Jim in St.Louis

I recently saw a bunch of smoke come out of my '96 993 after a spirited romp of the gas peddle. I found oil everywhere under the engine lid. It seemed as though it came out from the oil filler cap. I cleaned it all up, replaced the oil filter, and drove the car. [I have heard of them clogging up, although this one had not been in the car a month.] The problem appears to be gone. Any ideas or comments?
Thanks, Jim

Viken

An overfilled oil tank is a very likely cause for the spillage.

wallwork

Believe it or not, if the oil filler cap is'nt correctly located it too will result in oil being pumped everywhere. Ask me how I know.

Randall G.

Hi Steve,

Can you expand on your post? When I had my overflow incident, I found the filler cap behind the fan, and assumed it was blown off. It's possible--though unlikely--that I forgot to install the cap after adding (the fateful) oil.

FWIW, I had my oil belching incident when my oil cooler fan came up lame = higher operating temperatures = higher oil levels.

GTR 993

Jim I am in St.Louis also, and it just so happens I also had the exact same thing happen. I was driving along and noticed smoke which is the oil on your exhaust, I overfilled my oil reservoir and when I say overfilled it was only about a 1/2 of a quart. I opened the engine cover and there was oil everywhere, it scared the crap out of me I didn't know if it was a blown seal or what.

I took it in and had the oil changed and they cleaned it up. No problems since then. Reid Vann changed the oil and cleaned the engine bay and underneath.

ZCAT3

Jim - I too am a bit embarassed to admit to this mishap as well. I did what Steve is alluding to - I incorrectly replaced the oil filler cap. The cap seals with two little tabs and I had it on crooked - thus grabbing only one of the tabs. The cap never came off but oil leaked up through the filler tube and then down onot the muffler and exhaust pipe. Makes quite a bit of smoke, doesn't it. On the positive side, I quickly discovered the problem and ended up with a very clean engine after I wiped up all the oil.

Steve in the UK

No doubt about it, my oil cap was on crooked. The crazy thing was I was on my way to a DE and thought the engine was on fire when I got caught in some heavy traffic. I pulled over and thought, Sh*t I overfilled the tank . I too cleaned up the mess and continued my journey on the motorway(turnpike) for about 150 miles. When I left the motorway(it was dark by now) I had a bit of a blast away from a roundabout and looked in my mirrors to see the most amazing plume of smoke this side of a Kuwaiti oil field. On reaching my destination I lifted the lid and under torchlight saw the poorly fitted oil cap. I filled up next day and had lost about 0.75 of a quart of Mobil 1.

It's a mistake that I hope I will never make again.


<img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" />

Randall G.

Hmmm .... the 964 oil filler cap is threaded (about three complete turns). I guess a 993 oil filler cap is somewhat similar to an old-style gas cap?

Perhaps I did leave my oil filler cap off on that messy day? Suppose the only way I'll ever know for certain is to overfill the tank and see what happens. Or, take off my cap and see what comes out. Well, using my better judgment, I'm not going to do either . So, it's unlikely I'll ever know what really happened ....

Jim in St.Louis

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I am positive that it was not overfilled, so I must have had the cap partially on. I will be more careful in the future. The Rennlist is great.
Jim