New to the site. I have a 1991 Protege DX that I have owned for about 4 months. The car runs great, I drive it on a 60 mile round trip to work. It currently has 186,000 miles on it and is a 5 speed. The only problem I have is when first starting it after sitting a while it smokes real bad. After a few minutes of driving it clears up and will not smoke at all. Smoke is blueish, so must be oil. I am thinking bad valve seals, but I always thought with leaky seals you may get a puff or two and thats it. This thing looks like a jet for a few minutes. Just wanting to get some thoughts on this. If it is valve seals would it be worth fixing? I would hate to spend more on it than what I gave for it. Other than the smoke the car runs great and gets great gas mileage. What would be a rough estimate for repair, and what would the long term affects be if not fixed? Thanks for any input.

 

depends really would you be doing the work or someone else? cause if your going to get the motor riped apart you gotta be sure thats the problem cause that stuff is $$$, it does kinda sound like the valve seals are shot but if your not doing the work get a second quote by a small mechanic shop the big ones are the ones that are going to drain you for everything you have.

 

I've been checking on it and one person told me he could do it for $150 plus the parts. Doesn't sound too bad. What other problems may cause this? It only smokes for a few minutes at startup.

 

when you start your car do you smell anti-freeze or when you take your oil dip stick can you smell the anti-freeze in the oil? just so i can pin point the problem

 

No antifreeze smell anywhere. No signs of it on the dipstick and no signs of it losing any. Smoke is a blueish/grey and only last for a few minutes, but it smokes alot for those few minutes. After that, no smoke at all.