Excessive WHITE SMOKE

[TEX]

Hi All,
Have a MY00 Boxster S manual, When I am at a set of traffic lights and have been waiting for a little while and then accelerate off to a Up ramp to get onto a freeway.
There is an excessive lot of white smoke coming from the exhaust pipes, to such an extent that it is embarresing ,I almost can't see the car behind me.
I stress it does NOT happen always.
Also if the car has been parked for a couple of days in my garage , on startup it also happens NOT everytime but sometimes.
What is the problem?

[Steve Tinker]

Tex - white its not uncommon for a flat six cylinder engine to smoke on startup, your white smoke when running could be your air/oil separator (AOS) going bad. A quick check to see if its at fault is open the oil filler cap with the engine idling. If the cap is difficult to remove (ie there is a vacuum) theres a good chance that the AOS requires replacing.
Do a search for AOS and you will get a lot of info.

[yellowboxster01]

Originally Posted by TEX

Also if the car has been parked for a couple of days in my garage , on startup it also happens NOT everytime but sometimes.

Very common due to the engine layout. With the flat engines, the oil sits in the cylinder and then upon startup is burned off. I was alarmed also by that but, my mechanic said they all do that at some point.

[joshua6060]

Don't know if the AOS is your problem or not, but if it turns out to be your AOS, send me a PM, I can help guide you thru repairing this while the details are still fresh in my head, I just changed my AOS last week. Do a search for "AOS Write up" and you will get a great post with pics on how to change the AOS.

[mark79]

Hi I have recently bought a boxster (03) with 77,000 on the clock. On start up I have noticed can often be a bit smokie. It drives very well in its performance but am a bit worried. I have looked back a service history and only now noticed it has had two minor services at 11,000 and 21,000 then the next two were major at 43,000 and 76,000 with no other services in between. Could this mean the engine is worn badly due to the poor upkeep. If so is there anything I can do??

[mark79]

I just checked my oil cap which wasn't to bad to get off but there is a definate vacum. Is this a definative sign of a faulty AOS.

[mikefocke]

for just a second or two. But heavy white smoke, if it happens frequently, is a sign that the AOS "tank" or the tubing to it have a failure (that may only show up on startup or at certain temperatures).

It may have been that the oil was changed at an oil change shop or by the prior owner with only the 15/30/45/60k services done at the dealers which could explain why the records show what they do. If there was wear, no there isn't anything you can do now to repair it but you can follow the "change frequently" approach and consider 5k as the change point rather than the factory recommended 15k. Most of us drive in severe service conditions of stop and go traffic, high and low temperatures, long runs and quick runs....not the ideal conditions the 15k "recommendations" are based on.

An AOS replacement is a less than $125 in parts do-it-yourself job. There are instructions online

A definitive diagnosis can be done by examining the throttle body to determine the amount of oil in it. A heavy film says the AOS needs to be replaced as it is allowing more than vapors to be recycled into the intake.

[MikeM]

I too have definite vacuum at the oil filler cap...so I guess the question is...
how much is "normal"??
I don't have any smoke issues...
Mike

[TEX]

Originally Posted by Steve Tinker

Tex - white its not uncommon for a flat six cylinder engine to smoke on startup, your white smoke when running could be your air/oil separator (AOS) going bad. A quick check to see if its at fault is open the oil filler cap with the engine idling. If the cap is difficult to remove (ie there is a vacuum) theres a good chance that the AOS requires replacing.
Do a search for AOS and you will get a lot of info.

Thanks Steve,
Will try tnat ,re the oil filler cap.
TEX