I just read a thread about Lexus having a sludge issue, due to lack of proper maintenance, the issue is smoking during startup? I just purchased my 2000 LS400 with 70,000 miles, and saw for the first time, yesterday and then again this morning (the temp has been in the upper single digits to low teens at startup) a small cloud of blue smoke, which goes away in a few seconds. Being this is the 1st time it's been this cold since I bought it last week, it might have happened before, but I don't remember seeing it the first 4-5 mornings I drove it.

I have a 30 day, 1000 mile basic warranty from the dealer, I declined to spent the $1500-2000 on a 2-3 year warranty for it, as these are quite reliable cars. This does worry me now, I am going to drop it off on Sat at the dealer, and they'll look at it Monday morning. If this is the above mentioned sludge issue, what should I do? Is it something that they should take care of under my warranty, or something that should have been taken care of before I purchased it? Usually the smoke at startup indicates bad valve guide seals, oil leaking past them over night and hence the smoke at startup, but with this car, I guess I'm not sure. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

Moved to the LS section.

what did the dealer find on Monday?

[color=#3333FF][size=4] I had a 92 ls400 with 158,000 and when i let this vehicle sit in the garage for a week, the vehicle will spit out blue smoke when i first start it. after that, I have no problems. I purchased a used 00 ls 400 in june of this year, had 75k miles on it. I let this vehicle sit in my garage for a week also due to vacation. when I started it up, it also spit out blue smoke, this vehicle had been service every 5k mile according to service record that I recieved from lexus dealership. No problem with blue smoke spitting out now. Drove 1500 miles over thanksgiving weekend with no problem.