ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Technical Discussion - Beginner / Repair => Topic started by: mtnbowhunter on July 12, 2020, 02:54:23 PM
-
HI GANG
MY 70,000 MILE 2000 SUZUKI VITARA 2.5L V6 is and has been for a long time using quite a bit of oil and blowing blue smoke when first fired up.
the compression is good and pvc valve okay. I use 10w30 synthetic in it and the oil turns dark after JUST 150 miles of drivng after an oil change. it will go thru a quart in approx. 500 to 700 miles of avg driving. ONCE DRIVING IT DOES NOT SHOW ANY NOTICIBLE SMOKE OUT THE EXHAUST.
my previous 97 4cyl Suzuki jlx did the same thing.
ANY IDEAS OUT THERE????
-
Blue smoke on start up is a common indication of worn/leaking valve stem seals.
-
thanks for the reply
i have often heard about valve stem oil seals causing this, but since this is a lower mileage engine and the oil consumption in my opinion is high and after an oil change the oil dirties up real quick, i thought there might be another issue causing it?????
-
thanks for the reply
i have often heard about valve stem oil seals causing this, but since this is a lower mileage engine and the oil consumption in my opinion is high and after an oil change the oil dirties up real quick, i thought there might be another issue causing it?????
Did you ever find out what causing those issues for you?
I have been driving a 2002 XL-7 with a 2.7L V6 with about 222,000 miles and it suddenly now in the last month or so started blowing blueish smoke on start up and it's upsetting to see.
-
Your situation is different, at 222,000 miles, yours is not a low mileage engine - how many miles are you getting to a quart (yes, it makes a difference)? Wet & dry compression tests would be a good idea, post the numbers...
-
That is a lot of miles for any make... Fordem is on the right track... -Eric
-
At 162k miles my XL-7 ran powerfully without smoke or any oil use (fresh "synthetic" 5w-40 in it).
Then I serviced the timing chain, valve covers were taken off and stored upside down, probably liquefying characteristic sludge in PCV of which I did not know at the time.
After completing the work and driving ~15 miles, the very next morning it started blowing a cloud of smoke.
This continued happening on first cold start of the day. After driving in town at slow speed for a while and then accelerating, it would ping and blow blue smoke, so I'd give it little throttle until ping mostly cleared up, then italian tuneup for 3-4 seconds and then it ran beautifully again. I quickly learned to simply step on it from stops. One consolation of XL-7 is that it rips down the road like nobody's business :-)
It would suck up 1 quart per 150 miles. I basically carrier a gallon of oil and topped it off at every 1/2 tank fill-up.
Having prior experience with Suzuki's valve seals leaking synthetic oil, after the 1st gallon I changed oil to "high-mileage" unsynthetic. 2000 miles later changed it again. 2000 miles later cold-start smoke decreased to a little puff of blue instead of a smokescreen. ~500 miles later it was not smoking on cold start and oil consumption stopped. Oil level stayed at the same 3/4 level over 3 fill-ups, so I topped it off to the full mark. At another fuel fill it was still exactly at the full mark. So total of 2 oil changes & 4500 miles and it's due for another one. Dipstick wipe still looks "clean".
It was a good opportunity to check the spark plugs and they were heavily baked over with oil ash, the ceramic-like gray hard rock that withstands scraping with a screwdriver. Stock IFR5j11 plugs. Sparking electrodes were still clean and bright - they didn't misfire and the engine started on first crank pretty much instantly. In fact with PK16pr11 it takes a moment longer to cold-start.
Conclusion of the story is to never remove the valve covers, or else drill the PCV drains while they are off. And always keep oil fresh, like 2k-3k miles at the most. Suzuki V6 are weird engines.
Did you ever find out what causing those issues for you?
I have been driving a 2002 XL-7 with a 2.7L V6 with about 222,000 miles and it suddenly now in the last month or so started blowing blueish smoke on start up and it's upsetting to see.