Toyota Camry blue smoke problem!! help?

It sounds like you know a little bit about cars and engines so I think you are on the right track when you start talking about worn piston rings. If the car has over 150,000 miles then it is possible the rings are worn. You can find out by checking the engine compression with a compression gauge. Check your local dealer to see what the normal compression should be, then if you find it is 25PSI lower, or if some cylinders have much lower compression than others, you need to do a leak down test to be sure. It is possible the the additives you used cleaned up some carbon build up in the piston ring channels and that is the reason the blue smoke is now showing up. The carbon is no longer there to keep the rings out as far as they were previously.

Now on to the rattle. That is probably not associated with your other issue. It just happened to show up at the same time. I would look for something that has loosened up in the engine compartment or along the exhaust system. For example, how do the heat shields look near the catalytic converter - these are thin aluminum and sometimes come loose with age. Look for other shields near the radiator fan or fanbelt/serpentine belt area. It may be helpful to have someone keep the accelerator at the 1500 RPM speed while you listen with the hood up. It is probably not anything major, but just coincidental that showed up at this time.

Lack of power and guzzling gas are possible indications of low compression in the engine (besides the blue smoke you already mentioned). With lower compression you are not getting as much horsepower from each gallon of gas, so it takes more gas to compensate.

Overall it sounds like you may want to look for a new car or a good used engine. Your Camry is pretty old, it may qualify for one of those "Clunker" rebates on a trade for a new one.

Good luck!

Toyota Camry Blue

I have a 1996 Toyota Camry I bought last year and it started having blue smoke come out of the tailpipe, it was light at first now it is heavy at times. It only comes out when the car has been setting like in the morning when I crank it up to go to work in the morning, or when I get off of work in the afternoon, like someone said it only does it when the engine is cold. My compression test came out good. I am not losing any oil and I am not burning gas. My car is good on gas. It only smoke when I crank it up in the morning and after it set during the day when I leave work. It does not do it every time I crank the car. Could someone give me an answer what is going on with my car.

Probably worn valve seals. Unless the car is using just a bunch of oil or starts smoking all of the time it's pretty harmless. Some people will argue that they should be replaced immediately but I've worked on too many cars, and know better. So until you have a real oil consumption problem, leave it alone. It will be fine.

just ride it out a few more weeks to know for sure if there is a problem. the fuel additives i know will cause rattle in eng (spark knock) and may be most likely causing your smoke issue too. the reason I say that is the smoke is not as bad as first few days. If you had a eng problem, it's not going to get better at all, but get worse. But because it has gotten better, I don't think you have a major problem. Also, use correct grade of gas, tek told me that higher octane fuel can cause alot of carbon. so stay away from additives to. good luck!

Oh dear blue smoke is not a good sign and for further test take out one of the spark plugs and see whether there is oil accumulation on the tip and if it is then you will have to overhaul your engine and replace the piston rings which is a major job.

Younight have to replace the piston rings. My brother had a saturn and it would smoke alot so he replaced the piston rings and it didn't smoke anymore.

i think howard gave you the answer you need. but i just wanna add to check your oil level because blue smoke is a sign that your car is burning oil. so check your oil to make sure its not too low.

very interesting question

don t be afraid just cracking your car but i dont know when finish this addiction