Sun Devil

A couple of questions.

My C2 sits for extended periods due to the fact that I travel a great deal and I have kids and can't always take the C2 even if I want to.

1. What is it about P-cars which causes the battery to drain if the car is left standing in my garage for a week or more? My girlfriend's ex-husband has the same issue with his P-cars.

2. Because of holiday travel and bad weather, this last period of P-car inactivity ran into the few weeks category. When I started it up this afternoon, not only did it smoke like a Marlboro ad, there was a disconcerting gurgling noise coming from the right side of the engine bay (as heard from the driver's position). Scared me some. What was that?

chris walrod

More than likely, that gurgling you hear is oil being dumped back into the oil tank. Prolly nothing to worry about. Same as the smoke at start-up. Did the smoke clear up after a few minutes of running?

Jeff Curtis

Yup, the gurgling sound was likely heard as your oil heated up and the thermostat opened, allowing oil to move forward into the cooler and back.

As for smoking at startup after sitting awhile, that's fairly normal, to a certain extent. If the smoking was RIDICULOUS...now we have some issues.

Randall G.

Yup, lots of people say they can hear the gurgling on a cold start-up. Personally, I can only hear the gurgling coming from the right-front fender, after the thermostat opens = flow to the cooler. Maybe I need to listen closer to hear the cold start-up, coming from the engine gurgling?

Adrian WC

Another mystery solved!!

Always wanted to know what that sound was on startup but always forgot to ask. Never bothered me though as the sound went away after a couple of minutes driving.

Jim Howley

If your battery is draining try the light in the trunk which is what caused the same problem on my car. Might be worth a look.

Sun Devil

Thanks all.

No, there is no smoke after it runs for awhile.

Adrian

Dear David,
I have three parking places (only 2 cars at the moment). There is one of those places that if I leave my C4 for a couple of days not used it smokes like a chimney. It is all in the angle of the dangle. Approximately 2 litres of oil remains floating around in the crankcase. Our engines are often referred to as upside down engines. Anyway withthe help of gravity this oil accumulates in the lowest point in the engine it can get to. If the oil ends up in a cylinder head the thing smokes like a train until it is burn't off.
Ciao,
Adrian
964C4

PS: If anyone in the old days remembers the big aircraft piston engines. You used to see somebody rotating the prop. This was to get the oil out of the bottom cylinders. We used to have 44 gallon oil tanks per engine on the old Neptunes and on a cold morning I could swear it was all in the lower cylinders.

Phil Raby

I've been noticing a gurgling from the rear right recently, for a second or two after starting up. I assume it's coming from the oil tank and, I hope, is nothing to worry about. I do wonder why I've never noticed it before though?

Cheers

Adrian

Dear Phil,
Has a lot to do with the weather. Thicker oil makes more gurgling sounds. Mine is really bad in winter and you hardly hear it in summer unless it has been inactive for a while.
It may also occur if your oil level is down by about a litre. Might be worth checking but not worth worrying about.
Ciao,
Adrian
964C4

Phil Raby

Thanks Adrian. It was cold here a week or so ago. I'll also check the oil level, although in two years I've never had to top it up!

Cheers

Adrian

Dear Phil,
That is good but you have to have used some oil. Dry sumped engines do consume oil, much more than wet sumped engines.
Ciao,
Adrian
964C4

Phil Raby

Adrian, I know they do, but mine has never needed topping up between oil changes, I've no idea why. There was a thread about this a while ago and others said the same. Strange, but true!

Cheers

Adrian

Dear Phil,
A lot depends upon how many miles you do between oil changes. I do 20,000 km and will top up with around 2 litres in this time. If I do some seriously long trips in summer and it is really hot I may need 3 litres. If you are getting no oil usage in 20,000 km I think Porsche will happily swap your 964 for a 996 and put it in their museum.
Ciao,
Adrian
964C4

Phil Raby

Adrian, not much help to me, because I don't really want a 996. Anyway, I'd hate to see my car rust away in a museum

Cheers