Exhaust smoke when starting this morning
 

Tried a search, could't find a topic on this.

So I parked my '00 986 yesterday, (on a hill), at around 17:00 o'clock and drove it to work this morning at 07:45 o'clock.

I noticed in my right mirror - darkish smoke coming from the exhaust and floating by the front of the car and dissapearing again. The smoke was produced as I turned the engine over, and didn't continue. Only for like a couple of seconds.

I never saw exhaust smoke from my car earlier. The temperature has dropped from around 20C to around 15C but should really impact that much?

Any tips on why it suddenly produced smoke when turning over the enigne? Could it be as trivial as starting on an hill? I know it sounds stupid, on probably is(!), but that is the only different factor than the usual morning startup on a flat surface..

All help is much appreciated.

This is common. If I start and move my car out of the garage or drive it a short distance, every once in a while I get a little smoke bomb the next start up when the car sits.

When it is happening very often, your air/oil separator is going out.

Thanks! Is an air/oil separator expensive and is it an easy DIY job?
Edit* found it for $110 on http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/09-ENGINE-Air_Oil_Separator/09-ENGINE-Air_Oil_Separator.htm

yes it is a DIY. One clamp is difficult to get to but other than that - take out, put in.

Thanks again :cheers:

By the way.. Pelican tech-articles is awesome!! So many user inputs combined with the staff answering makes it a great reference site.

Just read this guys tory (although I LOL'ED at the way he wrote Subaru :D )

Eric Comments:

Pelican Parts is awesome! I had what appeared to be an AOS fail, but the mechanic insisted that it was an IMS fail and that the engine of my 2002 Boxster S was destroyed. I spent about five weeks looking into the options: scrapping the car, selling it to someone with an engine, finding a salvage Boxster and doing the swap myself, and even putting in a Suburu engine. Finally, I brought the car home while I waited for a good salvage engine to come on the market. Once home I decided to check out the OAS just in case the mechanic had made a mistake. Thanks to this article I was able to quickly determine that in fact it was the OAS that had failed! I took the car to another local Porsche garage and they confirmed that it was the OAS.

Thanks Wayne!

March 15, 2013
Followup from the Pelican Staff: WOW, awesome story. Thanks for sharing and glad it worked out for you. - Nick at Pelican Parts