White Smoke on Cold Starts?

My 2002 coupe has intermittently been exhaling an impressive cloud of white smoke on cold starts -- especially after the car has not been driven for a couple of days. Could be purely coincidental, but the issue developed the day after I brought car home from an annual service/oil change. I'm calling the dealer tomorrow, but would be grateful for any insights. I have only owned the car for a month but it passed a PPI with flying colors and came back from the aformentioned service visit with a clean bill of health. Does this sound normal? Thanks in advance.

I'm certainly not one of the experts on here, but I don;t see that as an issue as long as it stops when you get going. I try to let mine warm up a bit before driving away, but I have the same thing with my Boxster when it sits up for awhile. I don't let the 996 sit long enough to know usually. However, I am on vacation this week in DC and saw your address. I am staying in chevy chase at the holiday inn. small world. had to bring my wifes' two nephews so didn't get to drive any of my Pcars . The Q45 is not that bad a ride on the interstate tho. I will pay close attention when I get back and start the 996.

Common occurance with 3.6s. Does not seem to occur in 99-01 cars.

The caR will do this often if the staRT CYCLE IS interupted. Overly rich condition. If you mell it, it is fuel. Nothing to worry aBOUT.

John - I see you are still typing your own messages!

My car a 99 has never done this. I don't think this normal and would look for a leaking valve of some kind in the Fuel Injection System that is leaking fuel into the intake manifold from pressure still in the system after shut off.

Steve, as I mentioned above, this behavoir is a common occurance on '02+ cars.

Yeah it does. It's seldom, but normal. Any boxer engine will do it occasionally.

The history of recent oil change is key here. It has happennd to me and is due to the oil being "topped off" by the service department. The white smoke is oil burning, it is benign and will improve as "excess" oil burns off. Not to worry, have fun.

White smoke: White smoke is caused by coolant entering the cylinder, and the engine trying to burn it with the fuel. The white smoke is steam. Blue Smoke: Blue smoke is caused by oil entering the cylinder area and being burned along with the fuel air mixture. Black Smoke: Black smoke is caused by fuel that has entered the cylinder area and cannot be burned completely. It is NOT NORMAL for a flat six to have smoke at startup and is indicative of a problem. Now, it is COMMON in many flat sizes, especially one that are not driven hard. Burning a little oil or fuel at startup will not cause any engine problems, but it does tell you that engine internal tolerances are not right. If it is coloant that you are seeing, then that needs to be looked into sd it will probably get worse. If it.s very humid where you live, the white smoke may simply be condensation in the pipes burning off.

No direct experience on P-cars with this, but on other cars a small puff of white smoke in the morning is often and indication of valve stem seal wear. I'd be surprised if you saw this with the catalytic converters in place, though....

Mine puffs once in a few weeks and it can be bluish. It's nothing to worry but you should monitor the oil level to ensure it's not overfilled.

This is normal and will tend to happen in any flat engine, going all the way back to the early 911's. Note: The smoke should have a slight bluish tinge and smell of burnt oil. If it doesn't, you could have a coolant leak.

It is not always easy to distinguish between blue and white smoke in my experience. Billowing, cloud like white smoke or grey-white smoke or thin hazy sooty smoke, or any of a number of other descriptors can be used. In this case, I still think the key is the recent oil service and I reccomend nothing more than watchful waiting.

Burning oil (as in your case) is not normal for the flat 6 engine. The car is not designed to leak or burn any oil. This is starting to sound like the arguement some people make, claiming an RMS leak is normal and should be expected. If oil is getting into your exhaust system, you have either a valve or cylinder (ring) problem. Habits that will increase the likelyhood of this is too gentle of a breakin (like what Porsche recommends) and the use of 0W40 oil in hot climates. There are ways to help reduce any oil leaking into the cylinders caused by the rings not sealing,; the best being driving the car hard at high RPM's a little more often. Burning a little oil now and then will not harm your engine, but it is not normal. Of all the Porsche's I have had and those that I have run with, only one had a burning oil problem.

Keep in mind Mobil 1 tends to burn with more of a whitish tint than conventional oils.

It's pretty easy to dsitinguish steam from smoke. If it hangs in the air, it ain't steam.

I've heard of this in more 911's than I could ever begin to count, new, old, driven hard, hardly driven at all. The seals are never 100% and some oil can always leak into the cylinder since the rings are not a full circle, which means there's a small gap in them that can always leaks a little. The rings are supposed to be put on with the gaps offset, but this doesn't always happen. Depending on how close together the gaps are, more or less oil can make its way through.

I have an 04 C2. I have done two DE events. My car did have noticible white smoke restarting the car twice during the second event but not on the last run. Have not seen it since. I recall a thread about it but have note been able to locate it. I believe in the end the consences was not to worry about it and I haven't.

The tech from my dealership was at the track when mine did it. I was worried. He said it was normal and not to worry unless it did it every time. Hey...they were paying for any warranty work, so I believed him!!