Blue smoke on startup..

[BimmerWill]

I noticed today on startup I had a slight puff of smoke come out after it hadn't been run for three days. Im inclined to think this isn't something I should be too worried about but thought I would check with the experts just to be sure. Went away just as soon as it came about.
I have replaced CCV and valve cover gasket in the last year or so. CCV being in the last three months.

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[Dave_B]

How many miles?

[onepercent]

I noticed today on startup I had a slight puff of smoke come out after it hadn't been run for three days. Im inclined to think this isn't something I should be too worried about but thought I would check with the experts just to be sure. Went away just as soon as it came about.
I have replaced CCV and valve cover gasket in the last year or so. CCV being in the last three months.

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My ZHP used to do this after being parked for a week or more. I just attributed it to something funky from sitting so long like bad air fuel mix or something but as long as it went away quickly I didn't worryabout it.

[BimmerWill]

Its at 203k right now. I don't think its anything major just thought id check and see what others thought.

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[Dave_B]

Will, usually blue smoke indicates oil. If at start up and goes away that usually indicates valve seals.

My guess is that. Over time it will get worse. Those seals sit on the valve steams to prevent oil from seeping into the combustion chamber. They get old and hard and eventually let small amounts of oil by while sitting.

[BimmerWill]

Will, usually blue smoke indicates oil. If at start up and goes away that usually indicates valve seals.

My guess is that. Over time it will get worse. Those seals sit on the valve steams to prevent oil from seeping into the combustion chamber. They get old and hard and eventually let small amounts of oil by while sitting.

How difficult of a job would it be to replace those? Id imagine pretty difficult.

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[Dave_B]

Never done it on a Bimmer. Only on Honda's previously.

It involves removing the head, and then the valves. A quick GTS shows it's the same on these cars. Head must come off, valve must come out.

That being said, I'd assume difficulty on a 1-10 scale being pretty high up there, as in 9.5. Then you need the right tools, especially a torque wrench. You'll need to do head gasket as well since those are not reusable.

I'd be happy to look into the job further for you if you'd like.

If it's something seldom and not a terrible amount of smoke I'd say leave as is for now. One cheap way to check how bad it could be is a compression and leak down test.

Compression can help determine bad valve/seals and leak down can help determine bad rings. What you really want to look at is consistency across the board on a compression test. Leakdown is based on manufacturer recommended numbers.

[alexandre]

In other words... probably not worth it for a 12 year-old, 203,000 mile car :P

[BimmerWill]

Ill do a leakdown and compression test to see where im at. Good looking out. Probably not practical to do the job but we will see.

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[Dave_B]

Likely not practical if it's not a lot. Now, if it sits there and smokes for 5 minutes after starting up, that's a more major issue.

If your not seeing oil loss on the dipstick then I wouldn't be super concerned.