Okay, people are really on me to get rid of my 2000 Suzuki Swift, which gets almost 40 mpg, and buy that Toyota Yaris or Scion xA I keep talking about buying; could it be because THEY want my gas-guzzler? Hmm.
Anyway, I’m now “burning” oil, apparently; I have to add some before each oil change, blue smoke comes out of the exhaust pipe when I first fire it up in the morning, and it seems to be losing a bit of power.
Serious???
Yup, time to dump it. Those worn valve seals are a sure sign it’s going to blow up, probably tomorrow. Send it right over to my house.
Seriously, how much oil are you using (miles per quart)?
Some blue smoke on startup is no problem; I drove a Chevy with this for 4 years before selling it. If the car consumes one quart between oil changes, that’s normal, anything up to one quart per 1500 miles is just normal wear, and no reason to worry.
If the above is true, just keep driving it and saving on expensive ags.
If it’s just when you first start the car, don’t worry about it. If it’s puffing out blue/black smoke whilst you are driving then it’s a bit more serious it’ll just keep getting worse until a valve job is performed. But again if it’s just when you start the car it’s not a big deal for the time being, chances are it will get worse though. And I would doubt it if anyone is lusting over an 8 year old economy car. Gas is still pretty cheap. It’s just not as cheap as it used to be.