Will,

Since no one else has answered, I thought a fellow Minnesotan might give it a shot.

Does the smoke go away once the car warms up? If so, it can be as simple as a touch of seepage past the pistons when the car sits overnite OR, unburned gas seepage due to leaky injectors. Just watch your oil consumption, and if ok, don't give it a lot of worry.

No, the vacuum modulator shouldn't be a culprit IMHO. Unless you begin to detect a hint of slippage during upshifts, the modulator is ok.

My 280 is wierd in tranny level readings too. I'm told it is common that they read too high when measured hot AND that if overfull (within reason) the excess will just blow out of the finned openings near the front which will be noticed in my case anyway only by garage floor drips.