White Smoke at the track?

At a recent track day last week my car would push out a ton of white smoke when I would first start the car before every run.(only after the first run and in between) After about 30 seconds or so it would disappear but, it was pretty heavy. Any ideas as to why this happens? It does not do it under normal operating conditions.

Discussed many times, use the search function. I say it is normal if not every time. Others say it is bad. My experience has been that if your oil level is right at the top, this will happen more often.

Embarrasing, isn't it? So long as it's brief, only on start up, and only at the track after a hard run, it's supposedly normal. As Patrick said, I get it most when the oil level is all the way to the top, never at half-way mark.

Hey thanks Palting.....yah, a few people at the track said it was normal but, my car seemed to do it the most....with the oil being about 1/2 litre down. Anyone know why this happens?....it was a great day anyway!!!

When you're cornering hard the oil gets shoved against the side of the engine causing some oil to pass by the cylinder. So when you restart the car the oil is trapped in the combustion chamber and it's burned. That's the white smoke. The way to avoid this from happening is to return to pit road or your parking spot and leave the car idling for about 2-3 minutes.

Cause: Oil residue under the pistons heads. The 996 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 last a few seconds. This is normal, and no correction is necessary. Happens more at the track as you are running fast and hard, and then stopping fairly shortly afterwards - with the engine hot but off, you're probably getting more oil past the rings and under the piston heads under cornering. If it continues after more than a few seconds it can be a sign that the air/oil seperator is failing, spraying oil into the pistons. This causes smoke and can damage cats and mess with your o2 sensors. Oil sperator failure is fairly common on 996/968 etc. Chris.

Wow....great stuff.....I guess Ill have this checked out on my next service. Thanks all!!!!

Yeah, normal, but idling doesn't seem to solve the problem for me, still happens, I just ignore it. Now that there are a lot more 996's at the track, people are getting used to seeing it.

Thanks for the answer. It make sense!!!

i have tracked several m96 motor'd cars. some have more white smoke than others, some got none. i tend to overfill oil all the time and have blown out the cat that way, but never had (i think) air/oil separator issues. is there a way to definitively chk for air/oil separator failure other than white smoke? i mean can i access the separator easily.

It's happened to me twice..... after getting off the track and shutting the engine down without letting the engine cool off properly. The first time it happened, I didn't connect the dots. Now, I ALWAYS make sure I drive the car at low speed for a couple of miles and let the engine idle for a while before shutting it off after each track session.

The smoking is common, but not normal. I notice this on a lot of 996s, IMO it's a function of the "integrated" dry sump and hard, high G turns. My car has never smoked at all and I have been tracking since new, so not all cars seem to be affected. In addition to idling after a run make sure the last cool down lap is just that, a nice easy lap around the track.

If your car isn't doing it, maybe you aren't driving fast enough I know some people who don't have this issue, but they are also gentler on their cars. Those of us who are rough on our equipment seem to have more of an issue. If it was caused by high G forces, you'd think it would happen on the track, not off the track -- as soon as the oil goes into the combustion chamber it will burn. I suspect it has more to do with the oil atomizing in the engine and condensing in the cylinder after shut-off (which is why letting it cool down seems to solve the problem for some people). My 944T did this same smoking thing if I don't let it cool down, in that case it was oil vapor condensing in the PCV system and so I removed it and installed a catch can.

Funny, "hot walking" for a car!

I thought the 996's (except for the GT2 & GT3) didn't have dry sumps. Am I missing something???

Good point. This should help as well. Not only cool down the engine and brakes but go easy on the turns also.

-The 996 is a "puffer." No doubt that it happens. My example sounds a lot like yours. I have been trying to figure this all out since I've owned the car, but haven't yet. If I let the oil level stay on the low side of the marker, then I don't get the smoking. If I add about 1/3 or more of oil and the marker goes to the half way mark, then it's a real "bug killer" upon start up after driving hard. -Also, I do notice that if you keep off the redline, the smoke seems to be less or non existant. -I have allowed it to idle, but that doesn't seem to help my car at all. -I had the oil separator replaced and if I follow what I mention above, it does seems to help avoid the smoke. Conclusion: the 996 is a "puffer." Not all of them, but a lot of them for sure. The dealer claims that "it's normal." I say hogwash for such an expensive car!

I was concerned about this issue this year. Last year it happened to me once at the track. I had heard about it from this forum so I went out with my run group. This year it has happen several times (5-6?). I thought . I am told this is normal from the dealer but??? Now it makes sense, ok I have a smoker, no big deal....but I am now running in the blue/white group not the green so I now have an answer. That's my story and I'm sticking to it....

You are correct, "integrated dry sump" is Porsche marketing speak for wet sump. There is no separate oil tank. It is no different than the semi dry sump construction of say, the S54 BMW M3 engine, except it's a straight 6. Flat 6 needs dry sump. Shame because all 993's and prior 911's all have real dry sump blocks.

Granted this was in my 986, but provided the smoke wasn't caused by something like this, then you will be fine. My 986 smokes a little on startup after having been run hard then shut down quickly and so does my 996, but I usually let the 996 idle or cool-run for a while since it is supercharged.

Here's another from few frames prior.

Hey, how much was the oil separator?

Hootchie, My oil separator was replaced by the dealer a couple of months ago...while it was still covered under warranty. Good luck and if you discover the "holy solution" to the puffer, let us know. I will keep you informed as I go through the protocols to try and figure this out.