Oil from exhaust ?

[DrJ]

My son drives a 2001 Maxima with 116000 miles on it. When he started the car to head back to school I noticed a small cloud of blue smoke came out the exhaust. It cleared up right away. The car doesn't use oil and runs fine. Should we put in some kind off additive or is it a bigger problem. Thanks for any advice. DrJ

[Capt. Don*]

Drive it! Teach the son to get into the habit of checking the oil every time he fuels. That is the best way to monitor oil consumption in any engine. No snake oil, (additives), needed at 116,000 it doesn't owe anybody anything. It in time may start using oil, oil is cheap compared to overhauls on older cars.

[Tyler23]

how long did it sit before he got in it and started it?

[overdalimit]

Sounds like the valve seals...if they even have them on overhead cam engines...or the valve stems are bginning to wear. I agree with the rest just keep the oil topped off and drive it. As for additives "How good can a mechanic be if he lives in a can"? It will go another 100 thousand like this.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I'll bring over the saturn, once you see the cloud coming out of it during a hard accel you won't think yours has any problems!

[IFallsRon]

How does it smell? If the smoke smells nasty and burned, you're looking at the end of the line.

[Jeremy airjer W]

How does it smell? If the smoke smells nasty and burned, you're looking at the end of the line.

?

[DrJ]

There does't seem to be any smell that we could detect. The car sat for a week and thats when we noticed some smoke. The last few starts I couldn't really see any.Thanks for the replies. It's different with my kids when it comes to check the oil, wash it ECT.Hopefully he will keep on top of things. Not like me when it comes to car ownership. Oh well thats the old school way I guess. DrJ.

[shizzy]

as already stated, have him keep tabs on the oil. he should be anyway.

my last car used a qt of oil a month, but I kept track of it and the car gave me many years of reliable service.

[SkunkedAgain]

My 1983 Mustang had worn out piston rings, probably from me being a teenager and flooring it on the highway every chance that I got. When I took trips to Milwaukee and back, it used 15-18 quarts of oil round trip. I would buy two cases of oil before the trip, put them in the trunk, and pull onto the shoulder every hour or so when the engine started to knock. I did that for years until I finally got the engine rebuilt.

It sounds like your son's car just had a little buildup, something that I would expect on a car of that age. As everyone said, just keep an eye on it but don't worry.