'98 S500 blue smoke at startup

Went and looked at a '98 S500 this weekend and when the salesman started the car I saw blue smoke out the tailpipe for a few seconds. The car has about 28K miles. Is there a common problem with these engines or ? The car had probably sat on the lot awhile - few days maybe at most. The car is Starmarked - but I imagine that if you bought the car and then brought it in and said its burning oil they'd tell you it was still within specs. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

TIA

Randy
'94 E500

[David C Klasse]

I believe that most symptoms of blue smoke on start up point to worn guides or valve stem seals. The former is EXPENSIVE; the latter not as bad because the head doesn't need to be removed.

Though with less than 30k miles and only a 4 (or 5) year old engine, I can't imagine why they'd be worn so soon. If you do a SEARCH and type in "BLUE SMOKE STARTUP" I'm sure you'll find a bunch of info regarding the problem.