Hi there. I have a 96 18.Zetec with 80k on the clock. She is good car, get in, switch on and off I go. She is a second car and only does 4-5k per year now but I love her and dont want to scrap her and I cant afford a new one. However, she is smoking more and more on start up and when cold. When she is warm there is hardly any smoke, so I assume that the stem seals are gone. I have the haynes manual but is does not say anything about the valve stem seals. Are they difficult to replace and how difficult are they to buy? Thanks, Russ

Are you sure it is burning oil? Do you have to top up regularly? Only with such low miles I was wondering if it just needed a good motorway run to clear it out a bit.

Are you sure it is burning oil? Do you have to top up regularly? Only with such low miles I was wondering if it just needed a good motorway run to clear it out a bit.

Hi there, it does not use a lot of oil but I do have to top up every now and then. It is oil though, easy to smell and that typical bluish colour.

Regards, Russ

Hi

are you sure it is not just the cold weather?

all cars create steam at start up in cold weather.

tom