Boxster smoking! Tech has no idea!

[anti-bling]

I am very lost and extremely frustrated. I really hope someone has an idea or clue--

I was driving my '97 2.5 one day when i decided to give the gas pedal a punch . Smoke piled out the exhaust as if i had packed the muffler and manifolds with dry brush. Cars stopped, people honked, and everyone ran up to make sure there wasn't a fire.

I had the car towed to my Porsche Tech (independent). He changed all oil separators and still had no luck. After another few days of trying to figure out the issue (without taking apart the engine)...he removed the muffler. Its MUCH better, yet still smokes on occasion. Under load, going up a hill, acceleration (occasionally)--the smoke starts again.

After a lot of time and money, i figured i would ask you all. Thanks for your read.

[extanker]

i guess the mufflers still had/has oil in it...maybe the intake also...try to clean/wash things out or let it idle for a while

[anti-bling]

It has idled for a good 7 hours (over time). It seems to be better, but whenever i think the problem has been fixed...it blows a lot of smoke.

[extanker]

its oil smoke and not water ?

[anti-bling]

Its oil. I just let it idle for 30 minutes. It smoked on start up then slowed down. I just took it for a drive. 2 minutes down the road it started to smoke...i live on a hill...on the way back up the hill the smoke was so extreme i couldn't see anything behind me. It drives perfect. No check engine light. UGH.

[extanker]

is there a way to disco the aos and drive the car ?

[anti-bling]

disco the aos? Please explain. Thanks.

[extanker]

disconnect...i wasnt sure of the spelling

[tonycarreon]

color of the smoke?

is it white? that usually means water / coolant is getting into the combustion chamber. maybe it's more blue? that would indicate oil is getting burnt. if it's black then you might have too rich of a fuel mixture...

[anti-bling]

Its very white. Coolant, eh?

[Topless]

Just a process of elimination to find the cause. It should not be billowing smoke... duh.

1. pull your oil dipstick and look closely at the oil. Was it overfilled? Oil overfill will kill your new AOS quick. It should be clean and golden in color. If it looks like a milkshake you have a coolant/oil intermix problem. Open the coolant reservoir when cool and check same. If both look clean you can now celebrate with a beer.

2. make sure your intake, throttle body and cats are clean of excess oil. (they can load up pretty fast with a bad AOS and it takes a while to burn it all off.

3. Monitor your oil and coolant levels to see if either are dropping. They should be very stable for 4000 miles or more.

4. If you have not yet found a problem you can pull and inspect the spark plugs or have a leakdown test performed to see if one or more cylinders has failed.

Plenty of things to check. Let us know what you find.

[jhandy]

Air oil separator failure. no doubt. with car running, remove oil fil cap. you will hear a loud sucking noise.

[Boxtaboy]

Originally Posted by jhandy

Air oil separator failure. no doubt. with car running, remove oil fil cap. you will hear a loud sucking noise.

He said in the original post that his indie already changed the AOS, but the problem still existed. Perhaps a problem with the oil cooler ?

[BYprodriver]

Cracked Head ?

[anti-bling]

First off, i really, reallllly, appreciate the help.

No "sucking" noise from the cap. How do i clean out the cats? Please explain as i have today off and would love to try another option.

CRACKED HEAD?!!!??! Oh boy. :troll:

I really hope its an easy fix as i just purchased the vehicle 2 months ago. :ah:

[extanker]

perhaps you can take it to a shop that can tell what type of smoke it is

[tonycarreon]

I assume you've looked in the coolant reservoir - does the coolant look like chocolate milk or normal?

[Burg Boxster]

I know the OP said his indy changed the AOS, but I would double check it myself AND the j-tube if he did NOT change. Especially if indy is not overly familiar w/ P-cars. If the white smoke were just generally coming from the car, it could easily be a number of things. Coming from the exhaust though narrows it down. Anyhow, as I said above, check the j-tube - it connects from the AOS to the throttle body (shiny black tube shown here - varies somewhat based on MY though):



Squeeze the connector at end by the throttle body and see if oil is pooling in there. A light misting is all that should be present. If it's more, cleaned it out or change ASAP.

Also, if the AOS was bad, oil (more than the emissions misting) was getting sucked thru the throttle body into the cylinders. That means, assuming TB was not cleaned out, there is still plenty left in the TB and under hard acceleration, the remnants are still getting thru to cylinders. Pull and clean the TB ASAP ...



Throttle Body Cleaning DIY courtesy of Pedro's Garage

[Stroked & Blown]

When I cracked the head on my Jeep, the smoke from the exhaust was white and 'felt' moist....like when you put your hand over the exhaust vent of a laundry dryer.

If that's the case, you probably have a cracked head or leaking head gasket that is allowing coolant into the combustion chamber.

[jhandy]

If it is not the AOS. (It really sounds like it is), then the cats have oil in them. First off they WILL NOT smoke and then not smoke and then smoke. Just not possiable unless new oil is in there.

If the cats had oil, it will burn out, may damage the cats because of carbon build up.

Same therory goes for the muffler. (except it will not be runied if it was full of oil).

Because it comes and goes, It is either a craked head or gasket like he said. When internal pressure builds the oil blows into the chamber and burns.

But you should look to the most likely spot. The AOS. It may not have been replaced correctly or completly.

I would take it to a dealer, let them fix the AOS, then then send the bill to the INDY shop.