just a possibility.

download

Are you sure you did not lose the engine oil?
What you said about the smoke were exactly my 98 did before.

LEXTEK1 hit the nail on the head.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...uming-oil.html

moonphase

This comment reminds me of an issue from years ago, where a friend of mine was trouble shooting an older 70's model car that ran horrible. He ended up checking the exhaust pipe temperature at several different locations and found a spot that stayed cold after the car was warming up. He took a saw and chopped the exhaust pipe there, and voila, the pipe was completely packed with dog food kibbles that a rodent had packed in there. The exhaust pipe was replaced and the car ran fine after that. I'm not saying this is the issue with The Lexus in question, just humorous. LOL

DGIKULJOT

Scotty Kilmer on youtune did a video where a old Lexus LS was smoking like mad from the back. In his case the ecu had to be replaced. Basically without the ECU properly controlling everything raw fuel was just being dumped in the cylinders.

sitotis

I figured it out!!! It was that little bastard PCV valve. It was gunked up and staying open. I noticed that it did not seat well and felt really loose when I put it in. I drove it around the block to let it burn off all that crap and the smoke resolved itself. The rattling I figured out was my strut engine mount. It had cracked. Yay! She's running beautifully now!

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for coming back to update this.