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Blue smoke out of car exhaust

While blue color could symbolize trust and wisdom, but with a car it could well symbolize the American concept of depression associated with the blue color. So, if blue smoke comes out of your car’s exhaust, it is a clear sign of worry -- Oil is burning, which means it is coming out of its supposed domain and leaking and getting burnt along with fuel to result in blue vapors. This could be because the piston rings or valve guise seals have got damaged. The leak may let the oil reach the combustion chamber, where it gets burnt.

Another reason could be that the car is turbocharged and the smoke is a signal that the blower’s time is up.

The blue smoke should not be confused with white smoke you see when you start your car. White smoke is water vapor collected while the car was parked.

To find the damage, you could first check the valve seals. The valves are covered in oil on top and the seals are designed to stop this oil from getting into the engine. Once worn out, the valve seals will be helpless and let’s oil get into the engine which gets burnt along with the fuel and air creating the blue smoke. 

If the valve seals are fine, check Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) valve. The job of this valve is to release the pressure that gets built in the oil pan into the intake manifold which is connected to the engine air filter. If the PCV valve is damaged, it will mix the air with oil and other gases in the engine, which gets burnt resulting in the blue smoke as well.

If valve seals and PCV valve are fine, then the damage could be in the engine. The engine pistons have metal rings around them called Piston rings. When the pistons move up and down and if the rings are worn out, oil from beneath the piston can come up, which gets mixed with air and fuel mixture and getting burnt inside the combustion chamber and leaving the exhaust valve with blue smoke indicating that engine oil is getting burnt in the combustion chamber.

The one and only solution for leaking piston rings is to open the full engine and rebuild the most of component including new piston rings, valve seals, gaskets etc. It’s a lengthy and expensive process so considering this overhauling engine vs replacing with another used engine is a very considerable thought.

If you need more help, or need specific answer for any question then try the ‘Carnity Forum’ (http://carnity.com/) section or find car businesses near you with the Carnity ‘Business listing’ (http://carnity.com/business_listing) section.

 





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