Hey all,

I have a question regarding a smokey exhaust that is emitted from my 02 996 at startup. It has only happened twice after running the car moderately hard. The smell seems to have a trace of oil, but I am not sure if this is exactly what it is and if it is, exactly where and why it is coming. The thick exhaust lasts for about 5 seconds and then goes away back to normal.

It happened this morning and then did not recurr the rest of the day [3 more start-ups]. Any help or advice here would be greatly appreciated! Thanks a lot!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Sanjay

 

I have a 00 996 with some modifications.
I've seen this a couple of times too. Once when I was changing the brake pads and once when I was changing the coolant expansion tank (not for the faint of heart).

I'm sure neither were related to the work I was doing, I was perhaps a little more aware at the time.

I strongly suspect It's a case of some valve stem drips falling into the cylinders. I'm not burning oil normally, far from it, it's really very good, but on rare occasion I have seen a small puff of smoke at very cold startup.

Keep an eye on your oil though, just to be sure.

 

5 sec of smoke is nothing to worry about.

if you are getting more consistent smoking for longer than 10 sec, possible culprit can be

oil separater - blue or gray smoke
coolant expansion tank - drips of coolant and white smoke

Keep monitoring your oil and coolant level as well as smoke pattern. If you are under warranty, it may be good to mention to your dealer esp if you are due for any other service.

 

it happend to me a couple of month back and in my case, it was a bad coolant cap that was causing coolant to leak onto the muffler which turns it into white smoke.

Peter

 

Thanks all for your help, I really appreciate it. I will monitor my oil level and see if this is recurring or non-recurring. Thanks again!