1999 911 carrera misfire

[grooveshack26]

hello all, any ideas etc would be appreciated. Today i went to start my 99 911 that i use frequently and it backfired and stalled, i has some plastic smelling smoke from the Eng compartment on the drivers side quarter panel area. I went to start again and it did but was not running smoothly and needed my foot on pedal to keep on. Several codes we set on the ob II port one was misfire on #6. I'm going to have it towed to a friend at a vw dealer for diag but any input would be nice. I don't believe I'm dealing with the 3.4 catastrophic Eng failure as no oil loss or smoke etc and no contamination in the coolant. Seems like it was loaded up with fuel and misfired. Vehicle has 97k and service records galore! Thanks Rodney

[stlrj]

Owners guide to the Porsche 996 Carrera 4: Engine failed

[Staylo]

What were the OBD codes?
Failed coil packs are common with age, and will cause mis-fires and rough running.
Pull the #6 coil, and inspect for cracks. Takes a few minutes and costs nothing.

Knowing all of the codes might help with further diagnosis, as there may be issues upstream causing mis-fires not coil related.......

[bell]

with it idling is there too much or no vacuum at the oil cap? if so could very well be the air/oil separator, which is plastic and at the drivers side rear of the engine.....
also the overflow drain for the expansion tank sometimes moves and dumps right on coil #1......this will vent when the cap starts to fail or overheating.....
my money is on the seperator.....a smoke test will tell you for sure.....