Blue Smoke After Idle

[Grumble]

My ST205 puffs out blue smoke after it's been idling for a while. I give it a good rev and it goes away. Anyone know what could be causing it?

[andrewl41]

I would guess valve stem oil seals could have gone.

[Grumble]

I would guess valve stem oil seals could have gone.

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Hmm, is that an expensive one to fix?

[andrewl41]

In honesty I've never paid to have it done, it's not an uncommon problem though, especially on higher millage cars.

I wouldn't think it would be all that expensive but it's not going to be cheap either, perhaps the 2-300 mark, just a figure I plucked from the air!

I can't think of any serious problems it can cause if left, other than burning a little oil so make sure you keep it checked.

[sotal]

yeah fairly expensive.

Do you use a lot of oil? The blue smoke should be Oil Burning so your oil level should be dropping - keep an eye on it or the bill will come sooner!

I asked Toyota about Valve Stem Seals on mine and they said they would charge £800 just to pen it up and look then more if they did need changing :(

Cheaper to keep adding oil

[andrewl41]

Wow, I would never have guessed they would charge that much! Buy a job lot of oil and check the level weekly, other than that - forget about it :)

Andrew

[GT4 BOOSTER]

cant see it being stem oil seals , usually the oil needs time to run down into the ports , usually during stand still. wont happen during running imho.i'd be tempted to say piston rings or turbo wear.pop over to the gt4oc and ask there , those guys are the mutts nuts on the st205.

[mikeb]

It does sound like stem seals. The vacuum under idling sucks oil past the seals, so after sitting in traffic you can get a puff of blue smoke. Rings or turbo seals would usually cause smoke all the time, or under heavy acceleration.

yeah fairly expensive.

Do you use a lot of oil? The blue smoke should be Oil Burning so your oil level should be dropping - keep an eye on it or the bill will come sooner!

I asked Toyota about Valve Stem Seals on mine and they said they would charge £800 just to pen it up and look then more if they did need changing :(

Cheaper to keep adding oil

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Stem seals usually get really bad before you you get heavy oil consumption. I've had cars that stink of burnt oil but consume practically none, and other cars that don't smell oily or smoke at all but drank oil (even more than yours :P )

They were talking rubbish when they quoted to 'open it up and have a look', you can't tell what state they're in without removing them, and by then it wouldn't cost any more to replace them (you wouldn't normally reuse the seals anyway).

£800 would be about right if they took the head off to do the job on your's (I'm guessing it's less labour than a GT). But it is possible to do the job without removing the head, greatly reducing the cost. Some places use compressed air to stop the valves falling down, and there are special tools for the job as well.

[andrewl41]

...The vacuum under idling sucks oil past the seals, so after sitting in traffic you can get a puff of blue smoke.

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I couldn't have put it better myself :)

Even though as Mike said they do need to get quite bad before you start loosing much oil, I would still keep an eye on the levels to be on the safe side. I guess we should all really be doing that anyway ;)

[GT4 BOOSTER]

hence the saying - "you learn something new everyday "

good on ya mike.

[Grumble]

Thanks guys, great help. I like the vacuum theory, seems to make sense. Not using too much oil yet so I'll just keep topping it up. Cheers

[GTForbes]

persoanlly i wooud have said it was s the turbo seals, have you checked the turbo for play?

[GT-Four NZ]

If it were the turbo then the smoke would most likely be the thick white variety while at idle and after a short period (2-3) weeks it will start belching it out when you hit boost. I agree with the stem seals theory. Look at it as an opportunity... head coming off... metal head gasket... maybe some porting... the list is endless.

[GTForbes]

not neceserily, i've seen a few GT-Fours now with turbo's on the way out that only start smoking after being left sitting for a while and all it takes is a quick rev and it stops