Blue-ish smoke at high RPM

Here's some good repair guides for your Tercel :) Look here for help first!
Post Reply
deejay1272
Top Notch Member
Posts: 403
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:20 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Navy Blue Tercel Wagon SR5 4x4 now with Weber 32/36!
Location: Portland, OR

Blue-ish smoke at high RPM

Post by deejay1272 »

Hey everyone,

It's been a long time since I've posted, but I have a question that I'd like to run by some of the experts.

When I rev the engine I'm seeing some bluish smoke that leads me to believe that I'm starting to burn a little oil. Does this imply that I need to address something as major as piston rings or can I start with something less significant like a valve adjustment (which I haven't yet done since I bought the car).

Note that I have already replaced my valve guide seals as a precautionary measure about 5-6,000 miles ago.

Any help would be appreciated.
---------------------------------------------------------
Beefsteak when I'm hungry, whiskey when I'm dry
Greenbacks when I'm hard up, heaven when I die
User avatar
dlb
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 7305
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
Location: bc, canada

Re: Blue-ish smoke at high RPM

Post by dlb »

if you recently did your valve guide seals, it's probably your rings. i would do a compression test. if the #s are less than 120 psi, you are approaching rebuild time but might be able to get away with adding a can of restore every now and again. if the #s are 120 psi or higher and all within 10% of each other, your compression rings are probably fine but the oil scraper rings are probably gummed up with oil. in that case, add a half a can of seafoam to the engine oil and run it for one or two tanks of gas and then change the oil and filter.

i recently bought a '92 honda civic that was burning a LOT of oil, but the compression #s were great. added seafoam as mentioned here and now it might occasionally let out a puff on start up but that's it, and the oil level doesn't budge between oil changes. the experience proved to me that seafoam really can work wonders for certain problems.

are you driving the terc much lately, dj?
User avatar
Mark
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 883
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:49 pm
My tercel:: 1984 Automatic, 1981 sedan
Location: Victoria, B.C.

Re: Blue-ish smoke at high RPM

Post by Mark »

That's what happened to me as well. When I first bought the car it was puffing a small cloud of oil smoke when I accelerated from a stop. Usually it would happen intermittently (sometimes it would and sometimes it wouldn't). The first thing I assumed was valve guide seals so I replaced them, which is fortunately pretty easy on these cars (you don't have to remove the camshaft). That didn't fix the problem. I even installed a home-made oil catchcan in the PCV system, thinking that oil was collecting in the intake manifold and occasionally being sucked into the engine. Of course that didn't solve the problem so I just used thicker 15W40 diesel oil in it. I was going to use an additive that thickens the oil, but I didn't because I wanted to know exactly what viscosity I was using. After a change or two of this, the smoke stopped. I remember the guy I bought it from saying he hadn't changed the oil in about 3 years (he just added to make up for leaks). I assume that the rings were sticking from all the carbon build-up and the extra detergents in the diesel oil eventually freed them up. So far it's been a few years and there's still no smoke.
deejay1272
Top Notch Member
Posts: 403
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:20 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Navy Blue Tercel Wagon SR5 4x4 now with Weber 32/36!
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Blue-ish smoke at high RPM

Post by deejay1272 »

Thanks for the input, guys. I'm starting to think that whatever I'm experiencing isn't that big of a deal given that my last compression test showed excellent results. I did a test back in 2010 and my results were in the 180-190 psi range (I have the higher-pressure 3A-S engine). Yes, that was ~3 years ago, but I don't put that many miles on my ride so it was only about 6,000-8,000 miles ago. My Tercel is mostly used for road trips and camping, which, unfortunately, I don't get to do enough of these days.

I like the two ideas of 1) SeaFoam, and 2) 10W40 diesel motor oil to help clean things up a bit in there. I may even do another compression test if I can find a reasonably-priced kit.

Thanks again,
DJ

Ps - DLB - to answer your question, no, I'm not driving the Tercel very much these days, but I suppose that's ok. When I need it, I really need it. I'm happy treating it as an on-going project. Who knows - I may even have a total engine rebuild in my future. That could be really fun!
---------------------------------------------------------
Beefsteak when I'm hungry, whiskey when I'm dry
Greenbacks when I'm hard up, heaven when I die
deejay1272
Top Notch Member
Posts: 403
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:20 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Navy Blue Tercel Wagon SR5 4x4 now with Weber 32/36!
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Blue-ish smoke at high RPM

Post by deejay1272 »

dlb wrote: add a half a can of seafoam to the engine oil and run it for one or two tanks of gas and then change the oil and filter.
Is there a SeaFoam product that is used as an engine oil additive? I thought this stuff was only used as a fuel additive.
---------------------------------------------------------
Beefsteak when I'm hungry, whiskey when I'm dry
Greenbacks when I'm hard up, heaven when I die
User avatar
dlb
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 7305
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
Location: bc, canada

Re: Blue-ish smoke at high RPM

Post by dlb »

the 'motor treatment' stuff is used for both. here's the link to their site:

http://www.seafoamsales.com/sea-foam-motor-treatment/
deejay1272
Top Notch Member
Posts: 403
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:20 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Navy Blue Tercel Wagon SR5 4x4 now with Weber 32/36!
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Blue-ish smoke at high RPM

Post by deejay1272 »

The Seafoam seems to have eliminated the small amount of smoke I was seeing when I revved the engine. Nice little $10 fix!


Stay tuned for a custom EGR mod that I'm working on with DLB at the moment. I'm planning to rig up a smog-able Weber carb solution. Should be interesting...
---------------------------------------------------------
Beefsteak when I'm hungry, whiskey when I'm dry
Greenbacks when I'm hard up, heaven when I die
Post Reply