We study the long term Kepler light curve of the blazar W2R 1926+42 (∼1.6 yr) which indicates a variety of variability properties during different intervals of observation. The normalized excess variance, F var ranges from 1.8 per cent in the quiescent phase and 43.3 per cent in the outburst phase. We find no significant deviation from linearity in the F var-flux relation. Time series analysis is conducted using the Fourier power spectrum and the wavelet analysis methods to study the power spectral density (PSD) shape, infer characteristic time-scales and statistically significant quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs). A bending power law with an associated time-scale of $T_\mathrm{B} = 6.2^{+6.4}_{-3.1}$ hours is inferred in the PSD analysis. We obtain a black hole mass of M • = (1.5–5.9) × 107 M⊙ for the first time using F var and the bend time-scale for this source. From a mean outburst lifetime of days, we infer a distance from the jet base r ≤ 1.75 pc indicating that the outburst originates due to a shock. A possible QPO peaked at 9.1 d and lasting 3.4 cycles is inferred from the wavelet analysis. Assuming that the QPO is a true feature, r = (152–378)GM•/c 2 and supported by the other timing analysis products such as a weighted mean PSD slope of −1.5 ± 0.2 from the PSD analysis, we argue that the observed variability and the weak and short duration QPO could be due to jet based processes including orbital features in a relativistic helical jet and others such as shocks and turbulence.