My 90 2.5td starts fine, but blue smoke's a cloud and runs a bit rough for about 10 seconds - then it all evens out and runs fine except for the odd slight misfire and when it does that hiccup misfire the exhaust puts out a small chuff of blue smoke. If you drive off straight away a sensation of holding back intermittently happens, I suspect because its chuffing a blip of smoke again. After a few minutes this stops and it drives perfectly, pulls ok (needs cog down on hills but can do 65 no problem at all). It does not smoke once all these shannagans over, even when checking in mirrors/following headlights etc. If you stop the engine it will restart no smoke, unless you leave it for a while, the longer you leave it the greater the cloud.

Sounds very much like normal to be honest. Blue smoke is oil, not a brilliant sign but a 19J engine is going to be fairly old now anyway.

Could be a sign of a worn engine (valve stem seals, rings, bores), could be confirmed with a compression test. Like you say, it runs and drives as expected so I wouldn’t worry too much, keep an eye on oil consumption.

Thanks

Sounds like a 19J warming up. They're 30 years old now, and let you know it!

A full engine overhaul would likely cure it, and cost an arm and a leg...

It shouldn't be misfiring, and a misfire of not repaired could cause internal damage, misfire could be fuel pressure, air in fuel , bad injector but if its a random misfire then the first two are more likely. A bit of smoke on startup could still be a problem but not something I would worry too much about, a misfire I would worry about.

Alpinewoodsman said:

Sounds like a 19J warming up. They're 30 years old now, and let you know it!

A full engine overhaul would likely cure it, and cost an arm and a leg...

Click to expand...

So would properly diagnosing the fault and repairing it, and that wont cost as much as rebuilding the engine. I really dont get it, a 19J has a problem and people jump to the old ''it needs a rebuild'' chestnut, this problem could simply be a fuel filter causing low fuel pressure.