bad rings or valve seals?

[cesarlcase]

Well I just bought a 2.3 7 bolt about 8 months ago. Since I installed it, I noticed blue smoke. The guy I bought it from said the car he removed the motor from was in a fire and may have damaged the valve seals? Either way, the pistons and all that are brand new when i checked them out when I first bought the car. Here are my symptoms:
When It's cold outside, I notice a nice puff of blue smoke out coming out the exhaust, but then clears right up.
Upon driving again and coming to a light, very light but noticeable amount of blue smoke comes out.
There is oil around my exhaust manifold,like a decent of oil build up, even after I cleaned it.
Haven't seen dipstick come out, but did notice a little white color smoke from oil cap when opened up... Similar to a cup of hot coffee kinda smoke if that helps any (only seen once.)
The car accelerates viciously, regardless of major exhaust leak.

Based off the information, what do you guys think before testing?

[Simple Jake]

Definitely the valve seals. The puff of blue smoke at first startup and idling at a light is a dead give away.

[cesarlcase]

Originally Posted by Simple Jake

Definitely the valve seals. The puff of blue smoke at first startup and idling at a light is a dead give away.

thanks man, but what about the little puff of smoke I saw from the oil cap when i opened it? is that ne thing necessarily?

[nettslash]

Originally Posted by cesarlcase

thanks man, but what about the little puff of smoke I saw from the oil cap when i opened it? is that ne thing necessarily?

My guess would be moister. Now if it continues to smoke, that's something to look into.

[cupa-joe]

Originally Posted by Simple Jake

Definitely the valve seals. The puff of blue smoke at first startup and idling at a light is a dead give away.

I second this, if you let it idle and give it a rev to you get a puff of blue smoke?

[gdmbat85]

Compression test, then compression test with a capful of oil in the cylinder. If compression changes noticeably, it's the rings. If not, it's the valve seals, or a leaky headgasket. Vapor coming out of the oil cap is normal, so long as it's not billowing out.

[issac712]

Originally Posted by gdmbat85

Compression test, then compression test with a capful of oil in the cylinder. If compression changes noticeably, it's the rings. If not, it's the valve seals, or a leaky headgasket. Vapor coming out of the oil cap is normal, so long as it's not billowing out.

+1 agree

[stangburner]

The little small coffee like puff is nothing .Now if it was puffing like crazy looking like smoke signals then I would think rings .It sounds like valve seals for sure.