whiteNSXs

Guys,
I drove my 87 928S4 auto with 56k miles to work in the morning without any signs of problem. When it was time to go home this evening, I hopped on the car and started it right up. As the car was idling and I was adjusting the radio, the idle became rough, and the engine started to sound funny. There was no warning light anywhere and the oil pressure gauge showed full pressure, I gave it a little gas to hopefully maintain the idle a little. It kind of worked so I engaged to "D" and the car was spluttering when I started driving it. I then parked the car and opened the hood. The rear of the engine started to smell funny and smoke came out. The engine also made a lot of ticking sound. I immediately turned off the engine and I knew something catastrophic happened.
I left the car at work in South San Francisco and I will be looking for a shop to tow the car to. I have had this car for a little more than a year and have put less than 500 miles on it. I am just totally bumped out now. I have a feeling that the repair bill will be a very expensive one.
Oh well. The car is white with a specially ordered full pearl white interior. I have been working on upgrading the radio, amp, changing out the AC vacuum components, and the interior. SIGH!
Any "reasonable" shop around SSF?
Thanks,
Steve

atb

Don't despair until you know the whole story. Wouldn't it be nice if just the flex plate rivets were starting to let go?

Nicole

Let's hope it isn't as bad as you think.

Who's close to South San Francisco? Bauer in Oakland? Marvin (TheRennShop) in Santa Clara? Anyone closer who knows the 928 well?

pcar928fan

I wonder if it ate its water pump and was then overheating... seems like you did not have it running long enough for that... Looking forward to hearing the verdict on the situation. Sounds like a really nice car.

asoprano

Sorry mate, just hope that your car is not DONE, or at least the repair bill is not so expensive.

Bill Ball

You have ANOTHER white 87 besides Matt's old car? Wow.

This does not ring any particular bells. Not sure what happened. Funny smell and smoke makes me think electrical short. Ticking makes me usually think of lifters. I can't put it together. Maybe this is an odd form of LH failure and the injectors were going haywire, but usually the car just won't run in that case.

If the smoke and noise had come from the front I would think water pump seizure.

Nicole

Injector harness problem?

safulop

We're all waiting with bated breath for the shop's verdict, you can be sure of that.

Don't forget to update!

-Sean

Charley B

Sorry to hear this Steve. Could you be a little more specific? What color was the smoke; White, grey or dark? What did it smell like; Coolant, burning wires or burning oil?
Since it ran rough as soon as you started it, I would think more in terms of electrical than engine internals.
Did you notice if the temp guage was out of normal range?
Good oil pressure at least is encouraging.

dr bob

Grab the LH brain from the car and get it to another local '87+ owner to try.

The ticking is injectors going crazy, rough running from the too-rich condition. Smoke is from the overloaded cats that were getting too hot. All classic LH brain failure symptoms.


This one is simple-- it will only take money to cure it. Minimal effort required,in the big scheme of possible things. I'm away from my spare Rich Andrade rebuilt 'test' brain or you could use it.

whiteNSXs

You guys ROCK! I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope the whole thing being LH failure like dr Bob suggested. The smoke was white. The smell was something that did not smell electrical. I would say it was more oil like but it really smelled more irritating than burnt oil. I would imagine a burning chemical plant would smell like that. I was reading up on Corvette engine swap all last night!
Thanks for all the inputs. Anyone around here with a spare LH brain for diagnostic purpose?
Steve

blown 87

This would also be my guess.

Mako 928

Go to www.norcal928.org and look at "Local 928 repair shops"

Hi Tech in San Rafael is where I would go if I did not do all of my own work.
Devan Wales is the owner and he was Porsche factory trained on 928's.

86'928S MeteorGrey

If one of the ignition modules decided to quit, and you were running on four, I guess you could have had an abundance of fuel in the cats that may have ignited and then burned out.... This does not explain the (LH) injector ticking though... Hoping for a SIMPLE electrical problem. Good luck!

Mrmerlin

a quick check pull the dipstick and drip the oil onto a black piece of cardboard look at the oil in the sun if you see lots of small metallic particles disconnect the battery as you dont want anyone to run the engine till the thrust bearing has been checked.

IF OTOH the brains are bad simply switch on the key to the run position then listen to the injectors if they are all clacking away then you have brain failure..
' ALSO dont be afraid to get on the ground and take a peek at the cats to see if they are glowing this will let you know where the possible smoke/burning is coming from, of course dont let them stay glowing as this will lead to a fire