jmayzurk

Hi,

I recently purchased a '97 993TT with 68k miles. The first thing I did when I received the car was change the oil and both filters, using Mobil 1 15W-50 and Porsche filters. The short filter has the -03 suffix.

Since then I've driven about 1800 miles; the car has been great. No smoke on startup or any other time, and oil consumption was minimal during this period--perhaps 1/8"-1/4" on the dipstick, but it's hard to tell. Oil level on the dipstick was approximately 1" from the top of the range.

Then, yesterday as I was leaving the office (car had been sitting for about 10 hours), I started the car and it began dumping smoke out of the right side exhaust, leaving a lovely blue haze in the parking garage. I drove off and it smoked for almost ten minutes, but then stopped.

A took a few more short trips last night (dinner, etc.). No smoke on the short trips. Then I put it away for the night.

This morning, after resting for about 6-7 hours, there was more smoke on startup, but it lasted for only 3-4 minutes.

I pulled off the intercooler tubes, and there's oil there--obviously. It seemed about the same on both sides. I haven't checked at the compressor housing yet, but I'll do that tonight. Oil level has dropped 1/2" on the dipstick in 24 hours.

So, my question is, should I change the short oil filter again? Or is it likely that one of my turbo seals has suddenly let go? Has anyone had a similar experience where smoking did not begin immediately after an oil change?

I was prepared to replace turbos on the car when I bought it with this mileage, so I'm not horribly distressed with the idea, but it seems odd that it would start smoking so suddenly.

Any advice would be appreciated.

-Jeff

Kevin

Jeff;

The tell tail sign is going to be oil in the plastic air inlet tubes going into your compressor housings. However, you could have a failed engine filter, the mechanic could have crushed it with his hand, or did not tighten it all the way? It really is a crap shoot.. Regardless, right now you definately have oil passing the seals. If I was you, I'd replace the filter yourself.. The worst case is having to get the turbochargers rebuilt...

Kevin

jmayzurk

Thanks for your response, Kevin.

I did the oil change myself. The filter is definitely not crushed. I put it on only hand-tight, and did not use a wrench on it. The one I replaced came off easily by hand.

This was my first oil change on the car, obviously. Are the filters really that sensitive to being seated just so? What procedure do you recommend for tightening this filter?

Thanks again,

-Jeff

thomas.rousseau

The previous owner of my car experienced problems with the Porsche filters. Porsche had a batch of badly produced filters that have been around at the dealers and they are not to be distinguished from the good ones, I learned. Could have been one of these bad ones you got. Strange though that they worked in the beginning.....

/Thomas

johnneurauter

I heard something from the regional PCA guy here in Chicago that he had a smoking on startup problem that, after exhaustive investigation, he found was due to overfill. Just thought I'd pass that along in case ...

fc-racer

I've had oil filters (Porsche correct ones) that have worked for 2,000km and then started to smoke. Replacement with a new one stopped the smoking completely and hasn't come back (knock on wood). I would just replace the filter; I know how improbable it sounds that this will fix your problem, but it did for me, even though I had almost no expectation that it would.