Brett San Diego

Major newbie mistake. I just purchased my first 911, a 78 SC in great condition with 44000 miles. I added oil to the tank thinking it was short, but I didn't check it with the engine running as the manual states. Oops. I think I overfilled by 2-3 quarts. A couple minutes after startup I got major white oil smoke from the exhaust. I shut it down and partially drained the tank. I restarted and let it idle for a couple minutes with tons of smoke coming from the exhaust. I also had oil drop on the ground around the area between the engine and transmission, about 100 mL. I don't know where it originated at this time. When I restarted after partially draining the tank, the oil didn't continue to leak from this area when running.

How do I proceed in this major oil overfill scenario? Do I just have to drive it until all the oil in the intake gets burned? Do I not drive it and get it to a shop and have the intake taken off the engine and cleaned of oil? Have I likely damaged the catalytic converters with just a couple minutes of major oil burning? The engine and therefore the cats were never fully warmed up.

Help, Please!!

thanks
Brett

jhawk1000

Get it to a place that can suck some of the oil out through the filler. Many places have a hand pump that goes into the filler tube and they can draw the oil out. I had that happen from a Porsche garage where two different people were filling the engine and lost count and put in two extra quarts. They pumped it out and I have had no problems since.

Mel

fixnprsh

drain a couple quarts out and just go drive the **** out of it and it will clear up

3.2SLANTNOSE

Ditto on what fixnprsh said. I overfilled mine once, several years ago, the smoking stopped as soon as I had correct level in tank. Had no lasting problems.

rbcsaver

I agree with fixprsh. I did the same thing years ago in a rush toi change the oil. Pull the reserve tank plug and place it back on after a few quarts have drained. Cover the floor as to not make a mess and And as common sense would imply, DO NOT do this with the engine/oil hot.
regards,
Steve

Brett San Diego

and Porsche shop manager, too. Said to remove intake as far as I was comfortable and clean up the oil then drive it like you guys said until it stops smoking.

I removed a large puddle of oil from the air filter box and drove it. It smoked like hell for the first mile or so, then no more smoke. I figure I'll save the full intake removal for when I want to do more work on the car.

Thanks for setting me at ease. I was wigging out for a little while.

Brett

rbcsaver

You do not need to disassemble the whole intake. Remove the airbox and spray "air intake cleaner"
(NOT Carb. cleaner) into the intake with the car running and revving the motor a bit. This will clean it all out, as well as built up vanish etc.
regards,
Steve

Volney

Now that you've made your first rookie mistake, you might as well just drop your dipstick into the oil tank and get that one over with!! Also, you could go ahead and take off your valve covers without draining the oil and lubricate your garage floor too...

Don't feel bad, this happens to people a lot and you have not hurt your car.

Vol