yaya97

Hi all, I am a Cayenne S owner so am writing this question on behalf of a good friend.
He has a 2006 997 cab with 20K miles. Sometimes when he starts it, it smokes a lot ( white smoke). This problem is intermittent. I do want to insist that he is in LA so the cold weather is not an issue.
Of course when the mechanic saw it...it did not smoke.
Any ideas on the white smoke?
Again it has only 20K miles and he bought it new.
Thanks!

Macster

Probably normal. Techs tell me they see cars on the lot: new cars, used cars, even customer cars; smoke upon startup quite often.

The techs tell me that as long as the engine is not exhibiting any untoward behavior, the check engine light stays dark, and the smoking is short lived, tapering off and stopping almost as soon as it starts, the techs pay it no mind.

So should your friend.

To be thorough the car's vital fluids need to be checked. If the coolant level is dropping and the oil level is rising this can be intermix problem, which is serious. It is also quite rare. But the car is still almost new with just 20K miles. It is miles that bring on the issues, not time.

Couple of things your friend can do. Be sure the engine is not overfilled with oil. Be sure the oil does not have too many short trips on it. This can contaminate the oil with unburned fuel and water (combustion by products) and this dilutes the oil and makes it more prone to foaming which adds oil vapor to the crankcase which the AOS (air/oil separator) is not up to removing and it is this oil vapor that causes the smoking.

The oil vapor passes through the sub-par AOS and the vapor has to make a sharp turn at the intake. The droplets in the vapor continue straight and impact on the intake manifold wall. When the engine is shut down and if there is any oil on the wall -- techs tell me that almost always when the intake is opened up they spot the intake walls are wet with oil -- as the hot engine sits the intake warms up from the heat of the engine and the oil runs down and onto intake valves or past open valves into the combustion chamber where the next time the cold engine is started the oil burns incompletely -- cold engine -- and passes through non-functioning converters -- cold converters -- and the smoke is what results.

So again the smoking is (probably) normal but advise your friend to check vital fluids and if the oil has some miles on it and gets used for short trips -- which it probably does -- consider an oil/filter service now and on a more frequent schedule going forward.

yaya97

thanks so much!!!
yes he does VERY short trips with it.

Mcjimmy33

I have not noticed this on my car, but my dealer kind of gave me a rundown of typical things a new 911 owner calls about worrying in the first week, and this was one of them. He stated it generally happened if the car was parked on uneven pavement for a while, I dont remember why though. He said not to worry, they all do it, from the new showroom cars to the older used models on the lot.

Dadio

Used to gt that on my '01 Boxster but have not had the problem on my '07 997. Could be symptomatic of a failing AOS. Easiest way to check is to remove intake plenum and check for excessive oil film inside the large rubber intake pipes. Some residue is normal but if it seems excessive the AOS is likely the cause .

911searcher

Interesting ! Thanks for posting.

I get this from time to time, but only in my driveway, which has a slant.

utkinpol

to have les smoke at next start let car idle for 10-20 sec before you shut it down after you stopped for a parking.

911searcher

I'll try that too. Thanks.

Does anyone know why parking on a slope increases the white smoke ?

utkinpol

any oil that did not go all the way down to the pan finds its way via valves inside of a cylinder and burns at the startup = smoke.

it should stop in 5-10 sec after startup. if it continues to smoke for a minute or 2 or never stops - check with a mechanic.

CosmosC4S

I would think that gives the similar effect of having over-filled engine oil, which is one possible cause of white smoke. Our flat six engines are more prone to this, compared to V and inline engines.

crazycarlitos

+1

trcox57

Perhaps have your friend do an oil analysis next oil change. I've been getting this done for years on cars and planes....tells you a lot about whats going on and it's only $25.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/ is who I use......

911searcher

Thanks. Very helpful.

I get this ... it lasts a few seconds max. Usually much less.
If it lasted 10 seconds I'd have a heart attack.