Blue-white smoke from driver side tail pipe after valve cover gasket replaced

[zachthefcr]

A belated thanks for your reply. BTW, I added a quart of that Lucas oil stabilizer to my engine oil as recommended by another member. The smoke stopped immediately, and hasn't recurred, so far, for over 500 miles of driving. I too was highly suspicious of why my oil consumption didn't change once I had the gasket leaks repaired. At least for now, will hold off on anything but adding the Lucas product.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by X5only

But-but-but it wasn't smoking before the valve covers repairs, no? Why would the seals suddenly start leaking? The sequence of events points to something other than valve seals being the culprit of the sudden smoke that wasn't there before the repairs, I think. There's a very typical assumption that a smoking N62=worn valve stem seals....not true.

It was not observed to be smoking according to his post. It could have been and gone unnoticed I suppose.

What else @100,000 miles could be causing oil-induced smoking? Not sarcastic, seriously asking... because as I said... my N62 (114,000 miles) has this issue as well.

Originally Posted by zachthefcr

A belated thanks for your reply. BTW, I added a quart of that Lucas oil stabilizer to my engine oil as recommended by another member. The smoke stopped immediately, and hasn't recurred, so far, for over 500 miles of driving. I too was highly suspicious of why my oil consumption didn't change once I had the gasket leaks repaired. At least for now, will hold off on anything but adding the Lucas product.

No problem. Glad it helped you. You will still get smoke if you idle for longer periods of time, but the additive gets you through 99% of driving conditions without it. I have to use the heavier oil AND the additive as my seals are probably further gone than yours.