I blew a huge smoke bomb my first track day, I believe due to a combination of things:
- Oil was too full. I was new to the car, and overfilled the oil after reading the level improperly. The car needs to set level for a while, especially if it is cold.
- I went through a turn in 3rd gear, came out at redline and then shifted to 4th, that is when I blew my smoke bomb. I think the sustained near redline RPMS in what should have been a 4th gear turn combined with the oil overfill did it.
- During this, the CEL flashed a few times and the power dropped out, similar to the way it does when the TC engages. It turned out to be misfires on a few cylinders due to the oil ingestion.
When I got home I dropped the oil filter canister, and put a new oil filter + oil ring which dropped the oil level down to 2-3 bars below the top, which is where I like to run it. I have never blown a smoke bomb since, and also did not change out my AOS either, it was still good. I have done a lot of track days since and AOS still going strong.
This was at Roebling Road raceway which is mostly right hand sweepers but has 1 really high speed 90 degree left sweeper and one moderately left hand 170 degree turn. I didn't have any trouble with these and my 1 smoke bomb was on the straight immediately after exiting turn 9, a right hander.
There was a yellow base Boxster behind me at Sebring in January that blew a giant smoke bomb going through turn 1, a left hander, it looked like a mosquito truck. I didn't get a chance to talk with him to find out more details though.
Your AOS is probably still fine - if it had failed you would be blowing the smoke bomb 100% of the time the way I understand it.
You probably do have oil in your intake tubing as described by cornontherob - this oil is what caused your smoke bombs. If your AOS hasn't failed this oil will clear itself out, I didn't do any cleaning of anything after my smoke bomb.
Your CEL - the codes will give a clue as to the cause and solution, you can get them read at any auto parts store. They come and go, if the error condition doesn't repeat after a few drive cycles the light will go out and then come back if the error condition repeats.
Good luck with it - I was very nervous and hesitant to go back after my smoke bomb but it all turned out ok for me.
Steve
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