white smoke @ start up 99 Camry 4cyl

[Jason.MZW20]

Toyota addressed the smoke on startup issue by updating the valve stem seals of the 5SFE and your motor has the updated seals. Sometimes the oil burning can look fairly white but usually has a blue tint if there's quite a bit of oil pooled in the combustion chamber. We in the MR2 world refer to it as smoke screen. It's usually a mix of oil burning and condensation (which can give it a whitish smokey appearance). That usually only occurs when the vehicle has been sitting for a long period of time and the oil seeps past the stem seals. The seals typically harden after 100k miles. It was true for my 1991 MR2, and it's true for my mom's 2000 5SFE Camry. Once the Camry hit 100k miles, it smoked on startup, but only very slightly. If there's a bit of condensation, it's blue and white smoke since the oil and water mixed.

A head gasket leak usually makes the exhaust smell sweet, and will cause steam to exit the exhaust more than just on startup. If it's really bad, it'll, of course, mix with the oil and lend a chocolate milk appearance, which the OP did not mention.

2001+ Camrys have MLS head gaskets, and I recommend anyone doing a head gasket change to use the updated MLS gasket. Just remember to have your head and block properly surfaced to remove the gunk from the old paper gasket.

[joede]

My 99 4cyl camry has started to use some oil. Do you think it could be the valve stem seals? How does one check that out? Compresion check? Are the valve stem seals hard to change out? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

[bill dowd]

Has there been any issues with the 2002 and newer 2.4 engines slugging up, I use ams oil synthetic in my car after a 7000 mile break in period. I drove a 86 cressida 426,000 miles using synthetic in the trans rearend motor and power steering with out replacing anything on the car. My 2005 camary is also using ams oil in everything motor,trans, power steering will this cause a problem on the new cars. I also put on a transmission cooler to help the trans last longer as I have all my toyota's. The only thing I am watching is the transmission due to it's special oil type 4 but ams oil say it transmission fluid is supposed to meet this spec ANY ADVICE ON THIS SUBJECT. I also have a 91 lexus with well over 200,000 miles and I also use synthetic oil through out the car so far no problems. I am planning to get a 2008 460 lexus and there they use a special world standard transmission fluid and so far there is no synthetic oils to match it OR IS THERE.