Oil Consumption

By Jack Cooper

On oil consumption and smoking out the tail pipe, you may be told you need an engine or an engine rebuild or other "MAJOR" repair. This may sometimes be true but if you are about to get ripped off there are a couple of common things that may be the problem.

Lets start with smoking out the tail pipe. If you have smoke out the tail pipe after sitting over night or sitting for a while after first start you may have some valve stem seals that are not sealing the oil from running down the valve stem and into engine causing blue smoke for up to a minute and then clearing up.

This is also true if sitting still after a stop and then taking off and a puff of blue comes out tail pipe, you can also have a puff of blue smoke while diving and letting off accelerator and getting back on accelerator.

This repair most of the time can be made without removing the heads, by removing spark plugs and putting air into cylinder (to hold valve up) removing valve spring, removing and installing a new seal.

On some vehicles the guides may become loose and drop down past valve stem seal and cause a constant flow of blue smoke. This repair may also be done without removing the cylinder head on some vehicles by using a special tool to pull guide back in place and installing a retainer to hold it from dropping again. This is a common problem with some Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth 3.0 V/6 engines.

In any case just make sure you go to a legitimate shop and are comfortable with the mechanic before any major repair is attempted.

Jack Cooper is the owner of www.jtcbiz.com where he reveals several Automotive secrets that can save you money and inform you on a variety of Automotive topics. Stop by and check out the other FREE information.

About the author:
Jack Cooper Occupation: Auto Appraiser/Inspector Website: www.jtcbiz.com

Biography: I have over 40 years experience in the Automotive field, from ASE Master Tech to owner of my own repair shop and have been doing Automotive Appraisals and extended warranty/pre-purchase inspections for the past 12 years.

I have been working on building and just about anything connected with cars all my life. I have been a Drag Racer (early year)