sanitarium16

Uh oh this is bad. I noticed when i start my car a puff of blue smoke comes out. I am dropping it off at the shop tomarrow night. My question is how much am i looking at in repairs. What exactly needs to be replaced and can a beginner do it himself if its a lot of money

pichinco

It means your engine is getting older. Rings are probably worn. Time for a rebuild. I wouldn't recommend a beginner trying to it by himself. Rebuild is ~$1500-$2000...that's a guess. I haven't priced a rebuild on a 4.6. While your in there I would do some upgrades!!

sanitarium16

It cant be that much for just rings, if that's what it is. If it is that much i am f*cked and will have to sell it before i cant get **** for it.

pichinco

hehe That's tearing the engine down and putting them in, etc. It'll cost $200-$300 in parts just for the head gaskets!! A little blue smoke isn't a big deal. I wouldn't sweat it that much.

86gt5.0HO

If it only does it apon startup, it means your valve seals are just worn. It's not a big deal other than the embaresement when other people see it. What kind of oil are you running? If you run synthetic try switching back to the recommended oil. you don't need to remove and dissasemble the whole engine to replace the seals. You could also run a quart of tranny fluid in your oil for a 100-150 mi. Then change it. The tranny fluid is very high detergent, it cleans your rings and oil passages and reconditions your seals. It's an old trick my boss used to do and it worked great.

Rick Nagel

70 Mach

I agree with 86Gt. A puff of blue smoke on first fire up is an indication of oil getting by the rubber valve seals. Not a big deal if all other aspects of performance are good for you. You can go a very long time without doing anything at all. If it bothers you too much, you can rent the tools to assist in replacing the seals yourself, not that hard. All the plugs come out and and attachment that screws into the piston/spark plug hole is attached to your air compressor. The compressed air holds the valves up while you use another rented tool, a valve spring compressor to take off the valve spring, remove the rubber seal by hand, replace with new plyable seal, replace spring and keepers, etc for all 16. It takes half a day, 16 new rubber valve seals, maybe new valve cover gaskets and thats it. Worn oil rings should spew blue smoke upon hard acceleration. Probably lots of blue smoke. Hope this helps.

Djs94stang

I am assuming it is the '98 in your sig. How many miles? I would do a compression check to see the health of the piston/rings. You don't see a lot of cars burning oil these days...even at startup. Usually rings will blow oil when your on the gas and acclerating but they can do the startup puff as well when they are getting worn....so it's a toss up. Rings will usually puff more on a cold start too.

pichinco

Yeah, ya'll are probably right. Dunno what I was thinking. I'm so used to both going so close together they're nearly indistiguishable.

86gt5.0HO

He will probably have to remove the cams also to do the valve seals. 4.6's have over head cams.

roundman

wait and see what the shop guys tell you first before getting all worked up over this smoke.
and if it is the valve seals, then I wouldn't recommend you as a rookie try changing them yourself on an overhead cam engine. the dealership shop hourly rate around here is $70 per hour and it take several hours to change the seals, especially on a 4.6 engine.