Smokin In The Morning

[bainzey]

I've had my 04 RX 330, for about 2 yeards now, and its been running great. No complaints really. But I've noticed something. If I start up in the morning and don't warm up at all, and just pop it into reverse and I'm gone (i know i know, we should always warm up...) I've noticed some smoke. This is the not kind of smoke that is caused by exhaust in cold weather, but looks like oil burning smoke, that kind of lingers in the air. Which I've seen too much back in my uni dayz, when I was rolling in an 86 Honda CRX, that needed as much oil as gasolin to run optimlly.

If I warm up, for even a couple minutes I don't really see, or maybe just don't notice it. But my questioon to you is. Should I be concerned.

Other than that it runs great is serviced regualrly, and I've been checking the oil level regulry and it hasn't changed.

[mccldwll]

I've had my 04 RX 330, for about 2 yeards now, and its been running great. No complaints really. But I've noticed something. If I start up in the morning and don't warm up at all, and just pop it into reverse and I'm gone (i know i know, we should always warm up...) I've noticed some smoke. This is the not kind of smoke that is caused by exhaust in cold weather, but looks like oil burning smoke, that kind of lingers in the air. Which I've seen too much back in my uni dayz, when I was rolling in an 86 Honda CRX, that needed as much oil as gasolin to run optimlly.

If I warm up, for even a couple minutes I don't really see, or maybe just don't notice it. But my questioon to you is. Should I be concerned.

Other than that it runs great is serviced regualrly, and I've been checking the oil level regulry and it hasn't changed.

Since not answered yet, I'll jump in with a wild guess, and just a guess--running very rich while still on cold start, and possibly still burning recycled hydros which hadn't before burned when shut down. Now, will someone who actually knows what he's/she's talking about please answer the question.

[smooth1]

Pull the breather tube from the intake duct and see if you have some oil blow by going on. It sounds like you may just need to clean the breather tube and intake out.

[bainzey]

Pull the breather tube from the intake duct and see if you have some oil blow by going on. It sounds like you may just need to clean the breather tube and intake out.

thnx for the reply I'll give that a whirl..

below is another suggestion I had...

brainzey,

Years ago my wife had a Cressida that had the same symptoms. Blue smoke on startup after the car had sat for a while. Otherwise you never saw the symptom at all. Over time it became worse. Toyota techs sourced the problem to worn/tired valve stem seals. Oil leaked down the valve stems into the combustion chambers and showed up after the car had sat overnight. During normal driving the leaks were so minute that no visible oil smoke could be seen. They removed the spark plugs, valve covers, etc., pumped each cylinder up with air(To keep the valves in the head) and then replaced the valve seals. Parts weren't expensive, but there was a fair amount of labour involved. Still, in our case, it was a fairly cheap fix that granted us several more years of trouble free motoring. Good Luck!

Hmmm,

Thanks for the reply. That does sound like a feasible scenario... I'm hoping the labour won't be too bad. I've got a pretty good import mechanic I use when I can't do it my self. I think I'll mention this to him, get his thoughts, and an estimate... Hopefully its not my first born.

For the time being I think that its ok, as it is barley noticeable. What causes this? can it be caused by driving to hard ;) ?

[smooth1]

Yeah, but I try to start with the easy stuff first. If after you pulled the breather tube and cleaned the intake you still had this issue, then that's where I would look next. Cleaning and checking the breather tube and intake costs about 5 bucks and 30 minutes of your time. Valve seals takes a bit more. ;)

[bainzey]

pull the breather tube and clean the intake

how exactly could I clean the breather tube, if i felt so inclined?