RDS928S

Who's car smokes upon start up?

My car puts out an initial plume (small cloud) of blue /purple smoke. Then stops after a few seconds. This was always sporadic since i have owned it.
But lately its doing it on every initial start up & sometimes on subsequent start ups during the day?

It does not emit any smoke during normal operation what so ever. Just @ initial start up for a brief moment.

Oil is Motul racing 0-40.


Thanks in advance.

mffarrell

Sounds like bad valve guides/seals. How many miles?

RDS928S

67k miles.

TheDeckMan

Could be turbo seals.

Turbodan

could be from just shutting if off after pulling up. On another thread it was discussed that to avoid the smoke on startup many owners let the car idle for 2 or 3 minutes before shutting it off and it avoids the smoke on startup. My car does it sometimes and I try to let it idle before shutting it down and seems to eliminate it.
Unless of course you are talking about very dark blue smoke which could be something more serious. Good luck

Carlo_Carrera

Let the car idle before shut down.

fpb111

Mine also does this. I have noticed that if I keep oil level @~2 bars low it doesn’t seem to happen as often. I suspect my gauge might be a little pessimistic.

It really only happens when I am at a Cars n Coffee and folks are watching.
Motel 5-40, 26k miles.

Macster

An occasional brief episode of smoking upon startup is based on my 145K miles with my Turbo normal. (And my 315K+ miles with my Boxster.)

I do let the engine idle some before shutting it off, this is to let the turbos shed some heat which helps prolong turbo bearing/seal life. (This idle is I believe mentioned into the owners manual.)

I prefer to run the oil level at the max line and this doesn't appear to play a role in how often the engine smokes.

Primarily the biggest factor appears to be how many miles the oil has on it. I change the oil every 5K miles. It is very very rare for either engine to smoke with fresh oil.

However, it is less rare for an engine to smoke with oil that is gettting close -- say to within 1K miles or less -- to that 5K mile threshold.

Even with 5K miles on the oil, and one time I was so busy/distracted with family stuff I let the Turbo go 10K miles between oil changes (!), neither engine smokes when started hot. Neither smokes at any time when running.

If the oil has big miles on it consider changing the oil. It is important to follow the factory oil change procedure and to refill the engine with the correct amount of oil to then confirm the electronic oil level system reports the correct oil level. IOWs, one should *not* use the electronic oil level system to "measure" the amount of oil in the engine but only to verify with the correct amount of oil in the engine the system reports the correct oil level.

If with fresh oil and an engine not overfilled with oil if the engine smokes too often and my yardstick is if I can remember the last time it is too often or if it smokes upon a hot or warm start that is something other than the normal behavior.

My WAG would be turbo seals. The techs told me that if the intake has oil in it, if the intercoolers have collected some oil, if the compressor wheel of the turbo shows oil sign that's a good indication the turbo seals are bad.

T10Chris

I've seen mezger engine cars with 2500 miles (997.2 GT3RS 4.0) smoke like mad on start up. I've seen ones with 100k miles not smoke at all. It's part of the "character" of these engines I suppose. "How do you know if your Porsche has enough oil? It smokes on start up!"

Some people say to let idle before shutting down, some say it doesn't matter, I have no idea what causes it, but I can confidently say that virtually all do it occasionally and it is probably based on the design of the engine and where the oil is flowing after shutdown.

Just find out the situation that causes yours to do it if it bothers you, and as long as it isnt excessive like burning through a quart a week or something weird, work around not getting in that situation. For example, mine only does it when people are around and watching so I just cant drive the car in public areas anymore.

RDS928S

T10Cris; Thanks- good response.

My digital oil gauge is at full. Maybe slightly over filed.

My car leaks & burns zero oil. Even after track laps & 200 mile round trip to the track. Oil level rarely changes.

jpflip

Simple check, you should take a look at your turbos outlet pipes for presence of oil in them....

911mhawk

It has been said replacing the small O-ring on stick end of oil filter cap may help.
Idle for a minute before shut down, more after driving hard on boost.
Make sure engine is not overfilled.
Cross your fingers when starting at a car event, in a parking garage, whenever people are checking car out...

s65e90

Totally normal. The engine's cylinders are sideways and the turbos hang lower. Sometimes these cars puff a bit of smoke on startup. As long as it goes away and doesn't seem to get worse, it's characteristic of the flat 6 engine.

Kevin

These engines do smoke on startup every 6 or "X" start ups. OR when people are looking..

I'd start with the easy diagnostics and recommend a oil change to a 5W50. Motul tends to be thin or low on the viscosity range. 300V is a light weight 40W vs other oils. I have seen it with my own cars and customers, movig to a higher weight oil will tend to slow down the start up PUFF.

IF you NEED to stay with Motul, they make a 5W50 Sport..

If your turbochargers "seals" are failing a quick check is to remove the lower hose from the turbocharger discharge to intercooler. If you have oil in these hoses, your turbochargers are failing. HOWEVER, a high oil level will vent oil mist to the drivers side intake plenum. Gravity will allow oil to run down to the drivers side turbocharger. I would clean up the oil mess and drop the oil level down two bars levels. I'd drive the car for a few days and see if you have oil in the hose. If you do, you might need to rebuild your turbochargers.

We are starting to see failing turbochargers as these cars age and miles increase.

PaleAle

Mine smokes on occasion but I usually let it idle before I shut it off. One guaranteed way for me to get smoke is to start it and shut it off nearly immediately. I asked my indy about it and he says he always lets TTs idle for at least 5 minutes when he moves them around his shop for just that reason.