I have a 1999 Toyota Avalon XL with 156k miles that I bought for my neighbor for $100. He didn't know what was wrong with that he just wanted to get rid of it and it runs. When I scanned the car it read misfire cylinder number 2. When drive it or let and idle for just about 5 minutes white smoke start coming from underneath the car near the front end of the catalytic converter. Any ideas what can be causing the smoke? My eleven-year-old son and I have three options that we want to try soon. Faulty fuel injector, worn out piston, knock sensor.
Smoke from the front part of the converter rather than the tailpipe is most likely caused by a fluid leak spraying on the exhaust. Could be oil, coolant, power steering fluid, or even grease thrown from a CV joint due to a torn boot. The misfire could be as simple as a bad coil or spark plug - move the coil to another cylinder to see if the problem travels with the coil, and check condition of the plugs. While it's hard to go far wrong for $100 if the car runs (you can more than that driving it into a junkyard) you don't want to be putting a ton of money into it.
