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Have a problem with my car – a Mitsubishi Magna ’95. it runs fine, but when in traffic for any length of time, lots of blue smoke starts to come from the tail pipe. After moving again for about 1-2 minutes, the smoke goes away. The engine oil is at normal level – I checked the radiator and it needed approximately another 0.75 litres of water adding. Help.
Sounds like it could either be rings or valve seals. If it was white smoke then it could be head gasket, which would be coolant leaking into cyclinders.
smell the smoke .. oil smoke will smell like oil .. coolant will smell sweet and like steam .. trans fluid will smell like fluid ..
Blue smoke, maybe mistaken for white smoke? aka steam, and given the fact that your coolant level was low could point to a internal coolant leak, not necessarily a head gasket,could be intake or some where else, not familiar with Mitsu engines.does the temp rise while sitting in traffic? If it is Blue , would indicate oil leaking internally like mentioned before. usually when its the rings the blue smoke with appear upon acceleration, when the valve guides or seals leak you'll see it on deceleration because of the high vacuum created when the throttle is shut, the engine vacuum sucks the oil from the leaky valves, sometimes you have to put it in low gear to check this. start out stopped and accelerate hard, do you see the smoke? if yes could be rings. next put it in normal drive get up to about 30 mph and drop it in low the engine should brake the car, slowing it down, if you see smoke doing this maybe time for a valve job or maybe just new seals. When sitting in traffic engine vacuum is high as the throttle valve is closed and could be leaking past the the valve seals/guides. For the record black smoke is a rich fuel condition. Hope this helps.