Seen a few traces, I think, of blue smoke under hardish acceleration. Only first gear, never after the cars been going more than a few miles. Cars running fine, but I think it's the first signs of troubles. Whats the first steps in diagnosing if there is actually a problem? TIA

You say its only a problem under hardish acceleration and never after the cars being going for some miles. This implies you are not driving the car gently whilst it warms up properly, which is likely to cause problems with the engine internals, which may well be the cause of your smoke problem. http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/frown.gif

Most of the damage/wear that a normal engine suffers happens whilst the poor thing is waking up and trying to get to it's standard operating temperature. If you thrash the car from cold on a regular basis you are extremely likely to suffer premature failure of engine internals.

Or, maybe the "smoke" is just steam, which is normal whilst the engine and exhaust system are warming up...

Moray

I've been told that there can be soot deposits blown out of the exhaust. I've noticed that my STi blows out a hell of a lot of something but generally only when I floor it after I've been driving gently for a long while. Also seems worse now I've got the full SS exhaust and I'm always careful not to thrash it when cold.

Hi Moray,
It's not a regular occurence, although I have been guilty a few times. I'm careful to let the car warm up totally more than 95% of the time, always let it idle for a while after a run, have it serviced every 3.5k. Not overly careful, but fairly. I've had the car sat idling and had someone give it some gas, nothing. Sat behind it while it's been driven, nothing. It's sometimes hard to tell whether it's overfuelling smoke, which I konw it does or blue, which I don't want. I do want to get it checked tho'. Best place to start I suppose is a dealer, but what will they check.
It's an STi V with 20k. I'm probably being paranoid. Or it's the ford gremlins getting there own back!!