larkar

Thanks VVT-i and to all who responded. At least the oil looks clean so it was maintentained. However since this car came from Sewell Lexus in Dallas you'd think they'd know not to overfill. Sewell has the largest lexus service dept. in the nation, it's a pretty impressive place. I'm getting an oil change today and hopefully that will help.
Karen

VVT-i

Let's up know the outcome and Good luck.

larkar

Had the oil changed & now I have a 4" scratch on my bumper and a smoking car. I started it up a few minutes ago and when I walked out of the house about 10 min. later there was smoke rising up over the car. Guess I'll have to make some time to take it in.

HarrierAWD

I suspect coolant leaking into the crankcase. Check motor oil level again to see if it has risen over the F line. Yes, you should take to your local Toyota dealer and get it fixed. They should be able to handle Lexus warranty claim.

Check coolant level as well. Note that the coolant level rises as the engine warms up. So check it in the cold morning before starting the car.

Good luck. Sorry to hear about the scratch.

ibrokeit

Smoking dripping exhaust ....

That's sounds about normal with any car. Haven't you ever placed a chilled Coke can on the table and after time warming up, the once dry can is now coated with a thin later or water? Condensation builds up on engine components and in this case, cylinder walls and when the engine heats up, it produces condensation. That's the water coming out of the engine. Smoking is the water vapor. Plus after the car is sufficiently warmed up, you shouldn't see anything anymore.

>>Had the oil changed & now I have a 4" scratch on my bumper and a smoking car.
Smoke now coming out of the engine bay? If so that's something completely different.

HarrierAWD

Welcome to ClubLexus.

While some white vapor is normal at startup, white smoke lasting 10 minutes is way beyond normal. Read some of the posts here regarding possible causes.

larkar

I had a surprise when I checked the coolant level. It appeared the coolant was overfilled too & there was no change in the level. But then I had a flashlight and my head touching the engine as I was trying to look at something else. My eye caught a darker color at the very bottom of the coolant bottle. There was actually just a smidgeon of coolant left.

The bottle is stained so it appears full! If this staining is normal in Lexus' this is misleading and must be problematic for people!

Now that I have coolant in my car I will try checking it again later.

HarrierAWD

Ouch.

The Toyota coolant usually does not have any residue or stain, especially for a near new vehicle. It should be red in color - almost like cherry flavor Cool-Aid. Open the cap on the coolant reservior. Look inside with a flashlight to see if you can see oil floating on the coolant surface. If you are adding coolant, use only 50/50 mix Toyota red coolant. Not the green stuff nor the orange Dexcool stuff.

My best guess is that engine gasket has leaked so that the coolant and oil are mixing up with each other. Some engine damage may have occured since coolant cannot lubricate the engine parts. Your local Toyota dealer should be able to fix this for you. The RX330 uses the same engine as the new Toyota Sienna and Highlander.

larkar

The Sewell Dealer in Dallas was the only owner prior to me, they put the 22K miles on this vehicle! It was one of their loaner cars. One would assume Sewell would have maintained it properly. It raises questions in my mind.

The car was at the dealers every day... with all the dealer products & resources at hand... why would they even have the strange stuff that stained the bottle? Or perhaps it was on hand as they are not using toyota/lexus products? It raises other questions for me as well... but I'll not comment until after the local dealer checks it out next week.

I did not see oil in the coolant as best I could tell. The oil level has remained the same but the coolant level has increased.

ArmyofOne

my exhaust always steams below 45 degrees or so , if im idling or driving slowly. if i put my foot halfway down it goes away though.

i see alot of other cars that do the same thing, so i attrubite it to being normal, many of the cars i see doing it are brand new or close to it. so i dont worry about it.

EDIT: just read the second page (didnt see it) i agree, it sounds liek you may have the beginings of a blown headgasket. If the local dealer deteremines this or any other cause, CALL SEWELL LEXUS. they should take care of you no questions asked, they are pretty good about this.

and also, as an 04 with 22k, you should still be under Manufacturers Warranty. just FYI so you dont get kicked around.

Sewell Lexus actually has the best Customer Service in the industry from what i have heard from several people. Its the other bug one, Park Place that you have to watch out for.