Smokes upon startup, but not while running

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I have a 98 Avalon (175k miles). When I start the car, it smokes out the tailpipe. After a minute it stops. It only smokes after sitting for a while. If I turn the car off and an hour later I start it back up, no smoke. A few weeks ago, I put in 10w30 instead of 5w30 by accident. A week later I had an oil change and put in 5w30 at a dealer. A few weeks later I noticed that my oil was very low. I assumed the dealer put in the oil?? I do not notice any oil leaks on my driveway…

2

It sounds to me like the classic symptoms of worn valve guide seals. You might want to get an estimate of what this job will cost, but I suspect that after you get that estimate, you will decide to just keep adding oil, rather than getting it repaired.

3

Yeah, VCD got it. I second.

-Matt

4

Thanks. I am assuming it would cost $500-$1k to fix?
If so, and I don’t fix it, just keep adding oil, is there any long term problems
by not fixing it? I would like to keep this car at least until 250k miles…++

5

While I agree with the prior two comments, could you tell us what color the smoke was? Black, blue or white?

6

blue smoke??? never seen that!!! lol

7

You mentioned that your oil was low right after shutting down. This make me think you have a stopped up drain passage back to the crankcase. This causes to oil to build up and flood the valves and then burning the oil. I found this on many engines but I don’t know what an Avalon is. A remedy is to take a length of stiff cable like an old hand brake cable and cut off a 12 inch length to fir an electric drill. You can rod out the passage with this setup. LEE

8

did it start smoking before or after the oil change???

9

White smoke. It started smoking right after I put in 10W30. I then had an oil change at a dealer. A week later, I checked the oil and it was empty. I assume the dealer actually did put in oil…
I then put in 3 quarts 5W30. It only smokes after sitting for over an hour or two. If I drive it and then turn off the engine and then start the engine anywhere from immediate to an hour --no smoke.

Once again, I do not notice any oil leaks on my driveway.

Thanks everyone.

10

how much 10 did u put in???

11

2 quarts