I was a little worried that on starting my cooper s the other week after it had been sat for a week it appeared to blurt out a small amount of blue smoke on initial starting .But then didnt do it again.The car has done 55k and doesnt use oil.And im not aware of this happening before.Is this anything to worry about?

 

What that usually means is that you've had a small amount of oil seep between the valve stems and valve guides. It will gather in the combustion chamber and be burnt off in the first few seconds when you start the engine.

As long as your oil consumption isn't noticeable between oil changes, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Scott

 

GM engines (even the Vets) are famous for doing this.

Just as riquiscott said keep an eye on it and if there is blue exhaust and your smelling oil in your exhaust then have it looked at. Also colder temps sometimes plays havoc with engines.

 

Yep, generally this is from oil that has leaked down the intake valveguides and is pretty common in high mileage engines of every brand. Note too that some oil is supposed to make it past the seals to lubricate the valveguides. If excessive, replacing the valve seals is one fix but if the valveguides are worn they tend not to last long, plus when the intake valveguides get really worn they turn into internal vacuum leaks and the idle gets lumpy. Obviously the exhaust valves are always under pressure so many cars (including the original Mini) do not use seals there at all.

 

This has only happend once and the car was stood for a week.plus after the initial fire up it didnt happen again.When i drive it it never smokes so i guesss its ok,plus it doesnt use oil.

 

what do u mean it doenst use oil?

 

He means that his engine doesn't burn a noticable amount of oil between oil changes. If he was getting blue smoke at startup, AND his engine was burning ("using") a lot of oil between oil changes, then that would be evidence that his valve guides were badly worn or that his valve guide seals were shrunken and leaking.

As it is, he just had a normal puff of smoke from oil that seeped past his valve guide seals while the car sat for a week.

Scott

 

Yeh ,sorry for the confusion,but that is what i ment.Of coarse my engine uses oil as many are designed to and will under normal use and more so under heavy use,but i was just trying to find out if what riquiscott has just mentioned is infact a normal thing to happen to an engine when left for a while (being days).