Regarding my 2003 SE with 35K miles ..........

Just noticed a short blast of blue smoke (usually indicative of oil burning) during a "cold" start.

Any quick suggestions to look at? (Need some ideas before I go to my wonderful local dealer who will say there is nothing wrong....)

Thanks!

 

A cold start can blow a puff of smoke. Your fuel injection dumps a good amount of fuel to start your engine cold. A puff of smoke would be considered normal.

Does your engine consume more then a quart of oil between changes? If not, the dealer and just about anybody else is going to tell you it's normal.

 

Dear NJMAX,

Tx for the quick feedback! Hope ur diagnosis is correct - and it does make sense to me .........

 

could be valve seals, guides. my 96 used to do that

 

i wouldnt worry about it

 

I was letting my 02' 6-speed warm up in the garage a few days ago.. and I noticed the same thing. I figured it might be normal as said above.

 

I have pretty high miles for a 01 Max, and my car don't smoke a bit or burn any oil. If this was my car I would do a cylinder leak down test to see if there is anything wrong with the engine. I beat the **** out of mine, and I used to spray NOS back in the day, no problems at all. How blue was the smoke ? Was it really light blue/white, or was it kinda darkish blue ?

 

It was light bluish gray.. It was only present in the first minute of running. It went away soon after. Also figure the outside temp was around 20 degrees this particular day.

 

Sounds like worn valve seals. As the engine sits, oil drips into the cylinder over time. The longer the car sits, the more oil will drip into the cylinders, so you will see more smoke. Also, if you do heavy engine braking, next time you get on the gas you may notice a puff of blue/gray smoke too.

 

I agree with this...is exactly what blue smoke means when a cold start....burning oil. And I dont know why would anyone tell you its normal because it is not. Extra fuel would burn black, not blue.