I noticed I had a blinking light on my temp gage and the manual recommended checking the coolant level. So I noticed it was low. So I filled it up and was surprised how much it took. Probably a 1/2 Gallon. The car has not overheated and it has 47K miles and when I start it a huge puff of smoke comes out and it sputters. Is it characteristic that I would have a bad head gasket already? The dealer just replaced the rear main seal, clutch and inner cv boots and a motor mount. I just bought it and they also replaced one of the secondary cats.

 

I sent you an email as well, but that was before i saw this post on it being at startup. If you are positive that there are no external leaks on the ground, then i would go have the plugs pulled and see which cylinder may be bad, and have a leakdown done. It is normal for some smoke at start up, especially if you do not drive the car often (due to the design of the engine, oil seeps down past the valves into the exhaust, and causes breif smoke at startup), but the cars do not usually sputter, as the plugs are not affected.

 

Hi all,
If your Porsche Boxster has white smoke that continues after start-up, it's possible that it is burning coolant that has leaked into the combustion chamber from a blown head gasket. ... So, if the head gasket is damaged, coolant gets into the combustion chamber.