[ba999]

I had the puffs of white smoke on my 2002 Boxster S and just replaced the air/oil separator with great success which fixed that issue. I live in Florida which stays warm most of the year and took a trip up to the Tail of the Dragon last fall and stayed at a motel a few days. When I got up and on the road in the morning, I heard a rattle noise from the engine for a few seconds on startup which I had not heard before, but it had gotten cold over the night. I have read a few items on this issue which does appear to be the cam tensioner/timing chain which appears to be quite normal for this engine especially after many years and miles. My car only has 40K on it so I researched some engine oil additives and found one that is made in Germany and fixed it by adding it to the oil. Amazon carries it and it is:

Liqui Moly 2009 Anti-Friction Oil Treatment
Motor oil additive - Liqui Moly MoS2 anti-friction (300 ml. Can)
Forms High load-bearing film of lubricant on all friction surfaces
You will be surprised at how much better your engine sounds and how controlled it will be even at very high RPM

Check it out, I highly recommend it!