Blue smoke at startup

Hey everyone. I own a 2006 Buick Lucerne with the Northstar V8 and last Wednesday I went on a two day business trip and my Buick sat for the duration of my trip. When I returned Friday afternoon, I went to start it and it blew a few puffs of blue smokes out the exhaust pipes. Quickly it cleared up and was fine. The car runs perfect as well. Yesterday morning, I started the car and it didn't blow any blue smoke, and throughout the course of the day, no smoke at start-ups. This morning, after the car sat overnight, I started it and there was no blue smoke coming out of the car. However, a few hours later, I started it again and it blue a few puffs of blue smoke. Now obviously I know this is oil being burned. I've seen on other forums about the valve guide seals not seating properly and carbon deposits can get lodged between the seals and the exhaust ports. I was thinking may be Seafoaming the engine to get rid of these deposits. But may be the valve guide seals could be going bad? I do run this car a lot. In the past seven months, I've put 11,000 miles on it...all highway miles. The car does not blow any blue smoke at all while in transit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Have the valve guide seals replaced, major job on the Northsouth!

sreilly77,

I will be sending you a private message shortly for more information.

Tricia, GM Customer Service.

sreilly77,

I will be sending you a private message shortly for more information.

Tricia, GM Customer Service.

Be sure to tell him he probably needs a new engine. I hate to say it but thats the problem with the Northstar engine.

Be sure to tell him he probably needs a new engine. I hate to say it but thats the problem with the Northstar engine.

I ended up changing the type of oil I was using. I used a synthetic blend oil and went back to conventional oil. I also Seafoamed my engine. The blue smoke stopped and I am no longer burning any oil.

How is the oil consumption? Northstar engines are notorious for consuming too much oil between oil changes versus other GM engines. I've seen as much as 1 quart every 750-1000 miles which is unacceptable.

How is the oil consumption? Northstar engines are notorious for consuming too much oil between oil changes versus other GM engines. I've seen as much as 1 quart every 750-1000 miles which is unacceptable.

Well before I did the Seafoam on my engine and switched from synthetic blend motor oil back to regular conventional oil, I would burn about 1 quart every 1500 miles. However, since then, I ran Seafoam through my engine and now use Pennzoil conventional motor oil and when I change my oil, I drain just about 7.5 quarts of oil from the engine, which is how much oil these Northstar engines take (at least for my year Northstar engine). I forget where I saw it, but I found somewhere online that these engines tend to get carbon deposits lodged between the valve guide seals and causes oil to seep past the seals and get burned off through the exhaust (hence the blue smoke coming out the exhaust that I was experiencing). Apparently, using Seafoam breaks up these carbon deposits and allows the seals to seat properly (I would assume the less mileage you have on your car, the more chances of success you will have). I just changed my oil again yesterday and again drained just about 7.5 quarts of oil (I religiously change my oil every 3000 miles. I do not pay attention to the oil life monitor). So I am sticking with using the Pennzoil conventional motor oil and not making any more changes.

Honestly, I cannot believe that this worked. But it did. I can't promise that this would work on all Northstar engines that consume oil. I guess it all depends on how you treat the car. And like I said, this was not my idea. I found it somewhere online through a search.

Hi Sean,

I too have noticed a little blue smoke and a burning oil smell in my car (2006 Buick Lucerne CXS 37000 miles) and am interested in following in your Seafoam footsteps.

How exactly did you put the Seafoam into your engine? I have heard right in the crank case and through a vacuum hose(s). There are a lot of vacuum hoses on that motor, how will I know the right one?

I have never used Seafoam and so I searched the product and saw many videos of HUGE amounts of smoke after use. Does this dissipate quickly?

Thanks for your help,

Jack