White smoke on startup

[Ssj7blade]

Okay I know this has been covered a million times. I searched and read quite a few topics. And I know it's common for Boxsters, but I need just a little input.

2002 Boxster, tiptronic, 116k miles.

For quite a while now (since I got the car 2 years ago), every couple weeks or so on a random startup I would get a decent sized cloud of white smoke out of the back. As soon as I drove off, no problem. I know there's oil that drains and it gets burned off on startup.

However, in the last couple weeks I've noticed the cloud of smoke is a lot more frequent. But it's not usually during the day, just on a cold startup (the car has sit for several hours). It's just about every other day. It's been about 6000 miles since my last oil change.

I did the AOS check by seeing if I left the car idling and removed the oil filler cap whether it was hard to remove. It was not, the car just kind of made a grumpy noise because it lost vacuum.

I have absolutely no performance problems that I can see or feel, and the smoke is always only on startup, not while the car is running.

Should I have my AOS changed anyway? Is there any other tests I should do? Should I just continue to drive it as is until I notice a performance problem or something more severe? Is it possible I just need some fresh oil and a new filter?

Thanks!

[da888]

My start ups are very similar. 2001, 59k, did every maintenance pre-vent, cold starts, sometimes hot starts, is when it occurs, sits sometimes a long time between starts. I've just learned to egnore it. Especially noticable inside the garage on start up.I haven't read any red hot warnings on this subject, but give it time, someone will reply.I understand it applies to a dry oil sump.

Edited January 16, 2013 by da888

[raleigh5]

i had oil accumulating in 1 of the spark plug tubes because of a worn/faulty tube O-ring. swapped out the tube with a new one and those white puffs at startup have now disappeared. good luck.

[kbrandsma]

If you have over 100K and haven't replaced the AOS then the chances are high that yours is failing. If the oil cap is difficult to remove while the engine is running then, that is systom as well. Here is a link to a simple way to test.

Also you can read Mike Foucke's site here too.

http://sites.google.com/site/mikefocke2/airoilseparatorreplacement

Pedro's Garage is also a good source.

http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site_3/Replace_the_Air_Oil_Separator.html

Good luck and keep us posted.

[rprieto]

I've a 45-60 min trip to and from work and noticed that, at the end of that trip if I am hard on the accelerator, I get some smoke at the next start-up.

I've learned to tone it down a bit the last few miles of my trip.

Also, a friend of min told me he started seeing smoke upon morning start-up. His was due to a recent move. His new temporary parking spot, since boxes filled the garage, had a slant or angle from left to right. Problem was solved after he moved the car to a level spot.