Blowing that blue smoke.
 

History of the car: 2004 6spd. Engine is a ReMan replaced around 60k post 2008. Bought the car with 85k on it in 2012. Current Mileage is 114,7XX. Have not had a compression test done. Oil changed regularly and coolant just flushed and changed within past 2 months. Replaced coils, plugs, wires last summer. Have never over heated the car. Replacing fuel pump next weekend as I suspect its on its way out. Was not running pre mix at time of incident.

Current mods that could effect diagnosis: Mazsport Midpipe.

After some spirited driving in the mountains last night, the car started smoking pretty bad. It has always done a little blue smoke every now and then, but this was different. The car still starts fine hot and cold, no issues. Upon initial start up (cold and hot) it smokes pretty bad and then eventually stops. From what I have been reading, I'm thinking its an oil seal failure. Seemingly specifically the Front.

So my questions... Is this the likely issue and how much is it going to cost?

I have been reading this is not a task to be taken lightly if done by oneself.

Thanks for all the help. Let me know if there is any other information needed or any way I can better diagnose the car myself. I usually try not to create new threads but I read through posts for an hour and couldn't get a real specific answer for my symptoms.

I'm not sure how much insight I can provide, but I'm having a similar problem. Did you get this figured out?

On starting after sitting for a week, it runs like it's been flooded for about 30 seconds total (Clouds of blue smoke), then runs mostly well. Less blue smoke, puffs when I hit the gas. After a couple minutes, it runs smoothly, and the smoke goes away for the most part. My operating theory is that I need to look at my oil injection system; if one of them is flowing unchecked, even with the engine off, I can see how it would cause these symptoms. Wouldn't be awful for the car, other than potentially messing with the cat (bad news). Putting in a quart every couple hundred miles.

I don't really know how the oil injection system works. I've just started looking through the diagnostic tree at: M A Z D A for "excessive oil consumption".

Wolfe, are these the same systems you're seeing? Anyone, can I get some insight?

A quart every 200 miles is far more than it should be burning. When I drive like a sane person, mine burns a quart every 3,000 miles. When I am at the track, it burns half a quart every 150 miles.

Excessive blue smoke usually turns out to be an oil seal, from what I have read. But, you are doing the right thing by running through the diagnostic procedure. Sorry I can't be of more help.

That is what my car did the day after the incident, but it was still starting fast and running smooth. Now the car does not smoke at all, puffs every now and then, but it has always done that every so often well before. I'm still thinking its the oil seal. But as of now, its running "fine". I'm monitoring it closely. I don't have a cat in the car so I'm not worried about that causing problems.

Well here is my 8 info

2007 model, 57k Miles. Decated

it smokes blue when i start and rpm comes down to 1k. It also smoke when car is hot and i rev a little.

No issues on cold and hot starts. Power is still good. Any ideas?

I suppose I should update. My 8 is primarily an autocross car, so I likely see higher consumption than most anyhow.

I'm chasing after this with the assumption that this may be the result of the pcv burping oil into the intake; I've bought a catch can that I'll install this week. I'll let you know what transpires.

I have a catch can on my car. Oil getting into the intake was not my issue. But as stated in my earlier post, it has seemed to sort itself out. However, I feel like I'm running a fine line between catastrophic failure and normal operation.

Just an update from my end. If there is oil being burped, it hasn't accumulated enough to be visible in my catch can's sight glass. After finally getting the symptom to happen in the daylight, it looks like the smoke from my car is whitish-clear. I'm going in to have compression done, and coolant pressure test. We'll diagnose from there. Rotary tech indicates it may just be condensation from the exhaust and somewhat normal, and I'm just freaking out because I'm new to the rotary game. We'll see.