Hi everyone,

I need some serious help. I have a 99 Sl2 with 174,834 miles on it. When the car is warmed up after idling anywhere, when I accelerate a bunch of blue smoke comes out the back. My dad told me it could be the valve stem seals. I dont know how much it costs to diagnose the issue or where to even begin withit . For the past two weeks I have been stressing and researching the internet like crazy and still can't find the solution. This is my little families only car and we dont have a lot of money or time to spend on this issue. Our car is a must have to get my lady to work in the morning and myself to work for the night shift. Any info i can get would greatly be appreciated thank you for your time and help.


- Freddie

 

The valve stem seals cause a puff of blue smoke when you first start the car. You either have bad rings or possibly plugged drain back holes in the head.

To check the drainback holes, you have to remove the valve cover and look for sludge buildup on top of the head. If you have that, then you have to clean, clean, clean. Then find the drain back holes and make sure they are clear, these will probably be at the ends of the head in the corners, about a 1/2" diameter.

If it is rings, which is more likely, you can try this (it worked on old Vega's but a lot of people didn't believe this), if you have a manual transmission, slow don to about 35 mph in 5th gear, then floor it until you get to about 60 or so, slow down and repeat about ten times. This can help the rings to reseat.

Something else that might work if that one doesn't is to go to a gun store and buy an 8 oz bottle of "BreakFree" gun oil (this is amazing stuff, but not well liked by the EPA). Remove all your spark plugs and pour 2 oz of the oil into each cylinder and let it sit over night. Then crank the engine over a few times before replacing the spark plugs (the next day) The gun oil will not hurt the regular oil in the oil pan so you don't need to do an oil change right after.

Some people do the above trick with "SeaFoam" instead of "Breakfree". It is cheaper and available at any car parts place.

Last, if you are not loosing that much oil, like say about a quart every 1000 miles, then just ignore it and do regular oil changes. Use 10w30 oil instead of 5w30. The cost to fix far exceeds the cost of just living with it. Just make sure your engine does not get too low on oil.

 

I agree with Keith about worn rings. Usually if you have worn valve seals, you'll get white smoke from the oil burning. Try a can of Restore along with an oil change if it's about time for one. Is this a cure? Nope, but it can cut down on oil consumption, if that's what's going on. I also agree about using a thicker oil.

 

I did the Seafoam on mine, changed the oil and put in a bottle of Bardahl's Restore. Smoke is gone and I have 337,000 km's on mine.