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Warm idle blue smoke, oil around exhaust manifold

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hocka09

10+ Year Contributor
140
4
Aug 8, 2010
Macomb, Michigan
Hey guys, so I've been having this issue ever since I installed my 3" turbo back exhaust and I am trying to narrow down the culprit.

When at a warm idle, the exhaust will spew a modest amount of blue smoke (definitely oil) when just idling and then a bit when starting to accelerate but then it subsides until it comes to idle again.

Now I have searched the forum and found many threads saying that valve seals will normally only smoke on start up due to being allowed the time to let oil leak past and collect in the cylinder, burning off upon startup and then stopping. This however has me thinking my seals may be further worn allowing them to leak when the oil is heated and a bit thinner.

I have also seen on the forums that it might be an indicator when oil is leaking around the exhaust manifold that the seals may be trash. I have included a couple pics showing the two corners of my manifold and the middle. The two corners have a good amount of sludge around the manifold and down the entire block to the oil pan and the middle has little to no oil buildup above the manifold.

I plan to leak down test the cylinders tomorrow to find out if the seals are indeed leaking, but I just wanted to see if anyone thought it is more than just seals or something else entirely.

Sorry for the really really long post LOL I hope some of you can help me find out what my problem really is so I can order parts and work on it when I get time.
 

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Looks like a valve cover gasket to me. In the last pic you can see where its seeping out of on the left.

It also looks like someone put it on with lots of rtv, or reused an old trashed one with rtv... id start at getting that all cleaned up and applying a dry gasket to it. Only small dabs of rtv around the half moon and the inside corners of the cam journals on thehead itself, not the gasket. But some say the rtv in the cam sides isn't necessary, that's just what I've always been taught and do myself.
 
Looks like a valve cover gasket to me. In the last pic you can see where its seeping out of on the left.

It also looks like someone put it on with lots of rtv, or reused an old trashed one with rtv... id start at getting that all cleaned up and applying a dry gasket to it. Only small dabs of rtv around the half moon and the inside corners of the cam journals on thehead itself, not the gasket. But some say the rtv in the cam sides isn't necessary, that's just what I've always been taught and do myself.

Thank you for the reply. I have noticed that around the valve cover it is definitely not as clean as it should be and was planning to take care of that if I went in and did the valve seals with the head on the car.

Maybe the photos don't show it well but a VERY large majority of the oil is right to the side of the exhaust manifold and around it to the bottom, that's mainly where it's coming from.
 
The way I test the valveseals is just letting the car idle for two minutes(large vacum in the motor) and then give it some gas or start accelerating. When you spot some blue smoke it's almost 100% sure that your seals are bad.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
i would just replace the valve cover gasket and the exhaust gasket at the sametime since they both are about 50$ together. the valve cover gasket just needs a small amount of rtv to keep it from falling over when u put the cover on. See if this fixes your problem. I would also pop your hood in the morning as soon as you start it and see how much oil your losing and where exactly. My guess is that its leaking out the head and into the exhaust which isnt that bad. If the gaskets dont do it i would say its a head gasket or oil getting into the rings.
 
My car did the exact same thing. Wouldnt smoke on start up but after it would idle for a few minutes after it warmed up it would smoke. Changed the Valve stem seals when I did my timing belt and havnt had a puff of smoke since and that was about 10,000 miles ago
 
Looks like a valve cover gasket to me. In the last pic you can see where its seeping out of on the left.

It also looks like someone put it on with lots of rtv, or reused an old trashed one with rtv... id start at getting that all cleaned up and applying a dry gasket to it. Only small dabs of rtv around the half moon and the inside corners of the cam journals on thehead itself, not the gasket. But some say the rtv in the cam sides isn't necessary, that's just what I've always been taught and do myself.

Yes your definitely right, looks like you got a major valve cover leak due to pressure. i would check every bolt connecting the head to the block make sure nothing is leaking out of them as well.

also check to see if oil is seeping into the exhaust manifold during idle. because that could be the culprit to the blue smoke issue.
 
valve seals for sure, i am starting to have the same issue. puff of blue in the am on cold starts and a puff when hot after idleing for 5-10 min.
 
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