smoky 911

[Milu]

My 1989 3.2 Carrera has 120k kilometres, in daily use. It always smokes
a little on start ups, oil consumption is constant at one litre every
2000 klm. I've recently noticed occaisional heavy smoking on hard
acceleration, (3-6000 rpm in 3rd /4th gear, car warm) and also
occaisionally on restarting after a short journey and once when idling
after a 100 mile drive. It seems unaffected by brand or viscosity of
oil but is worse when oil at max. It will play up for a while and then
stop. Oil pressure is fine and power feels fine. Any clues?
Mario

[don911]

It sounds like you may be putting too much oil in. I've been told that about 3/4 on the dip stick is as full as you want to go. I would try less oil and see if the smoke continues.

Don
87 coupe

[Milu]

Originally posted by don911:
It sounds like you may be putting too much oil in. I've been told that about 3/4 on the dip stick is as full as you want to go. I would try less oil and see if the smoke continues.

Don
87 coupe

Oil at minimum on dipstick right now and smoking like crazy. Chances are it won't smoke tomorrow!

[Early_S_Man]

Are you sure it is oil smoke on acceleration? A stuck or leaking injector(s) can richen up the mixture enough to cause black or brownish smoke on acceleration ... and it would affect gas mileage as well.

Get some one else to drive it past a fixed point while you observe the exhaust color. It wouldn't hurt to get the HC levels tested.

Ultimately, you may have valve guide wear issues, but you need to eliminate other possibilities, first. Blue is oil smoke ... black or dark brown is most likely a mixture problem!
------------------
Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa
1992 Dodge Dakota 5.2 4X4 parts hauler

[This message has been edited by Early_S_Man (edited 10-26-2001).]

[Milu]

Smoke is white and smells of burnt oil. Fuel consumption is constant at 9.5klm per litre. Today it only smoked on start up and then nothing in 400 klm: including fast autoroute, 200+kph; hard acceleration in mountain driving, 3-6000 rpm in low gears; moderately hot running in city traffic. Oil pressure is good, oil level at minimum on stick. Tomorrow: oil top-up and more of the same.

[Milu]

Oil smoke is now very dramatic, power has dropped, the car feels as if running on five cylinders and is very unhappy over 4000rpm. The car is in the shop now for exploratory surgery. From past experience with 3.2s I've resigned myself to an overhaul! Sigh! I'll just have to use my modified 3.2 everyday for a while.



[This message has been edited by Milu (edited 10-06-2001).]

[Mrdi]

Tough break Milu,
Keep us posted

[Early_S_Man]

Milu,

Your engine probably only needs a top-end freshen-up, not a complete overhaul, so don't let your mechanic soak you for more than US$2500. unless something extraorinary is wrong!

------------------
Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa
1992 Dodge Dakota 5.2 4X4 parts hauler

[Milu]

Tell me about it. Because I travel around a lot I often have to use garages on a one-off basis. When some shops know it's unlikely you'll be back in their neck of the woods within the next few years you're often doing well to get the job done at all, I've lost count of the times I've paid for work that wasn't done or old parts were used or cheap fixes put in, or unnecessary work done. I have been ripped off all over Europe and invariably it would cost me more in time and travel to go back and deal with it than to let it lie with no more than a snotty letter for the shop to bin. The work in this case is being done by Autorlando, (www.orlandor.com), one of the two shops I use regularly and they've always been very straight with me on prices and work done, their estimate is in the ballpark if it's top only. In the light of the relatively low milage of this car I think it should need only a top end freshen up. Unfortunately I don't know how the previous owner ran it so surprises are possible. As the engine is out any way it might be worthwhile replacing the clutch which is feeling a bit tired as well, any thoughts?

[Milu]

I got the news today on my engine; valves, guides, seals and two burnt pistons (3 and 5). I'll see it for myself next week before authorising the work.

The shop also concurs with Warren's view, (no surprise), that the orange seals are crap. They also added that in some circumstances they can turn brittle. Nice one Porsche

[john walker's workshop]

the valve guide problem is normal, but burnt pistons are rare. did they figure out why? how's the gas over there?

[Milu]

Until recently the fuel available in Italy was leaded 97 octane and unleaded 95 octane, (this is measured differently to USA). However, octane was usually much lower than stated. Car would run happilly on either but much better with the higher octane. Shell brought out a new super unleaded rated at 99 octane last July which really makes my cars sing. I have used it about 50% of the time, it is not always available, I have had a suspicion that the detergents in the fuel may have cleaned up the engine to the point that the gunk that was holding things together gave up. There were similar problems with a Shell fuel in England some years ago and there are stories it is occurring with this one in Italy, however, it is always with engines that needed attention anyway and usually high mileage.

When I go to the shop next week I'll see if they have any more ideas as to cause. Speaking with the shop that does my maintenance in England, ChrisTurnerPorsche, Chris said he's seen it happen on other 3.2s as had another London based specialist, but on cylinders 5 & 6. Without any real cause that they could ascertain beyond their running hotter because of position. If its a factor, I use this car as a daily driver and the usage is harder than average, viz fast mountain driving, very fast motorway driving at high temperatures, very little stop-start city driving, very few journeys less tan 10 miles. This car has always run a little hotter than other 3.2s I have had, but has never passed the halfway point on the oil temp gauge.