Smoke from exhaust after sitting for a week

[Jellysick]

Hey all, just wanted some opinions on this. I just got back from vacation and went to run a few errands. When I started up my Explorer (2002 4.6L V8, 46k miles) it sounded a little rougher to start. I wouldnt think much of this since it was sitting for 7 days without being driven. However it did start first try, but when it started, I looked in my side mirror and a plume of bluish smoke shot out of the exhaust. I slowly revved the engine and when the RPMs would come back down to around idle, the RPMs would continue to drop almost until it stalled. It never actually stalled, however it did stutter a bit, and I saw the Check Engine light barely flicker when the RPMS were at their lowest point. It would eventually recover after a few seconds and bring itself back up to idle. I revved it a few more times and it would do the same thing. After letting it run for a few minutes, I drove around a bit, and then revved it again in Neutral and everything seemed normal.
I change the oild regularly (3,000 to 5,000 religiously, 5k is absolute tops) and take good care of it! Is this something to somewhat expect after sitting for days at a time or could this be a sign of future problems or engine damage?

Thanks for any input!

 

[ExplorerDMB]

What's your antifreeze level like? Little lower than you last checked it? If it doesn't do it anymore I'd just leave it. Can't fix a problem that isn't there (except that one time)

-Drew

 

[Ray Lobato]

Sounds like you got a little oil in the cylinders. Oil will burn blue, Antifreeze burns white. If it happens only after a long time sitting, then maybe not a big problem, but if it comes back after only a few days, then I would do a compression check on the cylinders to see which one is leaking oil. This could indicate that the rings in one of the cylinders is going bad. Don't see this to often, but it does happen.

 

[Jellysick]

Yeah I am definitlely familiar with the difference b/w burning oil and burning antifreeze. I had an older Grand Prix, the same models which had problems with antifreeze leaking into the engine - so I was familiar with that.

Anyways, it has been running just fine ever since then. Who knows what caused it, hopefully it isn't a sign of future problems. I did leave it on a 1/4 tank of gas though. Anyways, thanks for the replies.