A little blue smoke on startup
 

Long story short , a friend and I did some hooning last night (fully warmed up) for about 3-4 minutes and then continued home. Parked the car for the night.

This morning it was in the 20s and it cranked a little slow and gave a little puff of blueish exhaust. Ran fine on my errand, then when I started it up to come back from home depot it idled a little low (600 rpm) and I was getting a slight intermittent rattle/knock. Turned the car off, started it up again and the idle was fine with no similar noises. I drove carefully home without incident.

Haven't started her up since but I will before I commute tomorrow. Am I being paranoid here? I know our engines are far from quiet. Oil was changed by Subaru at 11,500 miles two weeks ago.

2014 Limited / 11,900 miles / stock but for a drop in and cat back & motul diff & tranny fluid.

Possibly damaged valve seals. Knock and low idle could be from momentarily fouled spark plugs on start up. How badly did you over rev it while hooning?

Bounced off the rev limiter a couple times on one drift/donut.

I'm in the car now and it's idleing fine after a cold start. About 800 rpm.

Maybe I'm being a bit nuts.

Are you 100 on it being blue smoke?
Because that's never a good sign


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I'd check your oil level.

No, I'm not. I noticed the 'puff' right after I cranked it when it was floating away from the car to my left. Grey-ish I suppose, but darker than normal when it's 25 degrees out.

Oil is good, right in the middle of high and low.

If it was that small of a puff I doubt your oil line would differ too much right now. Id say take it in to get looked at.


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Agreed on the oil level. I don't plan on taking any chances so a check up seems like a safe plan.

could it possibly be from oil blow by? i know alot of people on here posting how if you're driving at high revs you should get a catch can. just a thought

Most likely thing happening is its just "smoking" more because it's getting colder outside. That's probably why your car took a little longer to crank over as well

Right, and it was a slow crank, not a long one, if that makes sense. Like a slightly low charge on the battery type of crank.

These are horizontal engines. Unlike a V or inline engine where residual oil drains out of the combustion chamber, the oil will pool. In aircraft engines, especially when cold, it is not uncommon for them to puff on startup. I wouldn't worry about the engine."Honing" and drag racing is very hard on an drivetrain, and you are likely to wear out drivetrain parts prematurely.

John