Originally Posted By: Quest
Originally Posted By: engineer20
Do you know anything about engine blowby? My engine on my camry or the tailpipe emits a bluish whitish smoke on startup and I heard it was due to blowby, but your analysis said my oil was fine and didn't see any contaminants like fuel or water or coolant, right? It doesn't smoke on startup every time, esp when I drive it, but when it sits for a few days, like 3 days or more or like a week, it will emit the smoke. Is this normal for a 12 year old engine with 158k miles, or is this something or great concern that I should have looked at ASAP by a mechanic? Thanks.
Granted that your PCV valve is functioning properly, then first puff of blue smoke 1st thing in the morning is valve stem seal/valve stem clearance related, and nothing to do with blowby.
I'd take the former more than the latter, for I've seen/dealt with valve stem seal issues on many cars as the mileage creeps up.
if yours don't consume much, might as well leave them alone. Camry, or many twin-cam DOHC 16valve (4cyl) or 24 valve (4valves/cyl) tends to take quite a bit of time to do valve steam seals.
Q.
How can one figure out with 100% certainty that the oil consumption is due to the PCV valve issue only (specially when there is zero oil stains in the engine bay , exhaust has not smoke visible and the exhaust has no signs of burnt oil) ?