Smoke from exhaust when in passing gear

[Rcfreak20]

I just noticed it yesterday. I was on the expressway and was trying to get up to speed on the on-ramp. Thats when I saw it.The car is a 90 camry with a rebuilt head. THe car is sluggish from a cold start but after a while it will run like a champ. I just changed the oil last week. No problems there. Please any info would be a great help. Oh yeah if the smoke is blue what should i do?

[Mike Gerber]

Blue smoke upon hard acceleration indicates worn piston rings. That means to correct the problem would require a complete engine rebuild or putting in a new or rebuilt engine. You don't give too much information on the car. Mileage, overall condition of the body and interior. These factors would help determine if it's worth spending that type of money on it.

Alternatively, you could continue to just drive the car as is and keep an eye on the oil level. Determine how much oil you are using per 1000 miles of driving. Adding an occasional quart of oil is relatively cheap when compared to the cost of a new engine. This is what most people would do.

Mike

[Rcfreak20]

Thanks alot. The car has about 170k on it, original block, rebuilt head. The exterior and interior are about a 7.5 out of 10. Man I knew I should have changed the rings out when I had the chance. When I got the car I sent teh head to get clean and reworked. I go the crank machined and put new crank bearings in. The only thing I didn't do was the rings, ran out of $$$. But go figure like they say do it while you're there.

[Mike Gerber]

Rcfreak20,

Putting on a rebuilt head on a fairly old engine will usually increase oil comsumption. You increase the compression a bit and this causes some oil to get by the old rings. But this is not necessarily something to be that concerned about. This engine may have many more miles left on it just the way it is. Like I said before, just monitor the oil level for a while. It's probably not too bad. Back in my day, new Ford engines would use a quart of oil every 1000 miles and Ford considered that normal. If your engine doesn't use more than that I would just continue to drive it.

Good luck.

Mike