Oil

[MrBen]

I have asked this before but felt I would ask again. At takeoff from a stoplight, a small puff of blueish smoke will come out. The longer I am sitting the more blue smoke there is. It doesn't do it all the time, but it does do it off and on.

My question: what's causing this? What is the CHEAPEST way to fix this, not remedy it? I don't want additives or some other crap because it didn't work for me. Can I go to the junkyard, get whatever it is, and pop it on my car?

[Dibbs]

Valve guides if I remember correctly. Those are not an easy/quick fix either. I believe valve guides need to be pressed into the head too. A machine shop should be able to do this for you. I have yet to do this on a Honda yet so I'm not familiar w/ the difficulty of the procedure. If you do get this done, it might be a good time to get new belts unless they are fairly new.

[MrBen]

I've got new belts already.

Any idea of the cost? I know, I need to call the mechanic, but I was just there. My choke stat was replaced (now my car finally idles!)

[Dibbs]

The valve guides will probably have to be bought from the dealer. Majestic has them for around $100 total for the 12 valve guides needed. The OEM head gasket ($41)from the factory is only $8 more than Autozone, so you might want to buy that from Majestic as well along w/ the exhaust manifold gasket which is about $10 cheaper than Autozone. The only thing I would buy from Autozone is the intake manifold gasket which is about $3 compared to around $12 from Majestic. So you're lookin at near $165 (shipping included) for parts. Labor I could not gauge at all. Just depends on who you go to. I'm not sure if the guides can be installed by the average joe or not so I'd double check that b/c it would be a LOT cheaper to save on all that labor.