Alot of exhaust when driving. makes a puttering noise. exhaust is blue. Smells like oil is burning.

Black smoke is excess unburnt fuel. Blue smoke is oil being burned, if blue the valve stem seals may be allowing oil to seep down over night.

vechicle could be burning oil.or look under hood for valve cover gasket leaks. oil leaking on hot engine and exhaust manifold will cause burn smell.check drive belt could be slipping.make sure brakes not dragging or if you replace brakes pads you will smell burn smell until new brake shoes or pads break in.

You may have a leaking valve cover gasket and oil is making it's way down to the exhaust or something else that gets very hot. Check your cylinder head for excessive oil dripping down off of the base of the valve cover. Check your power steering pump and hoses for leaks. After you get to where you're driving, look under the car and see where the oil spots are, if there are any. If it's dark or black in color, it's engine oil. If it's more like a red-ish color, it's transmission fluid. See where the oil spot is on the ground and check the engine and see about where it could be leaking.

it sounds like the valve seals have dried out and need replacing.sitting for 5 years and not really being driven they have probably dried out.a common indication of this is when you start the car after sitting for a while you get smoke out the exhaust and don`t see the smoke when you are driving even though its burning oil just at a smaller amount.the vacume of the cylinder on the power stroke is enough that if the valve seal is bad enough oil will be sucked past the seal and valve guide into the combustion chamber and pools a little on top of the piston.then on start up the oil burns off the piston and out the exhaust,as well as while driving each cylinder that a seal is bad the engine vacume draws oil the same way and its burnt,thus you won`t necessarily see the burnt oil coming out the exhaust.you won`t hear any noise from the motor.knowing you have this problem check the oil regularly until its fixed.also check for any other oil leaks from gaskets as sitting will dry out gaskets and you may see some gaskets that may need to be changed.

When the smoke is coming out, stop the vehicle and have a quick look where its coming from, it could be leaking oil going onto your exhaust system, it could be coming from your breather, have a look.

Common causes of smelling "burning" oil are:

1. a leak in the valve cover gasket. When oil leaks from the valve cover gasket, it will often burn off on the manifold.
2. a blown oil seal causing oil to burn off on the exhaust system
3. check your exhaust for "blue smoke" a sign that the engine is actually burning oil. Just guessing here but a 16 year old Volvo is bound to have quite a few miles on it.

I hope you found this post helpful in diagnosing your problem. Thank you for using Fixya! Greg

Black smoke is fuel.
Blue is oil.
White is coolant / water.

Fuel is caused by timing and cold start system and requires some discussion to clarify.

Oil burning only on start is caused by failing rings on your cylinders. Oil then enters the combustion chambers and burns when you start the engine. If it continues to burn when running in particular when you accelerate it will also indicate ring/cylinder failure. It can also be from a failing head gasket where oil travels from the lubrication system into the combustion chamber. Some of the anti smoke additives available at the auto supply store do help.

I doubt you are seeing white as you say is smells like exhaust. White is coolant in the combustion chamber or exhaust system.


Hope this helps you.

it's burning oil the problem is either a burnt valve or piston rings

car may need some spark plugs wirs

the tapping are the lifts tapping because there is no oil getting to the top of the motor. the blue smoke is the oil burning.could be the head gasket is going bad or the piston rings are done in.