Blue smoke from exhaust
 

I noticed this first a few weeks ago. I drove to my local Tesco at lunch on work and sat talking on the phone for about 20-30 mins with the car running. I started to notice what looked like exhaust vapour coming out of the exhaust, which seemed odd as normally you'd burn off any vapour after a short drive.

On closer inspection the steam/smoke appeared to have a blue tint to it, and when revving the car quite a lot of this vapour/smoke came from the exhaust.

Now, in the past 3 weeks I've not noticed it once, so I sort of convinced myself it wasn't anything and forgot all about it.

Today I was back at Tesco doing the same, and noticed it again. I got out of the car and gave it a rev and could clearly see blueish smoke coming from the exhaust, and noticed the smell of burning oil.

The car hasn't used any oil.

The smoke disappears seconds after driving away and after pulling up back at work no smoke was to be seen. So it looks as though it only appears when the car has been idling/is warm for a fair amount of time.

Any idea what this might be? I'm worried as I know blue smoke is never a good sign, but I'm hoping maybe it's just a minor leak somewhere that'll be repairable.

Cheers!

Valve stem leaking, and when you say checked what do you mean exactly, pressure tested?

Nono, just checked the oil level and it hasn't gone down. Haven't had it looked at by anyone.

Valve stem, is that mega expensive/serious?

Cheap enough for parts but labour is a killer iirc. Might be wrong but I thought it was an engine out job?

I wouldnt worry too much it could be just unburnt fuel building up in the exhaust,this time of year the smoke shows up more.The only thing you can do is keep checking the oil and if it doesnt go down theres nothing to worry about,if it does then as above it sounds like valve seals

Smoking at idle, but boosting fine and not smoking on boost can be indicative of worn turbo seals. Do you get a puff of smoke on start up? What's the car's mileage and spec, history etc. Do some searches on here, there's plenty of posts under smoke, smoking etc.

if it only happens when pulling off after the engine has run under vacuum (idle) then it stands a good chance it's the stem seals.

Do you get any smoke when pulling off from a standstill at traffic lights or first thing in the morning when you start it up?