Burning Question

03TARGA · 12:41 AM

Well, I finally went and bought the 911 of my dreams, an '03 Targa. She runs like a dream except she's burning a lot of oil. When I park it, smells pretty strongly of burning oil (especially after a sprited drive in the mountains

. The car came to me with 19,000 miles on it and the only other idiosyncracy is a bit of hesitancy in 2nd gear. At any rate, is this burning oil issue unusual for this model and do I just need to keep extra oil in the garage and not worry about it OR did I maybe get stuck with a bum engine?

03TARGA · 03-25-2007, 08:39 AM

OK, quick follow up. Woke up this morning and checked engine oil level after sitting overnight. It appears there is too much oil on board. The computer check shows the light all the way to the top and the dipstick is over the top line as well. Should I be concerned or just burn off the excess oil?

AFJuvat · 03-25-2007, 03:04 PM

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new toy.

How much oil are you burning? The gauge on the dash only shows about 1.5 liters of oil total.

You may be a little over-full.

However, is you are smelling burning oil, you need to find the source. Have a look at both sides of the engine. The spark plug tubes do tend to develop leaks, which usually drip on the exhaust.

03TARGA · 03-26-2007, 08:04 AM

And now the checkengine light has gone on!?!?!?!?

Welcome to Porsche!

kailuadog · 03-26-2007, 12:05 PM

Yeah welcome to Porsche, they burn oil, How do you think Mobile stays in business?

My '06 burns about 1 liter for every 1200 to 1500 miles.

Is your car still under warranty?

Aloha.

AFJuvat · 03-26-2007, 05:23 PM

Oil air separator is going bad and you have a vacuum leak.

03TARGA · 03-27-2007, 07:29 PM

Update: In the world of bizarre coincidents. It turns out the check engine light means that one of the catalytic converters has cracked (tap on it with a rubber mallet and you can hear that pebbles in the muffler sound) Ouch. Could be worse as I can still drive the car but I am ordering the part and having it fixed.

But......

Now that I have to pull apart the exhaust system anyways,maybe I should put the sport exhaust on it or an alternative. Anyone want to chime in with exhaust mods?

msucro · msucro's Garage

Cats are covered under the federal emissions warranty... free replacement up to 100k AFAIK. I just had mine replaced... for free!

TAZ911 · 02-21-2009, 10:32 AM

msucro,

I just had the same problem. Check engine light came on after my 90,000 maintenance. Took it into the dealership and they indicated that I needed to replace both catalytic converters (and quoted me $3,500). Do you have any further information on the federal emissions warranty for the free replacement?

Thanks!

FPB111 · 03-17-2009, 08:13 AM

http://www.epa.gov/obd/warranties.htm

What Are Specified Major Emission Control Components?
There are three specified major emission control components, covered for the first 8 years or 80,000 miles of vehicle use on 1995 and newer vehicles:

Catalytic converters.
The electronic emissions control unit or computer (ECU).
The onboard emissions diagnostic device or computer (OBD).