Hi
Blue smoke is an indication of oil being burnt. Has the vehicle recently had an MOT? If it is excessive then it should have failed.

Sometimes the oil can be atributed to one or more cylinder problems and the only way to identify the problem one is to remove each spark plug and check the condition of the deposits on the elctrodes. Brown/sandy is correct, black soot is over rich white is too weak and black oily is a sign of oil being burnt. A compression test comparison on each cylider will verify. Oil can also be burnt through worn valve guides. If under normal driving their is no visible sign of blue smoke, decellerate and then accelerate and a puff of blue can indicate valve guide wear as the vacuum characterristics change within in the cylinder cylinder head allowing oil to be drawn through the sides of the valves and into the combustion chamber.

If the car has a valid long MOT then keep an eye on the level of smoke and the oil level in the sump. Replenish oil as necessary but excessive blue smoke will cause the Police to pull you over. Also keep an eye on the oil warning light which will come on if the pressure gets too low. By this time the damage is done in most cases.

On Deisels, smoke can also appear due to the injectors being blocked or the gloplugs being knackered. This usually produces a blacker smoke when pulling away and changing gear as the fuel is burnt at a lower temperature. I believe Turbo failure produces the same effect but if your smoke is blue then I still think the problem lies with the burning of engine oil.

I'm afraid their is no cheap answer to cure the problem.

OLDMINIMAN