Hey car people...how long can a vehicle survive with an oil burning issue?

On my way home from work yesterday, I was driving behind an old and tired early 2000's Chevy Malibu that was belching [b]blue[/b] smoke, which is a sign that it had an oil burning problem.

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Tuscan · 70-79, M

It is perfectly possible to run a diesel engine on old sump oil, which would give the emissions you witnessed. It would not however be road legal or in any way environmentally friendly. There are many ways in which lubricating oil can get into the combustion chambers some of which are more serious than others.