Exhaust cloud on start up
 

I assumed from other posts that the exhaust cloud upon startup was normal for Boxsters. I have noticed however, since replacing the AOS I don't have that cloud of exhaust on start up.

It could be your AOS was on its way out and giving you more of a cloud than usual. My startup cloud is very inconsistent. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's light and other times it's noticeably heavy. It can depend on the weather, how long the car has/hasn't sat, how level/not the spot is where I've been parked, and possibly a bunch of other factors I can't even think of.

Either way, enjoy your lack of smokey startups.

The startup cloud is very inconsistent on my car, before and after replacing the AOS. It stands to reason that a new AOS is certainly a step in the right directoin but I don't think that it fixes the problem once and for all (at least not on my car).

I haven't noticed "the cloud" since I replaced the AOS (6k miles ago), but I'd like to offer "time between starts" as another variable.

Does more or less time between starts add to the cloud occurrence?

Hi, did my AOS about 5 or 6,000 km ago. No more smoke at all.

I think mine's bad too...
 

I decided to check my AOS today and did the oil cap removal trick. There was a bit of suction and the engine began to stutter once the cap was off. Is that a sign of failure or should it be almost impossible to take off the oil cap? I was easy to take off when I initially removed it.