I bought a 2000 Sienna three years ago at 20,000 miles. It now has
50,000 miles, and literally two days before putting the van on a ship to move from Hawaii to Texas, it starts spewing white smoke on start-up. I searched the internet and found out about the online petition to make Toyota recall these vehicles because of sludge (gellation?) problems. I don't know anything about cars, and I know that a little learning is a dangerous thing, which is why I've always followed the instructions to change the oil, etc., to the letter.My questions are:
1) What exactly is causing the smoke? In other words, what is sludge, where does it come from, what does it have to do with oil, and why does it only happen on start up and during acceleration (e.g., when overtaking on the freeway, etc.)?2) No engine lights go on, so does this mean there isn't anything wrong with the car? (I know, obviously there's something wrong, but if so, why no engine lights?)
3) What should I watch out for? If the engine is burning up oil, then I assume I should keep a close eye on the oil level, but is there anything else?4) Is it really true that it's okay to drive the car like this? (Aside from all the dirty stares I get from other drives caught in the goddamn contrail I leave behind...) Will it really not affect the engine, as long as I keep the oil levels high enough?
5) If/when I do have to fix this, does it really have to cost $5,000+? Is there any other way to take care of this?Thanks, Marc