QuestionI live in Florida, so my car is never exposed to the cold. I've been the only owner of my 2005 Toyota Corolla. I recently replaced the transmission oil that was running extremely low for sometime. I was on my way to work and my cars RPM went up to about 5k, then I felt something drop and saw a huge cloud of white smoke in my review mirror. I was not 'getting' on the car when this happened. I generally drive my car very easily.
I noticed that my car wouldn't pass 2k RPM's and would shake and make a weird high pitched noise when I did try to accelerate. I immediately pulled into a parking lot and thought my transmission went out.
A passerby said it could be my vacuum modulator because the smoke is a heavy white smoke with a slight smell, the smoke only comes out when I press on the gas. But I have no idea what a vacuum modulator is? I've tried to Google search but have had no luck with seeing where this part might be on my Corolla... and how easy it would be to fix.
Answer I don't know a whole lot about the transmissions on late-model Toyotas, except that I do know that they are electronically controlled and therefore probably do not have a vacuum modulator. The modulator was used to control shifting in older cars, using a diaphragm to operate a valve in the transmission. The valve was operated by vacuum, which is proportional to the load on the engine. All of this is done by solenoids on the newer cars.
Did the white smoke come out of the tailpipe, or just out from under the car? If it was the tailpipe, it sounds like a headgasket failure. Only problem is that this would be very unusual in a car this new, unless it was allowed to overheat for some reason (like a coolant leak, for instance). If it was just coming our from under the car, then I would suspect a ruptured hose, although that shouldn't affect the performance of the engine. Honestly, given the newness of the car, I would get this thing to the dealer. If something broke that shouldn't, then there is probably a recall on it. More importantly, there may be a "secret" recall, where the manufacturer knows there is a problem but just hopes most people don't encounter it until they're out of warranty and assume it's on their dime. And when you take it in (really should be towed) make sure they give you a complete accounting of what's wrong and insist that it be explained so that you can understand it. If you can't, let me know what they say and I'll translate.
