LJ71 Prado burning oil

[ReignMKR]

Seeking some help guys. I've done a lot of research before posting. but here's what I've got going on...

I have a 91' LJ71 with the 2.4 LT-E engine. about a month ago I changed the oil from whatever the dealer used to a royal purple 10w-30. And after about a week of normal driving I noticed a white smoke coming from the exhaust. its now to the point that it is embarrassing to drive. I thought it was coolant, but its definitely not. the smell is sharp like burning oil, not sweet like coolant. also my coolant hasn't dropped or changed (No oil in coolant). I pulled of the intake pipe between the turbo and the throttle body....no oil. so my question is....

how do I check to find out where exactly I'm leaking and burning oil, do I need a leak down test? are there seals that typically go bad in these engines I should look at first?

Thanks for the help guys, cheers

 

[Beau]

Firstly, are you losing any noticeable amount of oil on the dipstick?

I thought oil burning would give a little blueish smoke, not white? If no oil in that throttle body then your crankcase will be good, as well as your turbo, pointing to oil being burned through the rings.

Also, might be worth using a slightly thicker oil 10w-40 to see if this changes the smoke colour/amount.

 

[Ben]

It could be burning brake fluid!

I had a master cylinder fail years ago and brake fluid was finding its way through the brake booster, down the vacuum hose and into the engine and resulted in lots of white smoke and an odd smell!

Typically the thing that fails with the 2lt is the head cracks, but you woulld know if it was as you would be loosing either coolant or engine oil, it would be over heating and you would have mayonnaise inside the oil cap.

 

[clivehorridge]

It's worth checking out Ben's comment, I know it won't be the same problem, but I had brake fluid leak from the master into the vacuum diaphragm, then eventually into the vacuum pipe to the inlet manifold (petrol engine hence my initial comment).

But the smoke was pure white, smelly and prolific to the state of embarrassment. The engine ran fine.

 

[ReignMKR]

hey guys thanks for the responses! I pulled my turbo after noticing some residual oil on the exhaust side head shields. turns out there is A LOT of oil in the turbo, which is odd that it didn't come out the cold side(like its completely clean). when I say I lot I mean there is oil all the way from my turbo down my dump pipe and into at least half of the exhaust. no wonder it was smoking lol

Im trying to source a CT20, I would like to get one new and rebuild my stock turbo in the mean time.

Here are some pictures so you can see what im talking about, lets all have a good laugh! cheers

 

[Disregard]

Hi I know your post is a couple of years old but I have similar issues with the 91 LJ71 2LTE I just bought. 66k miles with new head and timing belt. Hard to start with lots of white smoke for 5 mins then clear. Smoke smells more of gas. Cleaned injectors, replaced fuel filter. No improvement. Seems like a fuel delivery issue but also suspect seal on turbo is no good. How did you resolve? Any help appreciated
Thanks