Coolant detected in exhaust

So the part (basically the majority of the exhaust system, as it comes as one big unit) didn't arrive today, despite them ordering it on Wednesday and Toyota saying it has a 1 day lead time. When they contacted wherever they get the parts from, they said it'll be the end of April before the part arrives. So..... yeah..... that happened!

I asked them to do the "bypass surgery" in the intirim, and they did it on the understanding that if it causes any damage they're not liable for it.

Complained to Toyota directly, just in case that lets me get this fixed for free. I pointed out the car needed 4 new brake discs at 30,000 miles, a new air con radiator at 35,000, and now a new exhaust system at 40,000 that is going to take at least 8 weeks for them to fix in total, and this isn't what I expect from a Toyota, or any car for that matter. They're escalating it to head office.

 

Still spewing out lots of white smoke when accelerating hard or going up hill, but it's started to take on a sort of burnt toast smell which I'm sure wasn't there before. Is that normal? I wonder how long it will take for the exhaust to clear.

Anyone got any experience/advice with this?

 

Maybe 20 miles since the bypass (just picked it up this morning).

I can see the two disconnected hoses sticking up at the back of the engine compartment, under the plastic cover, but I can't see the actual bypass.

 

Smell and smoke seem to be reducing. So fingers crossed. Coolant hasn't dropped since I got the car back.

I can also smell stuff in the cabin sometimes, even at speed. I wonder if some exhaust gasses are blowing up the empty coolant pipes to where the cabin air is taken in. Can't see anything coming out of the pipes though.

In other news. This situation has been escalated to Toyota's Head Office. I'll keep you all updated.

 

Yeah I complained to Toyota here in the UK and eventually got them to pay for the part. I still have to pay for the various extra bits, like seals and stuff, and the fitting, but that's still a LOT better than what they were asking for originally.

Still haven't got it fixed though - the part is due in soon (this coming week). Been running on the bypass fine though, but it did take some 300 miles of travelling for the exhaust to stop smoking like a military grade Vape, every time the cat got hot and I accelerated uphill. I'm going to miss it in some ways; it was a great way to get rid of tailgaters.

 

My dealer charged me £35 here in the UK to do the bypass.

One thing that I learned was that there are two locations where you can do the bypass.

You can do it at the back of the engine bay, which doesn't require any extra parts and is cheaper. However, it will take longer for your exhaust to stop excessively smoking as the pipes running down to the exhaust will be full of coolant and take some time to drain into the exhaust. You'll know when the hoses have drained as you will then occasionally smell exhaust entering the cabin when travelling slowly or when the ICE is on when stationary as once the pipes are empty, exhaust will flow up the pipes and exit right next to where the cabin air intake is.

You can also bypass the heat exchanger down where the hoses connect to the exhaust. For this, you will need a suitable length of metal pipe of the right diameter to connect to the ends of the two coolant hoses, and the hoses will need to be secured so they don't flap around and contact the hot exhaust, which will melt them and produce a burning smell. You will also lose some coolant using this method. If done properly, I'd go for this lower bypass.

 

Yep - same fix cost here too. What the complaints dept did was contact the dealership. The dealership said they weren't prepared to do it for free, even as a good will gesture. The complaints dept got back to me a fews later and informed me of what the dealership said. They said the only option now is to escalate it to head office, which I asked them to do. I didn't hear anything back after that from them. A couple of weeks later (last week) the dealership contacted me to give me an update on the part coming in (still not there, been some 7 weeks now?) and mentioned that Toyota had agreed to pay for the part (not anything else like labour, fixings, seals, etc).

Happy with the bypass still, but my car has a new very rattly exhaust resonance while accelerating at the point just below the red section on the gauge when going 20-40ish. I imagine the new exhaust will fix that too.

 

That's exactly what it sounds like... fins rattling against the inside of the exhaust.

By the time the dealership finally get the part in, I suspect my skeleton will have exited out of the exhaust too.