I had a similar problem, it gradually got worst, everytime i started it up it decided to send up smoke signals and then it started wouldnt engage the ignition properly so had a job getting started, took a few attempts to get going.
i eventually traced it back to the headunit that was from Hong Kong = Xtrons =
removed the unit, put the old gamma unit in, took to a mate n cleared error codes n now starts first time all the time and all smoke is gone, may be worthwhile checking electronics, the way my mate put it was the headunit was sucking all the power from the car and so i would have problems with initial start up.
he showed me that when he turned the ignition so that all your dash light light up, waited about 5 secs then started the engine, started first time.
then again my smoke smelled like petrol
