Blue Exhaust on starting

Hello,

I have a '97 Trans Sport 3400 with 154,000 kilometers (around 93,000 miles). When it is started after sitting for a couple of hours the exhaust is blue as if it is burning oil. Within seconds after starting the blue smoke is gone and does not come back.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Steve

The engine is actually burning oil. The oil is leaking by the valve seals on the engine causing oil to enter the combution center on start-up. If it is a problem some of the high mileage oils can condition the seals and potentially stop this. The only way to eliminate it entirely would be to pull the head and install new seals.

A fairly good mechanic can take the valve covers off and add air pressure to the cylinder and with a valve spring compressor can remove the valve springs and slide a new seal on the valve stem ,,doing two at a time then move to next cylinder. I imagine the back cylinders will be a pain in the butt,,although it can be done .

A fairly good mechanic can take the valve covers off and add air pressure to the cylinder and with a valve spring compressor can remove the valve springs and slide a new seal on the valve stem ,,doing two at a time then move to next cylinder. I imagine the back cylinders will be a pain in the butt,,although it can be done .When GTP Dad posted, I was thinking much the same lines. I've never done it this way, but it is possible. If you don't have a compressor, I've also heard you can thread some nylon rope into the cylinder and then slighly compress it. The rope then holds the valves up.

The rear would definitely be tricky to do, especially if you didn't take off the intake manifold. I'm honestly not even sure you could get enough access back there to do it correctly without the intake off. And once you get the intake off, you actually aren't too far away from just taking off the entire head.

A high milage oil or an oil addative to cause the seals to swell slightly probably would be the easiest option and may "fix" the problem if it isn't too bad yet.