i wouldn't say that, necessarily. it was you that suggested the OP seek advice elsewhere.. which would suggest you yourself haven't much confidence in any you might offer!

while i've had enough issues with coolant loss in the past in 996 turbo's that i felt
that while it may in fact NOT be the OP's current issue? it is well within the realm of possibilities. thats what you get.. conjecture. lol.

 

Nope, I'm pretty confident if they seek support in the physical realm more progress and even an actual solution might be achieved.

I'm done, didn't mean for this to turn into you and me bantering. Sorry for wasting your time.

 

i'm still not sure you're right, but no apology necessary,.. but thanks. clearly, i have a lot of time i'm sure we will have the opportunity to help each other in here, at some later date. i apologize for us both, to the OP. though coolant vapor is still my best "guess".

 

I sort of have to agree with this in one way... I have seen a lot of yip yap that could be solved by a trip to a shop pretty easily. Basically what your suggesting.

With that said there is a lot of knowledge base here and it's helped me with many issues, self diagnosing and repairing that wouldn't have otherwise been possible.

It's a good start asking here and also seeking a shop at the same time. Both streams of information can happen in parallel.

 

that makes sense. i wouldn't want to try and repair my car while holding my ipad either. but as you know, the degree of knowledge to be found here i would venture is higher and generally more informed than what most would consider "normal" for an internet forum. but that's just been my general experience. i could well be wrong about that too. who knows. but in most cases, info from in here also helps many who have been victimized by less than scrupulous mechanics that tell guys they need to do stuff that they find out from simultaneously ( to your point ..) inquiring here, that they don't. or if 4 guys come on a thread to tell you that the hard pedal at startup is probably your accumulator failing, well..they'd be right in most cases, and many less than reputable techs ( or dealerships ) will try replace an entire clutch. this has happened, really. while this might be an extreme example, i think it illustrates my point really, and the validity of much info to be found here. even if very little of it ever comes from me lol

the examples of this kind of thing are legion.

now, i'm REALLY sorry for the threadjack.

 

This is almost always my goal when I ask a "what is going wrong" question. It means my basic mechanical abilities, forum search, and friend's help has been inadequate. At that point, I seek outside advice: online forum and shop help. I like to be an informed consumer, owner, and when I can find time back-yard mechanic. This site and responses are a tool to help me and others enjoy, own, and operate our vehicles.

I appreciate ALL of the suggestions in this thread. The car isn't in front of any of you, so your abilities to diagnose are limited. I get that and really appreciate any and all suggestions.

I can obviously wait and something may / may not go wrong. However, I have spent a lot of time with a friend's non-X50 car. His smokes on start-up occasionally, but never resembles what mine is doing at the moment. Mine behaved the same as his until recently, that worries me. Given it doesn't smoke on cold start, I would guess (or more appropriately sincerely hope) that there is no internal engine issue.

Does anybody know if a failing turbo can be rebuilt or if a new unit is required?

 

turbo's are rebuilt all the time. i have some very groovy old school 16/24's. if you do find yours is munched you can get some killer turbo's to replace them for cpl grand. it will be a blessing in disguise.

once you get past the supporting mods, that is

 

Stock exhaust has a primary cat and a secondary cat, with todays E10 and some places E15 fuel it could be just the fuel till the cats get hot enough. When the engine temp is up and you start the car it does not go on cold start so the cats do not get heated up by the "cold start" retarded timing and secondary air. The E fuels can/will steam.

 

This is a very interesting idea. It actually describes the wafting of the "smoke" and color quite well. Interesting.

 

but what's up with black exhaust tip(s?) and haze out the rear at wot.