Smoke coming out of the intakes. - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Perfectlap · 08-16-2015, 07:10 PM

Im waiting for a flat bed luckily.. not far from home. Smoke is pouring from the intakes and wheel wells. Smells toxic like cooked rubber. Coolant tank is fine, nothing unusual on the gauges. This was the first long drive since recently cleaning the MAF after getting P0153 and bouncy idle which helped some what. Doesn't seem related though.

Timco · 08-16-2015, 07:17 PM

AOS dripping oil on exhaust. Or some rubber tubing on exhaust. If temp needle didn't rise, some external failure is my hope for you, bud. Good lucks!

911monty · 08-16-2015, 07:30 PM

Man that really sucks! Could it have been a power steering hose leak? Hopefully something simple. Good Luck

thstone · 08-16-2015, 07:47 PM

Sorry for the breakdown. When did you notice the smoke?

Let us know what you find...

Perfectlap · 08-16-2015, 09:27 PM

I noticed the smoke while driving home. I thought it was a jalopy in front of me. Nope its me... that smell of burnt rubber (belt?) was intense and lingered for a long while. The smoke started up pretty suddenly. I didnt get two blocks up the street before I pulled over and shut it down. Steering seemed fine. I did notice some condensation on the exhaust pipe when I first fired it up. which seemed odd being that it was parked in a pretty hot garage.

Actually I dodged a bullet as I nearly took the car for a very long drive to a remote part of New York (Port Jervis area) where there is zero cell phone coverage, barely any street lighting and very little mass transit. And forget about Uber. The MAF issue was enough to convince me to leave it at home. That would have been a disaster.

P.S.
I tipped the tow truck guy 25%...the GT3 bumper just barely clears the flatbed with the wooden ramps...barely.

k9dbm · 08-16-2015, 11:13 PM

When I had those symptoms it was the clutch unit on
Air con pump,

amitmishra4 · 08-17-2015, 06:50 AM

Sorry to hear about your issue. Hope its nothing serious, please keep us updated if we can help in any way. Good luck.

kk2002s · 08-17-2015, 08:46 AM

Since it's a burnt rubber smell - possibly any one of the Belt drive pulleys began seizing up causing the serpentine belt to burn?

Good luck from a fellow NJer
Probably going to be another preventive maintenance item to add to the list

JayG · 08-17-2015, 08:56 AM

I hope it is nothing major

steved0x · 08-17-2015, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k9dbm

When I had those symptoms it was the clutch unit on
Air con pump,

Me too on my Tacoma. The compressor seized up and smoked the belt and melted some stuff inside the compressor which oozed out and solidified into a plastic lump. Luckily? The compressor ran on a dedicated belt so I was able to cut that belt and keep going.

Perfectlap · 08-17-2015, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kk2002s

Since it's a burnt rubber smell - possibly any one of the Belt drive pulleys began seizing up causing the serpentine belt to burn?

Good luck from a fellow NJer
Probably going to be another preventive maintenance item to add to the list

I should have taken a look in there. But man was that smell overwhelming.

I think I put S-belt #2 in there about 30k miles ago. Seems like a big hunk of tough rubber to cause that amount of smoke. I had the AC blasting full throttle to get the fans on after getting caught in traffic with high ambient temp. The coolant temp was inching closer to the 1 o'clock. About 10 minutes after breaking clear of traffic and pulling off the highway the fireworks show began. I guess as k9dbm mentions it might be the AC pump (so that's another device that has a clutch I didn't know about).

p.s.
Can you rig the fans to turn on without turning on the AC?

JayG · 08-17-2015, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

I should have taken a look in there. But man was that smell overwhelming.

I think I put S-belt #2 in there about 30k miles ago. Seems like a big hunk of tough rubber to cause that amount of smoke. I had the AC blasting full throttle to get the fans on after getting caught in traffic with high ambient temp. The coolant temp was inching closer to the 1 o'clock. About 10 minutes after breaking clear of traffic and pulling off the highway the fireworks show began. I guess as k9dbm mentions it might be the AC pump (so that's another device that has a clutch I didn't know about).

p.s.
Can you rig the fans to turn on without turning on the AC?

If you have a durametric connected, you can manually turn the fans on

kk2002s · 08-17-2015, 09:41 AM

Clutch on drive pulley for the AC compressor is pretty standard for most cars. I had one go bad on my 2003 jeep liberty. Fortunately, for that car, there is a clutch kit for $80 you can buy and with a loner pulley puller and an hours + time, got-er done

I have to search to see if there is a similar kit available for the 986

I finally used my AC yesterday and was glad 1st it still blows cold air and 2nd the pulley clutch didn't freeze up

BIGJake111 · 08-17-2015, 10:16 AM

Good luck with this. I'm interested to find out what caused this. Maybe check the air filter for anything odd caught in there?

Bootlegger · 08-17-2015, 11:22 AM

Did you suck something up into the motor. I've read posts where folks have sucked plastic grocery bags up into the engine and holys#@^. Realize this sounds too easy but thought I would add it. Good luck, hopefully it's simple.....

epapp · 08-17-2015, 02:18 PM

My bet is on the belt. With the AC on, it puts more load on the idler pulleys and if you have a bad pulley (or an about-to-go-bad pulley), driving with AC on can really push the bad bearing over the edge. Happened to me recently, though luckily the bearing in the pulley was so shi**y that the balls just self destructed instead of swelling and seizing the bearing.

Perfectlap · 08-19-2015, 02:46 PM

AC compressor indeed....

New unit along with belt tensioner and rollers (preventative) parts are $900 and labor is about 9 hours.
:ah:

tomonomics · 08-19-2015, 05:32 PM

I had the AC blasting full throttle to get the fans on after getting caught in traffic with high ambient temp. The coolant temp was inching closer to the 1 o'clock.

You turned the A/C on to get the coolant temp down? Wouldn't that have the reverse effect? When you say 1 o'clock you mean inching towards 250? I've never had mine go much past the '8' (just left of noon on the clock dial) even while sitting on a hot/humid day in traffic for an hour with the A/C going. The secondary(?) fans turn on by themselves regardless if my A/C is on.

Crono0001 · 08-19-2015, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomonomics

I had the AC blasting full throttle to get the fans on after getting caught in traffic with high ambient temp. The coolant temp was inching closer to the 1 o'clock.

You turned the A/C on to get the coolant temp down? Wouldn't that have the reverse effect? When you say 1 o'clock you mean inching towards 250? I've never had mine go much past the '8' (just left of noon on the clock dial) even while sitting on a hot/humid day in traffic for an hour with the A/C going. The secondary(?) fans turn on by themselves regardless if my A/C is on.

Wow. Seriously? Mine always danced around the 0. Even with three big ass radiators now, I still dance around 0 (but I also have a bigger engine now).

I also live in Arizona where temperatures are excess of 110, but yea.

I think he turned his AC on to get his fans running, but if the ECU worked, the fans should turn on automatically.

Perfectlap · 08-20-2015, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crono0001

I think he turned his AC on to get his fans running, but if the ECU worked, the fans should turn on automatically.

when I'm in stop in go traffic, a lot of that idling in neutral, which is terrible for the engine, I rarely hear those fans go on by themselves right away. My thinking was that the AC speeds it up.