Billowing Clouds of White Smoke!

[jbscheff]

I took my 911 in to a local tire dealer to get a new set of tires put on, and asked if they could do an oil change while it was there. They of course said that they knew how to handle the oil change in an old 911, so I gave them the car and went to work.

While at work, they tried to call and ask if it was okay to put in a synthetic oil. Unfortunately the phones on the ship weren't working, so they called and talked to my wife instead. She called her dad, who had owned the car for 20 years and he told her he never put in any "special" oil, and if they said it would be okay, it probably would.

When I picked up the car Thursday night I told them I would not have put synthetic in it as I've always heard that synthetic and old engine seals don't react well together. I took it home but saw nothing in the dark, same for the next morning since I go to work at Oh-Dark-thirty. There was a faint burnt oil smell a couple times, but I figured they must have spilled a little on the exchangers and it was just burning off. When I started it up Friday after work, I noticed a fair amount of smoke coming from the tailpipe, but it cleared up in a couple minutes. On the way home, however, the engine sputtered and died only a couple miles from home. I managed to restart it and noticed the oil pressure was very low, even when revving the engine. Then I saw the cloud. Gigantic billowing cloud of thick, white smoke that obscured the cars behind me. As I drove off it looked like a fighter that had been hit in an old WWII movie. I was only 1 block from the shop that changed the oil, so that's where I went. I left it there with them and called the local porsche guru and left a message.

The shop says they drained the oil and changed the filter and everything's fine now. No response yet from a Porshce expert, so I'm reluctant to accept the "all clear." In total it's probably been driven about 25 miles since the oil change. Should I be worried?

[rsscotty]

It could be that the oil level is too high by a number of quarts. Check your dipstick.

[ossiblue]

+1 for rsscotty's reply. I'd suspect the shop overfilled given that they are not too experienced with 911's. Check the level the proper way ASAP.

[ael911]

I don't want to strike additional fear, but a stall, lack of pressure, and white smoke is not a common sign of an overfilled oil tank.

[jorian]

Classic overfill. Car should be at operating temperature (180 deg) and on level gorund when you check the oil.

[jbscheff]

They swear that they followed the procedure for filling the oil. One guy said they had the manual from my glove compartment, the other guy said they got the instructions from Porsche. I'm sure they did put in too much, but how would the excess come out the tail pipe? Wouldn't the overflow come out and find it's way onto the engine and exhaust causing smoke coming from under and around the engine, while I had smoke coming straight out of the tail pipe. That tells me the oil has found it's way into the cylinders or into the exhaust?

[cgarr]

Did they really drain both the sump and oil tank? or only one and fill er up?

[john walker's workshop]

it gets burped into the intake system through the hose on the oil filler neck, blasts through the engine without burning much and lays in the muffler until it burns off, which can take a while. check your paper air filter for soakage. ask them how many quarts they put in. about 10 w/filter is normal.

[3.2 CAB]

The times that I have seen a Porsche engine that has had too much oil in it, it gets into the combustion chambers from the overfill of oil getting into the intake. I have seen them run like crap due to this, it will also sometimes even foul out spark plugs because of the oil drenching. They will look like a mosquito fogger because of this. Normally, it has no lasting effects, but at times it can oil foul spark plugs. Hopefully all will be fine, this time. There has been a lot of discussion here about this, and would probably give you more information. Good luck!! Tony.

[Joe Bob]

Yeah we know how to do an oil change....but just in case we called Porsche....yeah right.

Run the car to temp, check the oil level....if it's above the halfway mark it's an overfill. Go out and run it...at night if yer worried what people will think....kill the mosquitos....

[john walker's workshop]

tell them to run it for a while before you pick it up. the oil in the muffler won't start smoking really bad until it gets real hot. then they can smoke up their own neighborhood.

[jkarolyi]

Yup, oil overfills result in lots of smoke out of the exhaust. But your car will be fine once the excess burns off. What you heard about synthetic oil in old engines is true...I wouldn't run synthetic in a 911 with old seals...20w/50 non-synthetic oil is generally regarded as best. I'd switch back pronto.

Not to kick you while you're down (I've overfilled the oil many times too), but in the future you would be wise to only let a mechanic truly experienced with 911s work on your car, even for something as "simple" as an oil change. These cars aren't meant to be serviced at any ol' Jiffy Lube or America's Tire.

[burgermeister]

Originally Posted by jkarolyi

.... in the future you would be wise to only let a mechanic truly experienced with 911s work on your car, even for something as "simple" as an oil change. These cars aren't meant to be serviced at any ol' Jiffy Lube or America's Tire.

Ain't that the truth. I have crushed oil lines, deformed rockers, and mangled jack pads courtesey of some dimwitted shop frequented by one of the PO's...

[DRACO A5OG]

Overfill+1. Check your #6 plug. I bet it is fouled. No spark = stumbling/stall

[dezzmo]

Originally Posted by cgarr

Did they really drain both the sump and oil tank? or only one and fill er up?

+1 on what Craig said. Please don't ask me how I know

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by dezzmo

+1 on what Craig said. Please don't ask me how I know

Did they also replace the two plug gaskets? Man sorry to add salt to your baby's wound

[WolfeMacleod]

JB, since you're local to us, I'm curious what tire dealer that was.
Can I take a guess? Goodyear?

Reminds me of the time I went to Goodyear in Lynnwood and they assured me they knew how to lift a 911. I even called to ask beforehand, and brought diagrams just in case.
They didn't, and it took them quite awhile to figure it out, even after speaking to a local mechanic (wasn't John, I think)
All in all, it took them six hours to put new tires on the car.

[dshepp806]

Originally Posted by WolfeMacleod

JB, since you're local to us, I'm curious what tire dealer that was.
Can I take a guess? Goodyear?

Reminds me of the time I went to Goodyear in Lynnwood and they assured me they knew how to lift a 911. I even called to ask beforehand, and brought diagrams just in case.
They didn't, and it took them quite awhile to figure it out, even after speaking to a local mechanic (wasn't John, I think)
All in all, it took them six hours to put new tires on the car.

6 HOURS!!!?????????? Funny as helllllll..

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by WolfeMacleod

JB, since you're local to us, I'm curious what tire dealer that was.
Can I take a guess? Goodyear?

Reminds me of the time I went to Goodyear in Lynnwood and they assured me they knew how to lift a 911. I even called to ask beforehand, and brought diagrams just in case.
They didn't, and it took them quite awhile to figure it out, even after speaking to a local mechanic (wasn't John, I think)
All in all, it took them six hours to put new tires on the car.

Wow. Impressive. But not in a good way...

When I was last at Tru-Line in Bellevue, I happened to mention Tire Rack and drop-shipping, observing that you couldn't beat the selection and price, but expressing severe reservations about using any local tire fitting places I'd not had experience with, lest they turn out to resemble Jiffy Lube...

Byron said then that he was perfectly happy to accept drop-shipped tires with prior arrangement and fit them to customer's cars. Which struck me as rather like having your cake and eating it too...

[Eagledriver]

You are much better off putting your car on jackstands and taking the rims to the shop yourself in your support vehicle. Nobody will do a better oil change than you will yourself.

-Andy