blue exhaust smoke???

[eaking09]

I am a new honda owner, I've had my 2000 honda accord for about 3 weeks.

 

I picked the car up from a family friend who is a mechanic and he told me that he replaced the timing chain, head gasket, re-built the head, new valves and seals, he also re-built the trans (which has nothing to do with my issue).

 

Three mornings ago when I left for work I notice when I pulled out in the street there was a plume of bluish white smoke in my wake....

 

Now I have only put roughly 350 city miles on the vehicle since I bought it...

 

Any ideas before I go and talk to him?????

 

I'm thinking there is a problem with the head gasket??

 

Any help out there??

[Xeryon]

Blue means you are likely burning oil. As to whether or not it was caused by the recent timing belt change I would not know. Having the car be out of time if he botched it up somehow certainly could cause a similar issue, but you would have noticed the blue smoke right away instead of three weeks later.

[eaking09]

yeah it deff. was not there when I first picked up the car...

What are normal causes on a honda for burning oil??

bad rings?

[Xeryon]

Few things, but nothing common. To burn oil visible from the tailpipe is pretty unusual. I am sure you are not happy to hear that. Rings would be the most common reason.

[eaking09]

I just spoke with a friend who owns a couple of hondas now he said to try an oil change maybe a thicker oil 10-30 and that might help as well as crap gas so he said maybe put in some lucas fuel treatment that might fix the problem???

 

what do ya think??

 

ps

thanks for your help!!!

[Xeryon]

Keep in mind a minimal amount of oil burn when under hard acceleration is normal, particularly for older cars with a vtec equipped engine.

 

It really depends on how much oil you are losing. If you have to add oil at each fuel fill up I don't think changing oil viscosity is going to help much. If the oil consumption rate is low enough that you see it, but can't measure it then running different oils may make an improvement.

[eaking09]

I have not been checking the oil but I guess I should be keeping a close eye on it for the time being! So if I understand correctly if I can't notice a loss on the dip stick should I not be too concerned? And changing to a thicker oil really wont make a difference?

[Xeryon]

If the measured amount of oil doesn't change then changing to a slightly thicker oil or a high mileage oil might do the trick for you. What you see from the tailpipe might only be trace amounts if the exhaust is minor.

 

If you need to add oil cause you are blowing through it as fast as you are burning gas then you have a real problem.

[eaking09]

ok cool thank you for your help I don't think that I'm going through it that fast. I only notice it right after start-up so I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens...

 

thanks for every thing!!!

[Mille-16i]

In your first post you said your friend rebuilt the head doing the valves and all. Theres your problem you never tighten up the topend of a motor ie rebuild the head with out replacing the rings if you do you end up putting a stain on the worn in and weakend rings. As an engine wears in all the parts deteriate together and can handle the stresses that are created what happens when you rebuild a head on a car with a few miles (most hondas have 100k or better and I am gonna guess yours has about 110k or better and the t-belt broke warrenting the head rebuild due to bent valves) the rings which are just a form of a spring have lost some of their tension (ablility to expand and fully seal the cylinder) and now the top end is tight with no blow by and the rings cant cope and start blowing by themselves. I would have the car compression checked at a shop, not your friends shop. I am willing to bet that your rings have failled you. On the bright side you may get away with just a honing and new rings.