My 2000 GS300 has 185,000 miles on it.

I have some white smoke coming from the exhaust on start up. The local shop is saying that I need new valve stem seals to get rid of the smoke. He said this is a common problem with Toyota cars. He said if I don’t get it done the oil leaking into the exhaust will eventually cause the O2 sensors to go out and then the catalytic converter. He’s charging me $1540 which includes a valve job, cylinder head pressure test, oil change, replace themostat, and drain and refill coolant.

He says they will also check the pistons and if there’s a lot of play in them then they will have to go further and do a “ring job” which would cost another $1100-1200.

My questions:

1) Are faulty valve stem seals causing the smoke at start up?

2) Will this truly cause the O2 sensors and cat converter to go bad? How long will this take?

3) How likely is it that the pistons have a lot of play in them?

4) If the pistons do have a lot of play, is a ring job necessary?

Thanks in advance.

 

What color is the smoke? Any smoke out of the exhaust indicates burning of something/contaminants in the engine. Eventually this contaminant will coat/impair the O2 sensors and could damage the cat. How long I don't know.

 

Smoke is white.

 

white smoke is not oil. blue smoke is oil. white smoke is moisture or coolant if you suspect a HG problem. what does it smell like?

valve seals will cause a smoking problem but it iwll be blue smoke.
over time, dpeending on how much oil is leaking, yes the o2 sensors could go bad and the cats could clog up. that would mean you'd be going through a significant amount of oil per week though. you'd notice.


the pistons won't have any play at 185k miles.
if they did, new rings wouldn't solve the problem. you'd need the block honed, and new oversize pistons installed. normally called a complete rebuild.