A puff of oil smoke
 

After my 98' has been sitting for a couple of days I occasionally get a small "puff" of oil smoke upon first start up...... just one puff and thats it. The car runs great. Is this normal?

100% normal.

Do a search, lots of posts on the subject.

+1, normal for the flat-6 design. Something or other about burning off oil (sounds way worse than it is). Now if you start to get more than a small puff, it could be a larger issue, like a failing AOS. :cheers:

Look up, look waaay up...

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

Using this function will help you to avoid the embarrassment of asking a question that has already been asked and answered abut 5000 times.

5001 now.

I'd almost be more concerned if it didn't do it! ;)
It's apparently a flat motor thing. The Subarus supposedly use oil from the day they're new, and my old Beetle would blow a ton of smoke if I parked it on an incline sideways.

I understand this is normal but am trying to make better sense of the timing. Sometimes the car will, sometimes it won't.

How do factors such as length of last driving session, amount of time the car has sat, outside temp, slope, and rigor of last drive affect this? If anyone knows.

Like everyone else said - no worries, its a flat engine thing. Good question, when mine did it I thought the worst. ;)

In my personal experience, it tends to happen more often when the car has been sitting or if the oil level is a little high. My 986 doesn't really get the white smoke that often. Again, just my observations. :cheers:

Thanks for the replies......
(btw...Mark_T: I DO know how to search and did try a few searches but couldn't find anything, perhaps the search "term or word" I was using wasn't the best)