white smoke from my 99 Boxster

[roster]

Hi guys,

just moved from Germany to the US and got myself a 120kmiles Boxster. After driving in for app. 5 k miles all the sudden I had a lot of white smoke out of the exhaust pipe, and it is A LOT of white smoke.

Since I have no clue on automotive car technology I brought it to a garage that are pretty experiened with Porsches - I saw several other Porsches being taken care off there (not the best proof, I know).

Here are some more details:
-white smoke, not only after start, but all the time, sometimes more, sometimes actually none, but then, next turn, white smoke
- smoke smells like burning oil (says garage - I couldn't tell the difference)
- oil level is sinking / cooling water seems to be stable
- no leaks of oil under the car and we had her on the ramp today - engine is dry from the outside

The guys from the garage are telling me that it could be the crankcase and some hoses and suggest to repair that first and see if things are getting better. In case not - yepp, the big thing, i.e. headgaskets ...

even though I have a hard time reading (and understanding) the English terms (not even sure I would know the German words) I have done some extensive www research and there seem to be other applicable issues that could lead to similar white smoke things :
http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/problemareas and
http://www.justanswer.com/questions/1lnzo-daughter-owns-2003-boxster-non-s

Can you give me some hints to the diagnosis that I can discuss with the garage folks?

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks
Rolf

[d18mike]

Welcome. Do a search on "white smoke" -- this is a fairly common topic and issue. My hope is Air/Oil separator -- an important fix but perhaps not dire or bank-breaking as a crankcase.

[roster]

Originally Posted by d18mike

Welcome. Do a search on "white smoke" -- this is a fairly common topic and issue. My hope is Air/Oil separator -- an important fix but perhaps not dire or bank-breaking as a crankcase.

Thanks a lot - I did that and it took app. 4-5 hours to read everything on 'white smoke' ... maybe there is an admin around or somebody, who can channel this in 'white smoke FAQ'? Since it is fairly common AND it can be nearly anything from a 200$ fix up to a new engine (and I don't even want to know how much that will be) it would make sense also to have a 'best diagnose path', something like a matrix which helps not so talented people (like me) make sure they aren't being screwed and have a chance to anticipate what the next paycheck is being used for :-)

It is interesting how many times I did find the post: 'OMG, white smoke for 10 sec when i start my car in the morning' ... so, if we had a section devoted to white smoke I guess that was a good guideline for everybody ...

I'd volunteer, but with my rusty English and non existing tech know how, guess won't be so helpful ...

However, will visit my mechanic now and suffer a bit more and ... guess we need to talk ... can't remember him mentioning air/oil seperator ...

Thanks anyway
Rolf

Rolf

[mikes_box]

i would give it a vote for the air oil separator... when mine went out all it did was smoke constantly until it was finally changed. If you say your coolant level is ok and you don't see any oil in it i would say its the AOS. mine was same way. you would notice a drop in oil as the oil is probably all over the engine bay when the aos goes bad. don't let the car run too long with AOS being out they say it can damage something due to the oil being burned out. I would go ahead and just order the part form sunset for about $100 shipped to your door. Shouldn't take longer than 2 hours of do it yourself. or if you can't wait I bought mine from michael steade porsche in walnut creek for $110...

[d18mike]

I agree. For the cost of an A/O Separator, it's almost worth it strictly as a preemptive move on a 120K car. You will likely need to change to anyway at some point. And if that's the problem you've saved yourself time and cost in further diagnosis.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm surprised that people who have experience servicing Porsches did not at least list this as one of the possible causes. That gives me slight pause about those guys. You might want to seek a second shop.

[mikes_box]

yeah at 120k miles i would definetly try the aos first. for a $100 repair it might be the culprit. mine went out and it only had 40k miles on it...

[roster]

Hi @all,

thanks for your replies!

I have spent quite some time with my garage this morning. It turns out they are more experienced with old 911s than Boxsters ... and I do see them there all the time! I showed them some comments from the forum and advised them to look into the forum - they can easily destroy their reputation acting like this.

Well, they understood the situation! Unfortunately, though being German (come on let's play with some stereotypes) I am not an engineer (and don't like and play soccer) - so they will have to take care of that part next week.

how did you guys learn DIY? Any hints? Somebody want to teach a 42 yr old apprentice :-) ?

I have had a lot of different cars, mainly German and Swedish: but this really is the best car I've ever had (with the small downside that it is in the garage since last week and I don't drive it currently!)

Thanks again and I'll keep you posted!

Rolf

P.S., today, Saturday, Munich Oktoberfest began! Prosit to all!

[roster]

Hi

got my babe back this week - it was the Oil Seperator as the garage put it. Don't know if that is the same part as the 'Air-Oil-Seperator', but as a matter of fact there is no smoke anymore!

Thanks guys and have a great weekend
Rolf

[blinkwatt]

Same part.