When I first start my car normally you get white smoke as the condensation in the pipes blows out, then after a couple minutes the exhaust dries out and the exhuast gas very visible.

Now....when my car was warming up I was blowing huge clouds of blue smoke....then once the car had warmed up you couldn't see anything coming out of the tailpipes. Whats up with that?

 

Blue smoke on startup is usually valve seals. It's allowing oil to drip down the guides when the engine is shut off. Depending on the condition of the heads it could also be really worn valve guides but it's usually just the seals.

Blue smoke all the time is usually rings.

Black smoke is unburnt fuel which usually means it's running rich for whatever reason.

White smoke and I mean really white smoke is antifreeze.

My truck always puffed blue on startup and all the plugs on the passenger head fouled up in 6 months. I changed the valve seals on the passenger head and now don't need to add any oil between oil changes and the plugs are still clean after 3 years.

 

Well this is ridiculous because the engine has barely 1000 miles on it.

Normally it's white steam/smoke for a little bit on the first start in the morning as condensation in the pipes blows out. Then once the engine is warm the exhaust gas is not even seen as it comes out the tailpipes.

Well this morning intead of white clouds I got a bellowing tower of blue smoke, then after about 10 minutes of warmup the blue smoke from the tailpipes just disappeared and the exhaust gas went invisible like it normally does once the engine warms up.

The engine has viton valve seals, and this is the first time I've seen blue smoke, it has always been white. It doesn't make sense, my 305TPI had bad valve seals and the engine would blow blue smoke for like 10 seconds then it would go white. This morning my 350 was blowing HUGE blue clouds for like 5+ minutes. Then it just stopped. Very odd.

 

Doesn't mean much if the valve seals weren't installed properly. I've had PVC seals pop off the stud boss and I've also had the seal (looks like an o-ring) around the top of the valve stem rip or pop out of the groove when the springs and retainer were installed.

If you want to keep guessing then you'll never know what's wrong. Start by pulling the valve covers and if you have to, pull the valve springs to check the seals.

 

Do a leakdown check and make sure it is not the rings. If that comes off properly then it is coming from the top, most likely.

 

mine 305tpi blues one puff of blue smoke on start up, and thats about it then it goes white from condensation then clears up, then thats it i never loose but a half a quater of a quart. who knows

 

Doesn't take much smoke to make that little puff.