Smoking 87' 911 turbo. Have video to show

[Larswik]

Hello, first time post.

Mid 2006 mom past away and she left me her 87' 911 turbo cab. She love the car when she was young but since about 2003 she didn't drive it much because she would throw her back out because of the lack of power steering and a stiff clutch. But she loved it to much to sell it.

When I tried to start it before she died it had not been started in a year. It started to smoke like crazy. I took it into a shop and they tried to put a new turbo on it but that was not the problem. They put a camera down the cylinders and saw oil in them. I tried to drive the car home but the fire department pulled me over thinking the engine was on fire. O also the car shop ran the car for a while, 30 minutes or so thinking that would burn off the excess oil since it sat for a year. The car only has 42,000 miles on it and the color of smoke is a white maybe slight blue. When I first start the car there is not a lot of smoke but when I rev it suddenly it pours out smoke and even when I let up on the gas it smokes like crazy just idling.

Here are 3 video. First one just as I start the engine and not much smoke. 2 meg file
http://www.sbtraveler.tv/car_start.html

This is the car from idle to reeving it you can see the smoke start 38 seconds 5 meg fil
http://www.sbtraveler.tv/car2.html

A shot from the opposite side clear shot of smoke. 2 meg file
http://www.sbtraveler.tv/car3.html

Any ideas would be great!

Thanks,

-Lars

[pozee]

Sorry about your Mom.

Did you take the car to a Porsche mechanic? Have you checked the oil level?

[1982911SCTarga]

Starting with the obvious, is there any chance that it's overfilled with oil? In other words, is the engine oil level correct?

Brian

[Larswik]

I will double check those things. I think the oil level is correct but just to make sure I check it correctly I need to first warm it up and check it with the engine ruining right?

I would think that would be something the Mechanic would check. They people that have the local shop are BMW people but took a stab at trying to find the problem but didn't have any luck.

I will check the oil level later today or tomorrow.

-Lars

[Bart_dood]

Sorry about your mom; at least she was cool enough to own a porsche turbo, my folks are too boring to own such a car.

Anyhoo like the others stated, check the oil level, did they examine the old turbo when they replaced it?
Might be worth risking the fire departments wrath and giving the car an italian tune up to see if things improve, as long as you don't run the oil low it certainly won't do any harm to try.

[dshepp806]

eliminate overfill,..for sure, FIRST!!

..otherwise,..it's leakdown test time....

Best,

Doyle

[Zeke]

Lars, sometimes these cars just need to have the snot driven out of them. You could have oil in the heat exchangers from leaks just sitting. Do your due diligence on the oil level and then work thru some obvious check list items. To find such a list search start up here with some attention towards threads that say "first" or similar.

We have a few SB members one of whom may lend a hand, if you're willing.

[billybek]

I doesn't sound too bad... Just looks like a Superfund waste site....
+4 on the oil level.. Sorry to hear of your mom. She must have been a cool lady to have a 930!

[slow&rusty]

That engine sounds extremely healthy and even, so I doubt it would be an engine related issue. I say do an oil change with Castrol GTX 20W50 and fill with exactly 10qts (thats 2 jugs) and take the car for a very fast and long run.

Yasin

[john walker's workshop]

whether it be an overfill that burped oil into the intake or just oil that seeped past the rings while sitting, the engine blows it into the exhaust system, muffler mostly, and it needs to burn out from there. takes a long time sometimes. speed it up by removing the muffler and either soaking it in a hot tank used to clean engine parts, or get someone to steam clean it. or wait until dark and drive it on back streets. just don't go back to the same neighborhood twice. i've had some here that i told the customer to do the same and bring it back when it's done smoking. i don't need the fire dept on my butt.

[robert walsh]

Sorry about mom. I agree that it sounds fine, I'm with milt, change the oil and drive the balls off it. I think mom would like that.

[Larswik]

WOW! what a reply I am getting from everyone. Thanks!

Bart_Dood - They replaced the Turbo but when they saw that was not the problem the put the old one on again and sent the new one back. so the original is still on there.

Milt- I would love to drive it but the tags are May of 2005. I have only started it about 6 times in the last 2 1/2 years. I have it Non-Op with the DMV right now and it would not pass smog : )

Oil seems to be the common theme among all of you. Here is a photo of the dip stick and gauges so you can see the oil pressure, car temp. The car was warmed up from the afternoon still and I wait a couple minutes before I checked the oil while it was idling.

http://www.sbtraveler.tv/Images/oil_photo.jpg

It was about 75% up on the dip stick.

-Lars

[robert walsh]

It really sounds great,nice even tone and idle, let's get the compression/leakdown test performed. Get the fuel system sercived and cleaned out, also change the gas! If all check out ok, drive it and monitor temps and oil consumption, put a least 500 mile on it in varrying degrees of pushing it, I think it will clear itself out, I doubt mom beat the car however she may have been a little lapse on routine service. Get the valves adjusted and drain the old gas refill fresh high octane and over the next several hundred miles I think you'll see the smoke issue go by the wayside. Best of luck with a wonderfull gift from mom, that meant an awfull lot to her. Oil deposits in the exhaust system take quite a while to burn out and neglected a fuel system takes a while to clear that out as well, again best of luck, fix it for mom!

[Larswik]

OK a few questions then. I can't put 500 miles on it legally since it won't pass smog to get it registered. So, some of the work I will have to do at the house. You are right I do need to fix it for mom. the last week before she died she was in a deep sleep / coma. I was in the room with her and a friend. I was saying to my friend that the repair shop said it could cost $12K to rebuild the engine if that is the problem. Suddenly she starts moaning and trying to talk. I put my ear to her mouth and she said in Swedish "Bilen" which means "Car". That was the last thing she said. She didn't wake up when we tried to talk to her but once she heard $12K to rebuild the engine she kinda came to. It was kind of funny in a way.

1. It has 1/2 tank of gas. How do I drain that so I can put new fuel in it? Siphon it?

2. Are there any links out there that will show me how to change the oil in the car. I use to change the oil/filters on my motorcycles years ago.

I can start there.

-Lars

[robert walsh]

Buy a bentley service manual they will show in detail how to do all of your questions. The people here on this forum will all be more than happy to assist you, I'm quite sure some are local to you and will donate there time and expertise so that you can get the porsche back in fine running order. Just ask for help and you'll be amazed. I wish I was close to your location because I woud certainly come over and give you a hand. You can PM me anytime, I'll give you my email if that is easier. You can reach me at rfjwalsh@gmail.com anytime, in the email I'll also give you my phone#'s. Don't worry we'll get her up and going again soon, Bob

[Larswik]

You are all so helpful. I will keep you posted on the progress and if I have any questions.

-Lars

[billybek]

Originally Posted by Larswik

You are right I do need to fix it for mom. the last week before she died she was in a deep sleep / coma. I was in the room with her and a friend. I was saying to my friend that the repair shop said it could cost $12K to rebuild the engine if that is the problem. Suddenly she starts moaning and trying to talk. I put my ear to her mouth and she said in Swedish "Bilen" which means "Car". That was the last thing she said. She didn't wake up when we tried to talk to her but once she heard $12K to rebuild the engine she kinda came to. It was kind of funny in a way.

-Lars

Lars,
That is a great story! It just goes to show you how these cars get under your skin!
Best of luck with it!

[crustychief]

Sorry about your mom.
I agree with the fact it may just be in the muffler. It appears as the more you rev it the smoke increases with temperature. Drive it for a while and when the Fire Dept gets behind you FLOOR IT!! I.E Italian tune up. Just kidding. Listen to John Walker, he is one of the best. Good luck, P.S. Post a whole car pic! and welcome to the forum!! You will learn a lot here.

[Gogar]

I would ALSO offer the idea that maybe you have a bit too much oil in there. If the temp is that cold and the OEL level is that high, and the level is already up two-thirds of the way to the top hashmark that might be too much oil when the engine is fully warmed up. (By 'fully warmed up" i mean AT LEAST out of the thick white stripe.)

You can always drain the oil into a VERY CLEAN container and reuse, if you don't want to go buy 10 QTS right now. Then you'll find out how much was in there.

But if if hasn't been changed in a long time you should do it anyway and then move on to the next solution once you're confident about the oil level.

Good luck!

[Aurel]

The smoke seems a bit white to be oil. It looks like water condensation to me. How long have you let the engine run? Maybe it just needs to get really warm to get rid of all that water in the exhaust...
There could be moisture in the oil too, so replacing the oil is a great idea.

Aurel