Do Boxsters really smoke on start up?

[MattW]

Hi all,

Quick question, just been to look at a low mileage 2001 Boxster 3.2S Tiptronic, all very nice except when it was started from cold it spat out quite a bit of blue oil smoke. Only did it at start up, didn't see anything at any other time or warm start up.

Dealer said 'they all do that' I call bullsh!t on that but was just wondering if I could get owners view points, anyone find their car does this?

Many thanks for responses in advance.

Matt

Edited by MattW on Saturday 25th May 13:15

[ThirstyMoose]

Here we go again...

Bore scoring on cyls 5 & 6?

[MattW]

Sorry? "Here we go again?". Must have missed something, is this da common issue / question?

[RiccardoG]

If its been sat for a while its not uncommon for some blue smoke at startup. Something to do with the oil being left in the cylinder heads, iirc.

If it does it when warm then it doesn't sound good!

[Trev450]

Most seem to do it now and again but not on a regular basis.

[BliarOut]

Yup, TADTS. Not all the time but it isn't generally anything to worry about on a boxer engine.

[BertBert]

Yup mine does it now and again, not very often. Makes a good job of it when it does, but very short lived.
Bert

[GreigM]

ThirstyMoose said:

Here we go again...

Bore scoring on cyls 5 & 6?

Nonsense.

[GreigM]

Very common - they do literally "all do that" - every flat engine does it as nature of the design. It gets worse the longer it has been standing, but absolutely nothing to be concerned about so long as it clears relatively quickly.

[Rockster]

MattW said:

Hi all,

Quick question, just been to look at a low mileage 2001 Boxster 3.2S Tiptronic, all very nice except when it was started from cold it spat out quite a bit of blue oil smoke. Only did it at start up, didn't see anything at any other time or warm start up.

Dealer said 'they all do that' I call bullsh!t on that but was just wondering if I could get owners view points, anyone find their car does this?

Many thanks for responses in advance.

Matt

Edited by MattW on Saturday 25th May 13:15

Mark this day down on your calendar. This is one time what the dealer said is true. They all do that -- at one time or another -- is correct.

New cars or used cars on the dealer lot are more likely to smoke at start up given their usage. Lots of engine starts, no run time to speak of.

My new 02 smoked quite a bit upon its first start -- in my presence -- but I noted the smoking was very short lived and there were no other signs of distress from the engine.

After a test ride and drive the car was put away and after some talk no deal reached. I left. I came back after a bit after having some time to think and before I made another offer wanted to start the engine again to see if it smoked. I started the engine and it didn't smoke at all.

A few minutes later I had bought the car. 267K miles later the engine still smokes upon startup on occasion, though not very often.

Contrary to what others believe I do not think the flat engine layout plays that big of a role in this smoking.

My opinion is the lousy AOS is the biggest contributor to the smoking as it fails to remove all (or even very much) of the oil vapor from the crankcase fumes and this vapor when it reaches the intake manifold and makes a sharp turn leaves a good amount of oil on the intake walls.

When the engine is shut off this oil will run down into a cylinder and then that oil smokes upon the next engine start.

If you buy the car there are some things you can do to lessen the smoking events. Run a correct oil. Change it at reasonable intervals. (The longer an oil is used the more unburned fuel and water it collects and this makes the oil more fluid and more likely to foam and create extra vapor which overwhelms an already overwhelmed AOS. The contaminated oil is not a very good lubricant either so changing it has other benefits other than reducing the number of smoking events.)

Do not overfill the engine with oil.

Whenever possible avoid short trips.

Try to give the engine a moment or two of idling before you shut the engine off.

I do all of the above and yet the engine still smokes upon occasion. Not very often. But one thing I have observed over the years is all other things being equal the one thing that seems to play a role is the nearer the oil is to its 5K mile change the more likely the engine is to smoke.

The oil was changed around 2400 miles ago and I think in that time the engine has smoked once maybe twice upon startup. Yet I recall the engine smoked about once every week or two of almost daily usage before the oil change.

If the car checks out otherwise do not let a bit of unsightly but meaningless/harmless oil smoke at start up put you off the car.

[CampingGaz]

My Boxster does it very occasionally (partly due to driveway being on a slope, I suspect).

Coincidentally my Boxer engined motorbike does the same, especially when left on it's side stand.

Newton's law of Gravity must enter into this somehwere :-)

[Martian O]

Mine does it about one in fifty starts, normally when there's about twenty people standing around...

[K1909]

My 987 doesn't do it for months on end and then usually, it will do it twice in a row, again usually when there are a lot of people about, apparently it's if you start it and turn it off quickly, such as getting it out of the garage to clean it etc and then restarting putting back in the garage.

[Trev450]

K1909 said:

My 987 doesn't do it for months on end and then usually, it will do it twice in a row, again usually when there are a lot of people about, apparently it's if you start it and turn it off quickly, such as getting it out of the garage to clean it etc and then restarting putting back in the garage.

I think there's something in that as my Cayman S follows much the same pattern.

[shantybeater]

My 996T does it very occasionally as well, I think I've noticed it maybe 3 times in 6months and I use her on average every other day.

[NJH]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Are you sure of that? I could have sworn my local indie was telling me the other day about one they had recently with a scored bore. Engine is being rebuilt by Hartech.

[Rockster]

NJH said:

Are you sure of that? I could have sworn my local indie was telling me the other day about one they had recently with a scored bore. Engine is being rebuilt by Hartech.

If the engine in question did experience a scored bore to the point it needed to be addressed it is the exception that proves the rule.

The only M96 engine -- I do not recall now if the engine was from a Boxster or Cayman or 911 -- I've seen (pics posted online) with a scored bore, cylinder damage, had a piece of metal swarf in the affected cylinder's oil jet.

I frankly have my doubts about the bore scoring that is supposedly occurring right and left in other engines but I'd rather run over God's dog than voice any doubts about the findings of the bore scoring experts posted here.

Edited by Rockster on Monday 27th May 21:38

[NJH]

Well Barry or Grant will know because if I did hear right they have the engine at the moment. Come to think of it must have been a 987 rather than 986 due to the cars value.

[SilverPorker]

MattW said:

Hi all,

Quick question, just been to look at a low mileage 2001 Boxster 3.2S Tiptronic, all very nice except when it was started from cold it spat out quite a bit of blue oil smoke. Only did it at start up, didn't see anything at any other time or warm start up.

Dealer said 'they all do that' I call bullsh!t on that but was just wondering if I could get owners view points, anyone find their car does this?

Many thanks for responses in advance.

Matt

Edited by MattW on Saturday 25th May 13:15

I've had my 2004 Boxster S for about 18 months and I don't recall seeing the start up smoke at all until its last service which was last month. Driven the car a dozen times since then and I've noticed it doing it at least half the time on start up. Clears within a few seconds and the car runs fine so I think I'm okay in not worrying about it...

[Martian O]

Smoke on start up six times out of twelve isn't a good sign!