Smoke on startup

[igortski]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum but thought I would share a problem and solution I had with my 2000 IS200.

I bought my IS about 6 months ago when it had 143,000 on it. Ever since I first bought it, about 2 out of 3 times I started the car when it had been sitting for an hour or more (like overnight), it's blown a puff of blue smoke.

I presumed it was the valve stem seals and so bought some to put in at some future time. I did clean the PCV valve though and even tried a new one but it didn't make much difference.

I replaced the spark plugs a couple of months ago and noticed quite a bit of oil in the spark plug tubes. Also, I saw that the rocker cover was leaking a bit, so I bought a gasket set for it a few weeks ago.

I replaced the cover gasket as well as the spark plug tube seals inside the cover the other day. And lo and behold, it's fixed the smoke on start up problem.

The plug tube seals had gone real hard (like bakelite) and so it obviously was affecting the PCV system.

Anyway, hope this helps someone else with an IS200.

 

Evert

[NoobCarGuy]

Thanks mate :D I'll keep this into account if I encounter a similar issue, as my name states my knowledge of cars isn't significant, so I don't know much of what you said, I am trying to learn but not getting anywhere fast, however this would be great to help identify the issue, so thanks again. My IS 200 is getting close to its service due date, with 145,000 km so hopefully no similar issues rise. Thanks again.

[thraxeh]

I had the same problem with oil in sparkplug tubes and found my rocker cover gaskets were the same bakelite condition. Replaced them, however I still get a bit of blue smoke on start up. Still think valve stem seals are the cause - its a 20 year old car at this point - one of those jobs which I think is not critical, just need to be mindful of the issue.