Burning Oil??? Need Help/Answers!!! Options

[Michelle95celica]

Hey guys, I just noticed that when I watch my car being started by a friend from the back, a little puff of bluish grey smoke comes out (it only happens on the first time, not after it heats up) and if you rev it a little bit comes out, then if you rev it again, the smoke is gone...am I burning a little bit of oil? I have a 2.2/auto in my '95 Celica GT, how would I go about fixing this? It only has 153,000 miles which I honestly don't think is too much, it should be running fine. Would an oil change help at all, with a can of "Restore" for 4cyl applications? It isn't doing it very much at all, just when you start it for the first time after it sits a couple days. It makes me think that it is oil being burned off or something, so should I get a new set of rings, get the cylinders honed and maybe some new pistons? How much should it cost to fix and is this a common problem? Please help!
Thanks!!
Michelle

This post has been edited by Michelle95celica: Apr 21, 2006 - 9:13 PM

[tomazws]

hehe your car farted...

[Michelle95celica]

.......and your point is?

This post has been edited by Michelle95celica: Apr 21, 2006 - 9:44 PM

[Alchemist_57]

haha, mine did the same thing when i first got it, but it only had 94k miles! now it has about 101k, but i never check to see if that one puff of smoke comes out. it def. means there's a bit of oil burning. after a while i noticed that the oil level was dropping little by little so i had to keep adding oil. got fed up with it and put half a quart of Lucas additive in the engine. oil level hasn't gone down since.

got a question, does that Restore stuff actually work? just sounds like alot of other additives and stuff that promise to do one thing or the other. but i know Lucas is good stuff so i'll stick to that for now.

[Bitter]

probably leaky valve seals.

[celicamike]

My '95 ST did the same thing when I first got it. My dad said that valves on older engines can lose some of their seal causing some oil to drip into the cylinders after you shut the car off, which burns upon starting the car. I started adding restore to the oil with every oil change and I haven't noticed any problems since.

[Purplehaze]

VERY COMMON PROBLEM.... my 1994 celica st with the 1.8L has the same problem. The valve guide seals go very easily and have to be changed. My bro and i are about to do it in my car. They arent hard to change just time consuming and i wouldn't recommend a first time wrench to do it yourself.

[presure2]

yes, its valve seals.
very common in 6th gens.
both 7a and 5s.
as long as its not thick blue clouds, your best bet is just to monitor oil level, and continue to drive and enjoy the car.
it wont really hurt the car at all, but will hurt your wallet for about 5-800$ to have fixed.
what happens is the soft rubber seal that stops the oil from leaking past the valves starts to harden a bit over time, and once you shut the car down for the night..or a few hours..depending on how bad they are.then, the left over oil in the head slowly leaks down past the valves, and gets burt the next time you start your car.
like purple said, its not that they are hard to replace, its all the stuff that you have to do before you can get and the spcific tools you need to do it that make it a difficult and time consuming job.

[Bitter]

at idle pull a vacuum line and suck some auto trans fluid into the motor, rev up the engine and suck more in until it starts to bog a little then kill the engine while its sucking fluid. let it sit over night or longer, when you start it it'll burn oil (trans fluid burns whiter), thats normal. let that clear out at idle for a couple minutes then go take it for a hard romp, winding the engine up and down through 1st gear alot and working the engine hard. change your oil and filter, then keep an eye on the oil burning problem.

also at the next oil change at 1/2 qt of automatic trans fluid to the oil 50-100 miles before you change it.

trans fluid has alot of red dye, detergents, and seal conditioners. the detergents gently clean the engine and the seal conditioners are GREAT for leaky valve seals. think of all of the rubber seals in an auto trans that last for hundreds of thousands of miles. they last that long because trans fluid has additives that keep them pliable and in good shape. motor oil has some of that, but not to the extent that trans fluid does.

i know this must sound weird, but it works. your oil burning may not cease immediately but it'll go away (if its not really severe). i had a mild problem, couple puffs on startup, and doing the above has fixed it. i burn NO oil at any time now, even when the car sits undriven for several days.