Questioni recently had an engine rebuild, complete engine block overhaul, but
the head wasn't touched, just inspected to make sure it was ok. the
engine itself runs fine, but at startup theres bluish smoke coming from
the tail pipe that disappears while driving, im in mile 411 in the break
in period for the engine. is the smoke natural or do i have a bad
head/valve stem seal. some driving information, while cold, the oil
pressure is 20 psi, and drops down to 10 psi as it warms up (idle) driving
psi is 45 cold and 40 hot, water temp is consistently 180, give or take
10 degrees when the thermostat kicks in. I have also noticed that the
car burns a little bit of oil, maybe half a pint every 2 weeks. i have
been told that this smoke is probably just a couple drops of oil falling
into the engine and burning off, is it ok to just keep adding oil as
it needs it and to not worry to much? any suggestions would be great.
sorry forgot to mention that i have a '86 suzuki samurai
AnswerA wet and dry compression test, and a cylinder leak down test will narrow down this issue.
It's not unusual for an engine to smoke slightly until it's warmed up, especially if the choke is set a little rich. With only 400 miles, the rings are certainly not yet completely worn in and are not sealing yet. Depending on the oil used, driving habits, the engine can not be expected to be completely broken in for at least a couple thousand and as much as 5k miles. I used synthetic oils from the start, and the rings didn't start to seal well for 7k miles. It still uses very little oil at 88k miles, although piston slap is now evident cold, and another o/haul is scheduled for this winter.
Does that make sense?
scotty
