Oh crap.... HUGE cloud of smoke out the back of my car!!!

Heading to work today and a HUGE cloud of smoke comes out the back of the car... Hysterically my dash camly says, "check engine, drive to dealer". I drive the car home no obvious signs of any problems, no additional smoke, etc. When I turn the car off the check message disappears.. /cry

There are 3 colors of smoke, White (water) Blue (oil) and black (fuel) What color was the smoke? This will help determin what system youo will need to check. Ed

Looked like white. One huge ( and I mean huge) puff. Followed by a 2nd smaller puff after hitting the acellerator again. Then no puff at all. Engine seems to be running absolutely fine. Although given the potential problems perhaps I should take advantage of the 5 day no questions asked return policy. man. I loved this car.

Search the forum. It's not over.

When the car sits for a while, I get smoke when I restart it.

Same issue w/ mine- were you going up a hill by chance? That's what triggers mine. No issue, common experience w/ these cars. Drive it easy for a couple of days and it should clear up completely, even upon startup.

how long have you had it?

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I'd run to the dealer on the 5 day no questions asked. It's a great time to buy, you can find a better one in time. Sorry fo your troubles, GL to you

That's happened to me a couple times. It's water condensation. Nothing to worry about.

+1 sounds like it's just water condensation. The car must have been sitting for a while. Drive the car, don't let it sit.

+1 water condensation. Happened to me too (except I didn't get the check engine light).

I say maybe Oil Separator

Since it was a "huge puff" + check engine light I'd rule out condensation. If it was me I would have to know 100% sure what the issue was in order to keep it since it was just purchased and I have a golden option. If I could not find out within the given window I would not take the chance on it Was it smoke? Did the cloud hang around/smell like oil? Is it a reman engine? Have you talked/asked the dealer if he would give you a time extension while you look into this? Maybe you can have them check it/resolve it and start fresh with the 5 day return option. They would probably rather work with you than have it returned, use your leverage

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Dingo!

I have to agree with some of the other posters...the fact that the smoke was accompanied by a check engine light would give me cause for concern (many of us have had these puffs, but without the CEL). Good luck.

I should have read the OP post more carefully. I didn't notice the CEL. Mine has done the puff of smoke three times, but was never accompanied by a CEL.

I would RUN back to the dealer. I agree - give them a chance to find something and renew the 5 day return policy, or RUN away. This is a buyers market for these cars if there ever was one.

Tom at TPC said possibly oil separator too. They (the dealer not Tom) did offer to extend the 5 day grace period to give them a chance to look at it although I'd want that to be 5 days after I got the car back. I didn't press it though. I just got too gun shy and returned the car. The car did not sit, I put 260 miles on it in 4 days.

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no more car? I bet like other said, they are willing to make it right as they would rather sell it and loose a bit of the profit tahn have it sit until the next buuyer comes along. Ed

Note to self.... PROOF READ

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Smart move. Absolutely no question I would have done the same thing.

Bearing in mind the number of oil sperators that do fail and cause smoking, if you liked the car, I would have probably waited until the actual (not a guess) cause of the problem was found. The next one you get may have exactly the same problem.

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or worse!

As a matter of practicality, I lose nothing by returning the car. There are plenty of cars out there. I'll look back on her with fondness however. She was my first. And as we all know your first time is usually brief. I'll consider it a lesson learned and be better prepared for my next porsche. I won't be fretting over spending a few grand for the extended warranty the next time.

Quote "I'll consider it a lesson learned and be better prepared for my next porsche" I'm not seeing any lesson learning. The car you chose had a fault and you returned it.

relax. The lesson being don't be freaked out by a little (well big) cloud of smoke.

I'd also like to add a thank you for the advice and support. And speaking of learning, an oil separator failure would manifest itself as smoke coming out of the exhaust correct? Is there any significance to the fact that one pipe smoked more than the other?

Well there are cars out there. Lot's? I'm not so sure. Lot's of good one's? I doubt that.

Well it sounds like you bought the car w/o warranty - and almost right away had a failure... plus reading all the posts about this-and-that going wrong probably make you rightfully nervous. As you already said - a warranty will probably make the ownership experience far more pleasurable. Although if you really liked the car - you should think about going back to it. If you didn't -- then you got an awesome test drive!

I went back and forth about it but I did buy a 5 year warranty with the car. But I had my father, the Carmax European Car Service Rep, and the Carmax Buisness guy all tell me that returning the car was the safest course of action. If the car hits the lot again odds are it was a simple repair and I could buy the car again if I wanted to. If it doesn't odds are good there was a more serious problem and it's been wholesaled.

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Good move on your part to return it. You'll find another one soon enough and it'll hopefully be more worry-free. Don't they buy them at the auctions? Therefore, someone else wholesaled it to them.

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Or it may not be significant. Do not know which 'side' of intake 996 AOS connects to. But if like Boxster engine it is connected to say the passenger side (just downstream of the throttle body) early on in an AOS failure episode the passenger side exhaust might emit a bit more oil smoke. If smoke on other side of where AOS connects, this can indicate another souce of the problem: one or more valve seals compromised; failed oil scavage pump or the air flow through the intake system tends to favor the opposite side of the side to which the the AOS connects. I think you did right thing in returning car. Walking away from a questionable vehicle is not a bad thing to do. There is always another car. Sincerely, Macster.

<--- Silver lining to get big white cloud of smoke... =)

Did you ever pull the CEL code on this?

You are not driving the car hard enough ! :}