Oil smoke when I start the engine ........ Options

[carma4]

I have a '94 GT hatchback with almost 150K miles on it and all original factory everything and the oil is changed every 6K miles. It's my 3rd Celica.

With so many knowledgable Celica owners I'm hoping to find an answer to this question. Why does it blow out some oil smoke when I first start it up? My last Celica was an '89 ST hatchback and did the same thing as it got some miles on it.

Is this something that's unique to the Celica? Could it be caused by the way I drive (intense)? Are the inner workings of my engine just gettin' old? Should I be planning on replacing something that's probably about to die? Let me know if you have an ideas about what is causing this. Thanks.

[devilsden97]

the problem is you change your oil every 6k miles, when its is suggested (and common knowledge) to change your oil every 3k miles. When u let it go alot longer then 3k miles, the oil begins to break down, and not protect your engine as well. Thus u are putting more wear on the motor in a shorter amount of time.

[Bitter]

valve seals are starting to go bad on you.

[alltracman78]

the problem is you change your oil every 6k miles, when its is suggested (and common knowledge) to change your oil every 3k miles.

You know, it's funny.
Toyota recommends 5000 mile oil changes for the vast majority of thier cars.....
Kinda puts that "has to be changed at 3k" to rest, don't you think?

Now it won't hurt at all to change every 3k, but you don't have to.


Bitter hit it on the head.

[Bitter]

thanks. ive cleared my oil burning issue up with some auto trans fluid. i add about 1/2 of a quart about 100 miles before each oil change. additionally i sucked some atf through a vac port on the intake manifold and let it sit in the manifold and chambers over night. i noticed those 2 things combined with my switch to mobil synthetic or mobil synthetic blend has almost completely eliminated any oil burning, it may be 100% gone for now. after sitting for several days i get NO smoke on startup, the only time i see what could be oil smoke is after its been shutdown and then restarted when its warm, but i think thats just condensation getting blown out since its more gray/white and doesnt smell of oil at all.

[DeW_H0e_GT]

does the smoke go away after couple of secs?...if it doea, thas cuz teh o2 sensor needs time to heat up and when u first start up your car..it blows out smoke cuz of a "glitch"

[Bitter]

it wont run THAT rich on startup. the closed loop warmup maps programmed into the PCM are pretty rich but theyre not soo rich that he'll be blowing a cloud of smoke, anyways if it was fuel it would be black or black/gray smoke.

i bet he's seeing a grayish blue cloud that puffs out right when the engine starts and then a few seconds of blue oil smoke.

[southwest2118]

valve seals are starting to go bad on you.

seals are dark smoke i think

and leaking injectors are white

or the other way around /?

[Bitter]

seals (burning oil) are blue smoke, rich is black smoke, and pure unburnt fuel because an injector is stuck open at 100% duty cycle is white or gray, coolant can also be white but wont smell like gasoline like a stuck open injector.

This post has been edited by Bitter: Aug 13, 2006 - 5:22 PM

[6gsillyca]

I had same problem as bitter. Once in a while I would get a little puff of smoke when I started 'er up. Added about half a quart of aft, and ran the engine for about 200kms, then changed the oil. Only ran it about 4000kms before I did it again. Ran it another 200 kms. Changed it. Been good ever since.

[Bitter]

im glad someone else has has sucess with the ATF as well.

[rayneezy23]

mine just started doing that too like at first when i start the car it would blow blue ish smoke for like a sec then it would start to blow out water and looks like oil too out of the exhaust, is this bad? im concern

[Bitter]

some condensation is not abnormal, but if the water smells like coolant then thats a problem.

[DomGT]

Valve stem seals, you can replace them, or wait for a full motor rebuild in 100k-150k miles.

[Yota]

some condensation is not abnormal, but if the water smells like coolant then thats a problem.

Is this the first sign of a worn out head gasket? This was what was happening to me and just last week my head gasket went.

[Bitter]

yes, coolant smells from the exhaust pipe is a sign that you're burning coolant. usually means a leaky head gasket, but could also indicate something nasty like a cracked block (not likely for a NA 7afe).

[Digndoug]

Plane and simple, a puff of smoke on start up is your vavle seals. I have the same thing on my car, Im sitting on 154k... Its normal. Just make sure you check your oil every few weeks, and I would recomend changing every 3k unless you drive more than 25k miles a year.

[confusatron]

Valve seals. Pull your spark plugs out, and you will probably find lots of oil on one or more of them. My 96 only has 132k on it and it has the same problem.

[Bitter]

oil around the spark plugs or seeping onto the head would be the valve cover gasket, valve seals prevent oil from entering the combustion chamber.

[carma4]

Wow! Thanks to everyone for the help! Now that I know better and since I really love my car, the oil will be changed way before 6K miles. I'm thinking 3K to 4K would be ok. The smoke that I see when it first starts up is a small cloud of bluish smoke that lingers in the air around my car for about a minute. I'll check the plugs to see if there's oil leakage. The car has about 150K miles on it, so it stands to reason that it's going to need some type of major work in the near future. I'm curious about the AFT thing. I don't know as much as the rest of you so I don't know what it is but it sounds like it might be worth trying. Can someone please explain this to me? What is AFT and what should I do with it??