There's a lot of "garble" noise. Is this normal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8FxTFo4STU

 

Yep - That is EXACTLY what mine sounds like on a cold start

 

Music to my ears. Normal.

 

Taylor took my exact reply, except I started mine with an "Ahhh... Music to my ears"

 

That popping noise you hear at the very beginning is a result of the combustion process being modified to get the catalysts up to operating temperature quickly to reduce emmisions. I believe it involves the airpump and ignition timing retardation.

 

Normal but the white smoke can be reduced or eliminated if the night before you let the engine idle for a couple of minutes before shut-off, especially if you just arrived from a spirited drive.

 

What causes the white smoke?

 

I think that the white smoke is mostly water vapor condensation on a very hot exhaust. On rear mounted engines the exhaust is very hot. It helps to cool down the engine slowly before shutting it off. Drive slow for a few miles before shut-off. On boxer engines that are suddenly stopped hot there may be also some oil being expelled in a cold start. That's why many of us let it idle a couple of minutes before shut-off to bring oil pressures down.

 

I believe the water vapor one sees when starting up a cold engine is the result of the exhaust vapor condensing in the ambient air just outside the tailpipe. When the egine begins to warm up ( more specifically the exhaust), the superheated vapor remains in suspension and at a higher temperature when leaving the tailpipe. The moderately cool air then has a chance of absorbing the vapor before it condenses. In very cold climates ( eg less than 10 deg F) or in extremely humid conditions the exhaust vapor condenses outside the tailpipe no matter how warm the engine and exhaust are. For this, I think it does not matter how you shut down the engine.

I do believe, however, that one should drive moderately for the last few miles after hard driving and let it idle at 1000 to 1500 rpm for 1 - 2 minutes before shut down.

Finally, I have seen some smoky engines on start up ( Boxsters, in particular but I do not know why). Generally I would think it indicates some wear for most cars but for P-cars, I am guessing it has to do with the horizontal cylinders.

 

I love that sound!!

 

ggregory: yup, and I wish I could make it sound that way all the time. Wait until you hear it with an upgraded exhaust system.

 

Yup, you should hear it with Borlas and 200cpi cats.

Dave

 

Yep, just like that.

 

yup, n I especially love hitting my sport button, opening up the pse, AWESOME!!!

 

It must be very cold over your way. Sounds good tho.