'02 T4R with 166k, stock.

Occasionally I get a few seconds of grey smoke on startup. Not every time, never on the first startup of the day. It's odd.

Usually, it happens when I startup at lunch after it has sit for about 4 hours from the first startup of the day for driving to work ~25 miles. Then it's pretty random. I can't pin down a sequence of events that causes it beyond the drive to work in the morning and going to lunch.

Any ideas? It's not blue smoke (oil) and it's not white smoke (antifreeze/leaking head gasket), and it's not black smoke (fuel), just kinda grey and doesn't smell too much like gasoline.

The truck runs pretty good otherwise and idles decently smooth. I have just put new plugs in. The old plugs looked good coming out but were single ground NGKs. I went back with Toyota plugs - no change.

Someone said it may be a leaking injector?

One odd thing that my '01 Tacoma didn't do is there is a little "motor" running in the engine compartment I believe when I turn the key on that doesn't stop like my Taco did after a few seconds. It just keeps running as long as I leave the ignition in the "ON" posistion until I start it. I'm assuming this is the fuel pump? Shouldn't it stop after it has pressured up? I'm not sure how all that works...

Anyhow, let me know if you can think of something to check...

 

how recent did you change the plugs? any other work performed like gaskets or anything else?

 

How is the compression on the engine?

Burning any oil?

 

Changed the plugs about a week ago.

Don't know of any gaskets replaced recently, I just bought it about a month ago. I haven't done anything like that.

Is not burning oil that I can tell. I never see blue smoke and the oil level has been stable for about 2000 miles on this oil change now.

I know it had only dino oil ran in it before I got it. I changed to Mobil 1 full synthetic as soon as I got it - 2k miles ago.

I have not checked the compression. I will do that this weekend when we put on the Sonoran Steel lift at my buddy's shop.

 

http://www.salemboysauto.com/original-faqs/faq-38.htm

good info here!

blue= burn oil
black= running rich
white= burn coolant/water
grey= mixture of symptoms

 

Hmmm... That's good info from those guys.

I believe as he does about blue is blue and grey is grey to black. It is definitely not white.

I'm thinking I'm gonna take it in for a compression check and diagnostic on the injectors (how do you do that?). Like my buddy said, it may be a leaking injector.

Still looking for input though...

 

You can buy a compression checker cheaper than paying someone to do it.
Lifting it before you know if it runs correctly..ok..

 

Compression check isn't a problem, I have a friend that has been a Toyota certified mechanic for about 15 years & wheels the piss out of his Taco and another that is an auto machinist and has his own repair business -- and I get the "friend" deal in a big way if I need their help.

I got into this rig pretty right and I knew it would "need things" other than off-road upgrades, so I'm prepared for the worst if necessary...

Thanks for the info all... I'll post up what I find out.

 

these engines have a 7 layer laminated steel head gasket and some times it seeps small amounts of oil into the cylinders, but uasly not enough to cause blue smoke on startup occasionally,

my 2000 3.4 does the same thing I think it has more to do cold start injection than oil leaking, i would expect the smoke to be black for fuel, but blue is possible. because the condition is caused when the engined is warmed up fully than half cooled and restarted, I see this a lot and almost always the engine is not cooled to ambient temperature been doing this for 100,000 miles now and i consider it normal for a high mileage engine, i see no sign of excessive or abnormal oil consumption, the oil level drops about 1/2 quart every 5000-7000 miles (i like 7000 mile oil stays far cleaner then cheap oil at 3000 miles) and the coolent level stays constent.

my vote is ignore it..........

 

That sounds reasonable and something I think I will ask my Toyota mechanic buddy about because that is exactly what is happening and it has been confirmed by someone else -- thanks bro!!

Coolant level is good and clean, no oil loss so far on this oil change, ~2000 miles so far and the oil still looks clean.

I'll post back anything I find out guys.