I have a 1987 Civic w/35,000 miles and it does this also on startup. It's most likely because of the low mileage the car wasn't
run each day, so it probably has had many "dry" starts. It might burn a little oil, nothing to worry about. Mine is using maybe
1/2 quart a month. Could be the valve seals dry rotted like you mentioned but it should not be any harm, just do your oil changes
and other maintainence.


"Stan Dowiat" <standowiat@alltel.net> wrote in message news:iExGd.3985$aa6.3618@fe61.usenetserver.com...
> I've recently acquired an 88 Accord DX automatic which had 70k miles on it.
> I'm sure this is correct because my wife's grandmother bought it new and
> kept it until I bought it from her. It looks and runs good and the body and
> interior is in excellent shape. Gets about 25 mpg around town. and I've put
> 5k miles on it since November.
>
> The one problem I know of is that it smokes slightly ( blue smoke ) for a
> second on startup after it has sat overnight. Does anyone know if this is
> common on this honda at this age? What is causing this? Is it something
> like how the valve seals on an old chevy V8 start to leak after they get
> old?
>
>
>