ford escort oil probs

[nosher1980]

my 94 ford escort runs great, but when i start it for about 2 mins there is blue smoke coming from exhaust, i check the oil regularly but recently have had to top it up every few days, someone suggested some oil sealant from halfords but am starting to get bit naffd off keep filling oil any ideas

[pilgrim3661]

Sounds like the rings are worn, these "magic cures" in bottles never work

[v64paul]

must agree about the magic cures. fact is old escorts burn oil. carry out a compression check, if this is ok then look to replace the valve stem oil seals. this is'nt too tricky a job with the tools and know how and is a common problem to the cvh engine.

[nosher1980]

ive had it serviced and nothing but a freind of mine says the valve seal thingys would cost bout 400 quid and is fiddly also he said its an ohc engine?????????????

[jake-the-peg]

Thing is if there is blue smoke then that's oil burning.

If it happens on starting and is not so bad after a while of running then it's mostlikely from the valve stems as v64paul says.

You'd have to be a pretty good home mechanic to replace them and it's not going to be a quick job in a garage so yes it will cost a bit.

Mind you how bad is it? if you keep the oil topped up it's not that likely to fail catastrophically and the engine has to be warm for the MOT emission test. 

[nosher1980]

its not bad i know when the oil is getting low as it starts to cut out(this has only started recently) but im checking oil every week and topping it up(costing me fortune)but other than sounding like a tank its not too bad,just annoying