Smokes on start up...TURTCEL

[TURTCEL]

So my friend has an '87 SR5 that smokes a little on start up. The smoke is light blue...indicating oil burning. The car has 165k miles on it. The car does use a little oil because of this. I mostly does this after sitting for a couple days or more.

Rings? Valve Seals? What would be the likely culprit with this scenario? I don't hear of too many of the Tercs having ring issues, more valve seal probs. I read a post that says valve seals can be replaced on the car. I know rings would be a bad thing.

We are going to do a compression test on the car to see where it is at. Should I do a cold comp with oil squirted into the cylinders or should I warm it up and then test it after it cools for just a bit so it has oil in the engine? What is an exceptable comp number on the low side? My Terc has 160-165 across the board and I read that factory comp was 175 psi. I just want to help her fix it without a ton of money invested.

If it starts to get too expensive and too many probs then maybe this would be better off being a parts car or going to someone who has the means to fix it correctly if internal work is necessary.

Peace

[marlinh]

One way to tell if it's rings, is to follow your friend while driving down the highway. When they decelerate rapidly, see if it blows blue smoke. A high vacuum is created in the cylinder. That usually means rings. Compression rings on these cars seem to last but oil control rings carbon up and cause an oil consumption problem. A wet compression test won't necessarily show bad oil control rings because the oil is sealing up the top of the piston and that is usually good. It isn't that difficult to do valve stem seals, there are some good threads on the procedure. How much oil is the car using? Does it smoke as bad after an oil change? Smoke just on start up can be valve stem seals since the oil drains down the valve stems when it sits. You can get the same blue smoke from rings too on start up. Pull the spark plugs and see how bad they are contaminated.

[TURTCEL]

Thanks for the tips...I will look into those quick tests when we look at the car next week.

What if I do a cold compreassion test after an overnight sit and have no oil run through the car? Should that help with determining if it might be rings? Are there any oil detergent additives that are decent and could help loosen up a gummed up ring? I don't like a "fix in a bottle" but some products aren't bad.

If I do need to do valve seals does it require pressurizing the cylinder with air to keep the valve closed so the keepers can be removed? Never done valve seals on a Yota but helped a friend do them on an '84 Nissan Pup and we had to pressurize the cylinders on that job. I have access to a compressor if needed but what would I use for the air hose? Would I just use a compression tester hose hooked to the compressor?

Peace

[marlinh]

That's what I do but I know of at least one member who puts string in the cylinder to keep the valves from falling in.

[TURTCEL]

I have heard of that technique too. Funny how little tricks like that are thought of.

My Great Grandfather was a farmer in North Dakota back in the 40's when obviously money was scarce. He did not get paid until harvest and mid season he blew a rear tire on his tractor and it was non repairable. He removed the tire and soaked a large rope in tar. He then wrapped the wheel in the tar rope and let it dry. The make shift tire lasted him through the season and till harvest when he could finally buy a new one.

It is amazing what people come up with .

Peace