Flat spots in Second and Third :0(

[Blue]

I have just started to notice that occasionally when accelerating through the gears especially 2nd and 3rd I get a flat spot what would be causing this as it happens whether the engine is hot or cold. The second problem I had today was when I started the car from cold today quite allot of smoke appeared then cleared from the muffler. Can anyone help shed any light on this, many thanks

[deliriousga]

If by "quite a lot of smoke" you mean enough to cover the rear bumper, it's probably the oil separator. That may be causing your flat spots too. Do a search on "oil separator" here and at renntech.org and you'll find several threads on it. One of them has a picture of what to look at to see if it's the separator.

If you are getting a lot of smoke, no matter what's causing it, you should not drive it anymore until you figure it out. It could be deadly to your engine.

[denverpete]

Originally Posted by Blue

I have just started to notice that occasionally when accelerating through the gears especially 2nd and 3rd I get a flat spot what would be causing this as it happens whether the engine is hot or cold. The second problem I had today was when I started the car from cold today quite allot of smoke appeared then cleared from the muffler.

Can anyone help shed any light on this, many thanks

I can't be definative, but it sounds similar to what I experienced. Under hard acceleration (where it wasn't "rolled on") I felt a distinct flat spot that wasn't there before. About 1 month later I started noticing hesitation coming off the line along with a few instances of white smoke (not atypical for the Boxster). A few weeks after that the hesitation became flat out jerking.

A trip to the Porsche doctor revealed that I need to replace the MAF. It ran fine for about a week and then started up again. One more trip and they replaced a plug that had fouled too much during the MAF issue. After that - wonderfully smooth acceleration.

[deliriousga]

Originally Posted by denverpete

A trip to the Porsche doctor revealed that I need to replace the MAF. It ran fine for about a week and then started up again. One more trip and they replaced a plug that had fouled too much during the MAF issue. After that - wonderfully smooth acceleration.

Since it fixed Pete's problem, I'd start with cleaning the MAF. A mechanic won't clean it, just replace it. Possibly a free fix.

[Blue]

Many thanks guys for all of the help, the Maf and a set of new plugs solved the problem!