See any smoke at start-up?
 

I typically did. Just a bit. When I bought the car, it had a check engine light on and the dealership changed one cat converter, and then the other before the CEL went away. Then I notice a bit of smoke at startup but several sites say to expect this on a Boxster-style engine.

So I had to change my starter, and when I got in there, decided to remove the throttle body completely for easier access to the starter on top of the motor. When I did, I noticed engine oil puddles in my intake manifold. Some quick research told me my air/oil separator had failed and the vacuum was pulling engine oil vapors and particles into the intake manifold and mixing with the intake air. The easy check for this is to look at the vent tube from the separator to the intake manifold. If that tube has oil on it, you are burning oil and need to replace the separator. I found this by chance, and the car passed emissions and runs / sounds great. Since I've never owned a Porsche before, I had nothing to compare this to. I can say without a doubt, the car is smoother than it was before, runs even more silent, has better pick-up (horsepower), and there is zero smoke at startup. This was an excellent fix, $100 for the part.

Every time I think I am amazed at how smooth this car is, I find a small issue and I am amazed all over again how well it performs and how smooth the engine is. Folks, your car should be running flawlessly smooth.

It should be said I had zero records on the car when I bought it, so I swapped everything I could. The plugs looked perfect, but new ones made a huge difference. It is well worth it to make SURE you have new plugs.

As for the starter and battery, between changing to the 80AH battery and installing a new Bosche starter, it starts ten times faster than it ever did and actually sounds like a fine luxury car should. Consider the condition of your starter and battery!

This is an 04 Boxster S, and you can see how the car just fits around the 3.2L engine.

Tim

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Good first post Tim, welcome to the forum.

+ 1 for Tim, is this a 550 edition Box by chance? If you clean the throttle body it should idle even smoother.

550
 

Yes, it's the 550 Special Edition with the badge and lots of cool features. Special exhaust, wheel spacers, Carrera brakes, brown leather wrap interior with 'metallic' interior trim, special rims, lowered 10mm, and so on besides being fully loaded. $62,500 new in '04. I bought it in LA and drove it home in October.

I cleaned the throttle body super well, and replaced the vent tube when I did the separator.

It makes me laugh every time I start it because it turns over soo fast and starts soo quick.

It's an awesome car.

Great post and great looking car! I need to get in and clean my throttle body as well and probably change out the air oil separator. Two of my last four starts had a little puff of smoke so it might be time.