deons

My wife moved her daily driver today and I noticed a white puff of smoke in the left exhaust tip at startup. The car was driven yesterday a little harder than normal (I drove it but was only up to 115 MPH).

Coolant level is fine. Any ideas?.

Kind Regards.
Deon.

rome

Election of a new Porsche CEO?

deons

Yep that was a very helpful answer.

Thanks.

pdxjim

Nice one rome! :-)

Budget M3

Probably just some left over condensation in the exhaust. Did you park it while the weather was cooling off, and the vehicle still hot--i.e. soon after the run to $1.15? Especially if the humidity was high overnight, then the exhaust likely built up some internal condensation which quickly evaporated in a "puff of white smoke" upon startup. Just a guess, but clearly not as clever as rome's comment ...hope this helps...

ltc

White smoke = water based (not normally condensation since most evaporates during exhaust cooldown and there isn't enough heat in a cold exhaust immediately at start up to generate steam at the rear of the exhaust) is usually water/antifreeze. Not a good thing. Please check your coolant tank to make sure there is NO oil mixing in.

Blue (or blueish white smoke) is oil in the exhaust. Quite common on proper Porsche engines (flat boxer configurations) as oil will tend to pool up a bit in the cylinders during cooldown, but not normally seen in a V engine. Please allow the engine to idle for 30 seconds - 1 minute next time you drive it and then shut it off, see if it repeats next time. If you do have oil blowby getting to the exhaust, you will begin to see oil consumption increase (if you're been tracking such consumables in your car) and you may begin to get oil residue build up in the exhaust (tips), different from normal carbon build up.

rome

LTC--

All in this forum really owe you a debt of gratitude. You truly are the most knowledgeable and helpful guy on this board.

By the way, I ran your sig through a german translator I found on google...naughty, naughty...

If I ever have a problem with my CS, which seems unlikely based onthe the first 19K miles, I definitiely know whose door to knock on.

ltc

I'm afraid you are in the minority.

"A one eyed man is a leader in the valley of the blind"

Didn't think anyone would notice

Always willing to help.

deons

I do track Oil Consumption but have not had to top up at all. It really depends whether I am loosing millilitres of oil into coolant. Checking the coolant for oil contamination is an excellent idea and that is where I will start,

Deon.

Budget M3

Good points...in very humid conditions, though, I have seen a "white puff" that was just condensation. The way today's cats rapidly heat up the exhaust (for emissions purposes), I would not be surprised to see this type of behaviour.

If checking the coolant tank for oil is not obvious, another quick check is to see if you've got water in your oil--remove the oil cap on the engine and look for a milky white residue...as ltc says (insert Dana Carvey impersonating Bush I) "...bad...very bad..."

olvgrn73

My 2014 Diesel Cayenne has been puffing white smoke mid-drive on a daily basis for the last month. The dealer says there is nothing wrong with the car but I disagree...