Oil coming out of plug hole

Hi all,

What does it mean when blue smoke ( from burning oil, of course ) comes out of a spark plug hole. I pulled a spark plug on a friends engine when it wasn't starting...he had cranked it pretty hard a few minutes before...the spark plug was very worn, very large gap, with black around the top threads and blue smoke was coming out of the spark plug hole ( the car was not run or heated up ).

Anyone know what this represents? This is a daily driver and was driven the day before...not beaten on at all.

Thanks! -Joe O.

Which is it? "cranked up pretty hard", "car not run or heated up" or "not beaten on at all" Cranking pretty hard on a cold engine is beating on it in my book.

Sounds like it needs a tune up and a good compression check for starters. An old engine may burn some oil at startup when cold either because the rings are leaking or the valve seals or guides are worn. checking the vacuum might give some clues also.

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