Hey all, just a query on engine smoke,

Engine is a 4cyl Efi, done about 165,000km, only had the car for the last 10-15k or so
Basically just worried about smokey engine, engine is fine on start up, and tends to be fine in cooler temps, however when i let it warm up, it has a visible amount of very light blue smoke coming out the exhaust, and also when its warm and its been idling then gets revved in blows a lot of bluey-white smoke, also when pulling away from traffic lights etc, does the same, but usually clears up after driving at constant revs(2k+) for a while
I'm guessing more smoke at higher temps is just because oil is thinner when warmer so its just getting through the trouble area and into ignition chamber easier, and less smoke at higher/constant revs is just going to mean the oil is probably still seeping through, but its just getting burnt up?

Been reading a bit on the forum, saw a couple of posts saying its very unlikely to be rings going as they're pretty hardy on these engine? I'd also be kinda surprise at worn rings at 160k?
There were also a couple of suggestions about valve guides/stem seals and various solutions to fix them but it looks like either way its going to be a mechanics job?
Whats the easiest way to test both these problems? i'm going to guess some combination of idle, rev, check smoke/type of smoke, etc?

Thanks in advance all

You usually can tell by the colour of the smoke as to what your issue is. The fact you said bluey-white smoke to me indicates Stem Seals needs to be done. Also, the ringlands on the 2.6 pistons are not that great, but they do hold up pretty well. I had a 1st gen with over 200,000 and still not 1 bit of any smoke. I would suggest ringing around and getting a few quotes before jumping straight into the 1st mechanic to do it, its always a good idea.

Your symptoms are classic stem seals, any mechanic worth half his or her worth will be able to do these with the head on so cost should not be that great

I had a TP Elite wagon that was like this, I changed the oil to a good brand of oil like Nulon for worn high k motors, blew a lot less smoke, sure the motor was worn but with this oil I got 2 more years out of the car without expansive repaires

Yeah MM is right then change your oil to a heavier weight for older engines worked wonders for one of my cars

Cheers thanks for the advice all, um, think its running pretty thick oil from memory, they did an oil change(not sure on viscosity) at the last checkup, and i've been topping it up with 20w-50, should i try a full change to 20-50, or try something thicker(grease? :nuts:)? I live in Tassie so it doesn't get too warm... Maybe try higher quality oil? i also noticed the other day that you can get oil additives that according to the bottle "thicken oil reducing amount that leaks into combustion chamber" bla bla, usually not a fan of additives like those, anyone know if they work?

Try adding a bottle of Stop Smoke or Moreys Oil Additive, its about $23 a bottle quiet good stuff

You can get single grade heavy stuff, like 60, but I haven't tried that. Really, anything you do is not going to solve the problem until you replace the valve stem seals - but you can minimise the problem by using light throttle and gentle acceleration. Keep an eye on your oil level though - some ppl who never check between oil changes are quite surprised when that oil light starts to flicker when they go around corners! lol Consumption up to 1 L per 1,000 Km should keep you sweet with the police - won't be noticeable when you drive normally.

My 2.6 has done 220,000 Km and doesn't need any topping up between 5,000 Km oil changes, so why yours should be blowing blue smoke is beyond me. Maybe the car was idle for years and the seals went hard?

You can get single grade heavy stuff, like 60, but I haven't tried that. Really, anything you do is not going to solve the problem until you replace the valve stem seals

Yeah, I'm mainly just looking to minimize it until i can get the seals don't which would probably be January sometime, investing in my bike license and a couple of other bits so this is all a bit've a temporary solution for the moment, might try a change, but some decent heavy-ish oil, and some stop smoke/something similar in it, see how that works... hope it does something because i'm driving to tassie falls festival so i don't feel like sitting in a queue for ages covering the whole festival ground in oily exhaust smoke :woot:


My 2.6 has done 220,000 Km and doesn't need any topping up between 5,000 Km oil changes, so why yours should be blowing blue smoke is beyond me. Maybe the car was idle for years and the seals went hard?

Yeah, not to sure on the history of the car, only had it for about four years or so and in that time nothing out of the ordinary has gone wrong with it or anything similar, might well just be that it sat for a while/was run with low oil for a while causing the seals to wear a bit, something along those lines

Its a typical problem. Not sure what others can recommend but I tried the Nulon "stop smoke" and it does sweet FA. To me, there is no pour in solution. You could try the penrite 40w-70 which is...well very thick.....but all in all, oils gonna seep past the valves weather ya like it or not. I'd just put up with it for now until you can get it fixed