A puff of oil smoke at start-up
 

If I haven't started my 98' (74,000 miles) in a week I occasionally get just a small puff of oil smoke from the exhaust. Is this somewhat typical/normal? The car runs great and really doesn't burn oil between changes.

Thoughts?..... A friend said that it's normal for that to occur if not driven for a week at a time.

It can be normal, especially if the car was run for a short time the last time it was started.

A quick search of the forum shows plenty of results. Here are a few typical threads:
http://986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/37116-smoke-start-up-help.html
http://986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/54970-puff-blue-smoke.html

..and for your outside air temp thread, search "OBC hack".

totally normal for these engines

http://members.shaw.ca/mtharris/search1.jpg

Thanks guys! I appreciate the repies.

RW

normal for the boxer engines. Subies do it too

I think it gives it character - mine does it on occasions and if anyone comments I just say "I'm firing the beast up"

It sounds like your Boxster is a smoker.....get it NicoDerm CQ. That should fix it. "You stick the patch on the rear fender."

Perfectly normal, my car does it as well from time to time. Especially if its been sitting for over a week.

Another fan of the other boxer engine?
 

I've owned two Imprezas and recently bought a 2015 Forester. Great cars and you can't beat their AWD in bad weather.

Welcome to a flat 6 engine. Perfectly normal as described ... enjoy your car!:)