Exhaust Smoke Question - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

joshua6060 · 01-30-2006, 09:08 AM

I have noticed, over the past few weeks, that each morning I get into my 2001 Boxster that I purchased in November with 42,000 miles as a CPO Boxster, when I start it up, for the first say 3 or 4 minutes, there is a small but unusual amount of smoke that comes from the exhaust, I find this to be very odd since at no other time during the day when i'm out running errands or work or whatever does this smoke/exhaust appear, only when I get into the car in the morning. Does anyone have any ideas of what I need to look at or might be the cause or any similar experiences?

blinkwatt · 01-30-2006, 10:16 AM

Because of the Boxster's engine design it will have a small minor amount of oil that comes out of the exhaust. It is not unusual,but the question is how dark is your exhuast smoke? Mine does it during the morning when I first start it up but not later in the day.
This is from www.986faq.com
"The Boxster engine uses a flat six cylinder design. Because of this construction, oil residue remains under the piston heads and burns off at every start up. This can produce a white puff of smoke. It should only lasts a few seconds. This is normal, and no correction is necessary."

Scotty_Boxter_S · 05-14-2006, 05:58 AM

it done it again today, worse than ever, I keep checking my coolant levels but they do not drop at all, if this is a cylinder head gasket popped, wouldn't the collant level be dropping??

I am getting real worried now.

RandallNeighbour · 05-14-2006, 12:26 PM

Scotty, get it checked out... this way you won't be so worried and you'll know what's going on with your fine ride.

ralegen · 05-14-2006, 02:19 PM

How's your idle? My idle started to get worse and worse because I had a bad oil separator which was leaking a tremedous amount of oil into the throttle body and intake system. I would get misfire codes and what have you. I swapped the separator and cleaned out the throttle. Runs perfect now, and no more white smoke. Do a search on WHITE smoke. You should see a post where I uploaded some pictures.

Scotty_Boxter_S · 05-14-2006, 11:18 PM

ralegen,

my idle seems fine, I will keep a very close eye on this over the next couple of days, I have contacted my dealer and he says I could be lack of use, he has asked me to keep a very close eye on the coolant levels, and I will drop it into him later this week.

I will keep you posted guys.

thanks again.

MNBoxster · 01-30-2006, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joshua6060

I have noticed, over the past few weeks, that each morning I get into my 2001 Boxster that I purchased in November with 42,000 miles as a CPO Boxster, when I start it up, for the first say 3 or 4 minutes, there is a small but unusual amount of smoke that comes from the exhaust, I find this to be very odd since at no other time during the day when i'm out running errands or work or whatever does this smoke/exhaust appear, only when I get into the car in the morning. Does anyone have any ideas of what I need to look at or might be the cause or any similar experiences?

Hi,

Some slight smoke on a Cold Startup is normal for an Engine with Horizontal Cylinders like a Boxer Engine. This is because Oil won't flow back to the Oil Sump under Gravity as it would with an upright V engine. Most likely, once the Engine has completely cooled and things contract, such as the Rings, some Oil can pass the Oil Control Rings and get into the Combustion Chamber. It also can enter through any open valves as well. Add to this that some moisture will also condense inside the Muffler and add to the effect as Steam.

With 42k mi. on the Clock, you could also have an Oil Separator starting to go bad, but the smoke you'd see due to this would not be nearly so slight as you indicate.

It's most likely nothing. Keep an eye on it, and your Oil level, and take the appropriate remedy if it worsens. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

joshua6060 · 01-30-2006, 11:23 AM

Thanks for the info, I luv my Boxster and try to keep an eye on everything :-) Happy Motoring to All, Spring is near, ready for drop top weather!!!!!!!!

Rail26 · 01-30-2006, 04:37 PM

I thought it was cool enough to take a picture:

Caught the smoke!

sooner · 01-31-2006, 08:50 PM

The previous owner of my '98 had that problem because the oil was over filled at an oil change. Oil was drained to correct level and problem solved.

rbennett · 01-31-2006, 09:55 PM

This is a strange one for me, I have owned my MY 2000 986 for over two years and have not once seen the smoke on start up.

Then one day in the moutains, I fired it up and saw the infomous smoke which disapated quickly.

The only thing I can attribute it to is it was parked on a step incline for the night. I have not seen it since