tarix

I did a bad thing an let my baby sit alone in a garage all winter. When I finally started her up she greated me with a small puff of blue smoke and began a nice idle. Not too long after that there was a continous stream of blue smoke ...

I'm not really sure where to begin. I've worked on American cars my entire life, but a mid-engine oil-cooler is a bit daunting. I've got a decent set of metric tools and like to get my hands dirty, but maybe a constant stream of smoke is a sign that I'm in over my head!

(Also, did I post this in the right place? It's also a convertable and at some point I'm going to have to troubleshoot the fact that the electric motor does not raise or lower the roof!)

gregg911

I have an 80SC and let it sit for 6 months while I took care of multiple projects over the winter. When I fired it up it smoked just the way yours did. I had to open the garage door and run a fan for hours the smoke was so bad. Anyway, I let it run for about 10 minutes and the smoke lessened somewhat and then shut it off. I went back out 2 hours later, started the car and no smoke ever again. I am to believe that it may be the oil seals or guides at a valve stem, a stuck piston ring or some other item that is leaking oil from sitting too long.

Good Luck.

yelcab1

Drive it for a week and see what happens.

tarix

Thanks! Going to do some driving tonight!

rbcsaver

Drive it for a week as yelcab says and keep close tabs on your oil dipstick levels too.

tarix

Drove it around tonight a bit, here's what I noticed:

When I started it up there was a brief puff of blue smoke and then almost nothing as it idled up. I let it warm up just a tad and started to back it out of the garage. As I was backing out it started to smoke again and everytime I reved it up to back out it would get worse. (So bad at times that I couldn't see where I was going.)

I finally got it out and drove it around the block quite a bit. (Next time I'll wait until 1am so I don't get so many stares!) It always smoked a bit while I drove, but it was really bad at low speed and high RPM.

When I got it back and put it in the garage I noticed something I haven't ever seen before. The oil gauge was needled. Usually it bounces a bit just above the red line, but while idling it was solidly past the white mark at the top.

Did I overfill it? If so should I do an oil change? I'm wondering if I checked the oil level while it was cold and added a quart when I shouldn't have ...

randyrap

Sounds like you may have over filled it. Be careful!!! I've heard of engines locking up because of too much oil.

rbcsaver

I accidently did that once, during one of my first oil changes. I got half way up the street and it looked like I was spraying for mosquitos, then I remembered that I had forgotten to drain to crank case. The dash oil gauges are notoriously inaccurate and oil level should be measured at the dipstick, with the motor at operating temp.

tarix

Anyone have any book recommendations detailing the proper oil change? I currently have the Haynes manual (which seems really useless compared to the ones I have for other vehicles) and Porsche 911 Performance Handbook.

Sounds like I'll be doing some draining this weekend!

gregg911

I did the same thing on my first oil change. I drained the case and oil tank, replaced the filter and added all the oil at once......no bueno!!

Mine smoked like a Texas Barbeque for quite a while!

You need to put in enough oil to get it started and up to temp then finish adding the last couple of quarts of oil to dipstick level.

Wayne Dempsey's book 101 projects for your 911 can be found at www.101projects.com is an excellent book for most of the stuff you can do yourself, oil changes included.

Barclay

The Bentley service manual, new about 100.00 I got mine on amazon .com for 75.00

tarix

It's fixed! Thanks for everyone's help. You saved me a ton of time and frustration. Also 101 Projects is probably the best $25 I've ever spent!