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I have a 2000 Toyota Sienna Le and every morning for the past month when I start my car a ton of blue smoke comes out the exhaust for about 2-3 minutes and it slows down. I've recently gotten a oil change and it seems to be doing the same thing but for a shorter duration. Can it be burning oil?

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Yes, the blue smoke is most likely the engine burning oil. When the oil burning only happens upon startup, this is usually a sign the valve seals are no longer doing their job. Oil bypasses them as the engine sits and runs down the valve stem to sit on top of the valve, to then be sucked into the cylinder upon startup. As the oil is burned off, the smoke becomes less. The valve seals can also let a small amount of oil in during hard deceleration, where the vacuum inside the intake tract is very heavy, allowing the oil to be sucked past the seals.

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That's no good. I suspect there's something wrong with your head gasket. You might want to do a compression check just to make sure.

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    I'm no professional, but wouldn't that be white smoke?
    – n00dles
    Sep 24, 2016 at 11:32
  • White is coolant, blue is oil. Compression test will not show bad piston oil control rings or valve guides or valve seals.
    – Moab
    Sep 25, 2016 at 0:52

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