White smoke from exhaust ?

I'm very confused... My car went in for a service about a week half ago... I've done over 400 miles since then, (York etc) i've been noticing that i'm getting a white smoke coming out of my exhaust when i'm stoppping/stopped... I had someone follow me and they said that there is no smoke whatsoever when i floor it or back off, it only seems to be when i'm doing less than 10mph coming to a stop at lights, and then it only ever happens a few times... I don't know whats causing this and i don't know what to do about it ? Any ideas greatly apreciated....

p.s. I have had both cats removed from the car and my mate said that he saw the occasional flame coming from the exhaust. Would it be that the car is overfuelling ?

Craig. MKIV TT 6....as the mask once said....smoking.....

White smoke isn't usually smoke, its steam.

You may get this when the engine is cold, first thing in the morning, but if it does it when the engine is well warmed up then I'd get a compression check done as it may be the start of head gasket failure.!

Head Gasket ?? not good ! ok.... No smoke what so ever at startup or when cold.... No change in temperature either when smoking.. No lack of revs nothing.. The car seems to be running fine....I've checked the oil and theres no water in it...

Craig.

Ok.

No water in the oil is good, but, if the gasket is failing between a cylinder and one of the waterways then you will not get water in the oil, it will pass directly into the cylinder where the high temperatures will turn it to steam instantly and blow it out the exhaust.

A compression test will varify this for you. Have you checked your water level recently.? Top up the rad (at cold!!!) and take it for a longish run. Let it all cool down over night and check the water level again in the morning. Do this for a few days and see if your loosing any water.

I'm not sure of the layout of the water and oil gallerys on the Supra as I've not seen what the gasket looks like.

Hope this has been of some help to you.

Well, i drove to york and back from the m25 yesterday with the problem and i haven't lost any water by the looks of things. I'll get someone to do a compression check on the car for me and this will tell me if there's a problem or not..... Getting abit worried now :-( . . ....

The good news i suppose (If any) is that i took out a warrenty on the car on August the 1st.... :-)

I'll let you know all the results...

Craig.

Right, Took it to the garage yesterday, and they checked all the fluids etc, and couldn't find a problem.. We couldn't see any smoke either... So i thought it had fixed itself.... Drove home and my freind noticed it was smoking (Quite allot) when i changed gear when flooring it....

So i'm still baffled....Goes for a copmpression check t the weekend... But i'm tempted to book it in at TDI for a good look over to see if they can find a problem with it... Other than that, New turbos ! :-(

Craig. Smoking MKIV TT 6.

It sounds similar to a problem I had a few years ago with my Lancia. It chucked out white smoke when I lifted off and when slowing down. The problem got progressively worse, and the smoke became more frequent...

I took it to a Lancia maniac and he said it was the turbo leaking oil and burning off the excess. Sure enough on the way to have the turbo replaced, boom... and a huge smoke screen generated...

Right, if its only smoking on gearchange and throttle lift off its more than likely the oil seals in one of the turbo's.

Are you sure the smoke is white and not a light blue?

I had someone follow me to york and it only seemed to happen every now and then when i had stopped or slowed right down... No smoke at all when i revved it at still...

The car behind said it was white smoke... didn't seem blue.. and i haven't lost any oil or water (Thats noticeable anyway !)

I'm sad.... My cars's ill.....

Craig.

If I was throwing out white smoke I wouldn't drive to York & back to see if it was a head gasket problem, I'd get it in the workshop before it went bang. Ever seen a Formula One car from the turbo era go bang? White smoke rings a bell in my distant memory.

What ever it is, if your Supra is more than just transport you need to get to the bottom of this. Toyota didn't build them with white smoke so there is a problem - you just haven't found it yet (hope you do before it goes bang).

White exhaust is listed as a sign of fault turbocharger seal in the Toyota WS manual for the MKIV.

If you undo one of you clips on the pipe heading across the stock air box into the wing, you may find the inside is wet with oil.

Hybrids my be in order soon.

Cats tend to mask (for a while) tired turbo seals. The back pressure the cats impart add just that little bit more seal tension. When you remove the cats a tired turb(s) then show the first signs of oil burning. It usually takes a long time before the situation becomes chronic, but PLEASE folks, bear in mind my own Skyline R33 GTR engine problems, caused by poorly filtered air eroding the compressor blades, causing excess bore and ring wear, and valve guide wear. Even doing it myself, costing all parts at trade, this little lot cost me about 3500 quid.

Stock air filter is best!