deckman

I should have read the OP post more carefully. I didn't notice the CEL. Mine has done the puff of smoke three times, but was never accompanied by a CEL.

joes c4 cab

I would RUN back to the dealer. I agree - give them a chance to find something and renew the 5 day return policy, or RUN away. This is a buyers market for these cars if there ever was one.

rvklein

Tom at TPC said possibly oil separator too. They (the dealer not Tom) did offer to extend the 5 day grace period to give them a chance to look at it although I'd want that to be 5 days after I got the car back. I didn't press it though. I just got too gun shy and returned the car.

The car did not sit, I put 260 miles on it in 4 days.

ivangene

no more car? I bet like other said, they are willing to make it right as they would rather sell it and loose a bit of the profit tahn have it sit until the next buuyer comes along.
Ed

ivangene

Note to self.... PROOF READ

spiderv6

Smart move. Absolutely no question I would have done the same thing.

GMS

Bearing in mind the number of oil sperators that do fail and cause smoking, if you liked the car, I would have probably waited until the actual (not a guess) cause of the problem was found.
The next one you get may have exactly the same problem.

Marc Gelefsky

or worse!

rvklein

As a matter of practicality, I lose nothing by returning the car. There are plenty of cars out there. I'll look back on her with fondness however. She was my first. And as we all know your first time is usually brief. I'll consider it a lesson learned and be better prepared for my next porsche.

I won't be fretting over spending a few grand for the extended warranty the next time.

GMS

Quote
"I'll consider it a lesson learned and be better prepared for my next porsche"

I'm not seeing any lesson learning. The car you chose had a fault and you returned it.

rvklein

relax. The lesson being don't be freaked out by a little (well big) cloud of smoke.

rvklein

I'd also like to add a thank you for the advice and support. And speaking of learning, an oil separator failure would manifest itself as smoke coming out of the exhaust correct?

Is there any significance to the fact that one pipe smoked more than the other?

deckman

Well there are cars out there. Lot's? I'm not so sure. Lot's of good one's? I doubt that.

Malakas

Well it sounds like you bought the car w/o warranty - and almost right away had a failure... plus reading all the posts about this-and-that going wrong probably make you rightfully nervous.

As you already said - a warranty will probably make the ownership experience far more pleasurable. Although if you really liked the car - you should think about going back to it. If you didn't -- then you got an awesome test drive!

rvklein

I went back and forth about it but I did buy a 5 year warranty with the car. But I had my father, the Carmax European Car Service Rep, and the Carmax Buisness guy all tell me that returning the car was the safest course of action.

If the car hits the lot again odds are it was a simple repair and I could buy the car again if I wanted to. If it doesn't odds are good there was a more serious problem and it's been wholesaled.