Mercedes 560sel

Tiny
M. TAYLOR57
  • MEMBER
  • 1990 MERCEDES BENZ 560SEL
  • V8
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 190,000 MILES
I have blue smoke that sometimes comes from my exhaust when I start it up and sometimes when I am driving it. It is burning oil, as well as losing oil. It has 190,000 miles on it, but it runs great.
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011 AT 9:48 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
SQM
  • MECHANIC
  • 6,383 POSTS
Hello,

Blue smoke out of the tailpipe means that the oil is entering the combustion chamber and burning as the engine runs.
There are a number of reasons why engines will burn oil like this. It could be due to the engine having too much oil, leaking valve seam seal, broken piston ring, too much clearance between the block and piston.

Take a look at this guide, it covers the typical reasons for blue smoke:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/blue-smoke-from-engines-exhaust

The best option would be to take a look at each possible cause and take appropriate action.
One way you can check if it is the piston rings, is by first testing the compression on each cylinder. If you have a low cylinder compression, you can pour a tablespoon of oil into the spark plug hole and test the compression again, if the compression rises then the issue is likely bad piston ring.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression

Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you.
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Thursday, December 16th, 2021 AT 1:15 PM

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