blue smoke only on start-up, getting worse
 

My son's car is putting out a pretty healthy cloud of blue smoke on start-up, which then goes away quickly. My experience with this problem says "valve guides," except that I can't see how they could be the culprit, being horizontal. The engine has about 80k on it ('92). The local Subaru dealer suggests a stuck PCV valve, which I understand on this engine is slightly difficult to get to, and I wonder about the diagnosis anyway.

Anyone here had this problem? It's getting colder here in CT, so the clearances are making the problem somewhat of an embarrassment.

a bad pcv will cause oil to get in your intake, yea it is pritty hard to get the pcv valve out but a new one is only like 4$, u can get it out by using a 19mm crows foot

Could be a bad valve seal

though if it is jsut the pvc valve, I sure feel dumb for swapping MOTORS last year when mine had similar symptoms

1st thought is same as it's just eric. Sorry for no new opinions.

hope springs eternal
 

I tracked my son down on a flat section of parking lot today and checked the oil level...it's over by perhaps 1/4 qt. I'll drain off maybe 1/2 qt tomorrow, maybe that will solve the problem. Certainly the first thing to try.

good idea.

1/4 qt over shouldn't give you any problems. I'd try changing out that PCV valve and also pull the intake boot and see if any oil is pooled up in there and clean it out. Is the oil dipstick popping up any? A bad PCV valve will usually cause enough pressure to pop the dipstick up.

Check his valve cover breather hoses, I left one off after reinstalling my trans (don't ask :p) and it smoked horribly on startup till I found it. Good luck!

also if your piston rings are bad they will cause oil to be pushed back up into your intake, my intake manifold was filled with so much oil it looked like someone poured a whole bottle in there, so i was referd to some engine lubricant that will loosen my piston rings up and solve my oil problem, not to mention it restores your compression, all u do is pour it into your oil... and within 500 miles it will work

another victim of restore marketing wizards. :(

Ive used Restore in the past with great success. Sure it won't fix the real problem but it is fantastic at buying you some time.

blue smoke eliminated
 

I drained 1/2 qt of oil from the crankcase (it was overfilled by about 1/4 qt), and the smoky startup stopped. Also, the car was parked at a slight downhill angle, and this may have contributed to the problem. Thanks everyone for the help.

Full marks and thanks for reporting back, as your experience could be of value to others. Please let us know if all proves well after some more miles, thus confirming your findings.

Is there any chance that your dip stick readings are not accurate, e.g. not fitting properly or whatever? It would appear strange that the degree of excessive oil you report, would result in sufficient splash to overload the piston rings.

Be sure that I am expressing important valid interest, rather than doubting your findings. :)

Seemed strange to me too
 

I'm real new to the world of SVX's, since about last February. Plus, the car we bought had only 75k on it, so not much has happened, and it's my son's.

I don't know how close the the bottom of the cylinder bores the oil is when the car's at rest, but I'm thinking that the combination of a small overfill plus the forward tip of the car in the drive might have put some oil into the front two bores. It does seem like a suspect conclusion, because if the car were parked on a steep hill it should be happening there too. Anyway, as you say, we'll see what happens. He has a ply separation on one tire, so he's not driving until we figure out what to do next. The tires are 10 years old, and he recently bought some Lexus 430 18" wheels from a member here, so he's campaigning to get the tires for those instead. I guess if we do I'll have some spare lug nuts, which seem to be a precious commodity here (certainly precious at Subaru dealers, at 12 bucks a pop).

too good to be true, kinda
 

My son reports a much smaller, but still noticeable puff of blue smoke on start-up. Maybe we're not out of the blue woods just yet.