plessdude

I just picked up an '01 996 TT with 6k miles on Sat. I drove the car Sat and on Sunday I came out to start the car and a puff of white smoke came out of the engine and after a few minutes of driving my CEL came on. I went home and disconnected the battery and the CEL cleared. This morning when I started the car I got the same puff of smoke and CEL came back on. Obviously I am a bit concerned being that I have had the car for like 24 hours and have had 2 CEL's. I bought the car from a dealer in New York and I am in Pittsburgh so I cannot go back to them. Is this a serious problem? I do not have a scanner so I cannot check the codes but I guess I am going to take a trip to the Porsche dealer here to check it out. The dealer is about 20 miles away. Is it alright to drive there with the problems I have described. I swore I would never buy a Porsche after I had serious problems with my '98 Boxster but here I am again and already there are issues.

BuddyG

Not sure why you are getting the CEL but a puff of white smoke on start up is common because the engine is a flat six and some oil will rest in the cylinders and be burned off at start up.

KJM3SMG

is the car certified and did u perform a PPI ? Perhaps there was something wrong with the car that wasn't triggered.. the car is actually pretty reliable for a supercar.

I just got an 01 also but I made damned sure I got it from a Porsche dealer, PPI'd and certified to avoid any weird issues.. I wanted a nice clean car.

Best of luck with you.. You may have to risk the 20 mile drive to the dealer.

ebaker

Autozone and other auto parts stores will read the code for free.

Denstoyz

The puff of white smoke is normal! I get it every start up and have asked numerous times at the dealership and evidently all the 911TT do it. As far as the CEL, do you have aftermarket exhaust? I have the techart exhaust which does cause my CEL to go on but with the new program I got from Imagine it doesn't anymore!

plessdude

Thanks everyone for your input. I kind of suspected that the puff of smoke was normal oil burn off but when the CEL came on I started to panic. I called the dealer I got it from and he said to drive the car for thrity minutes and see if it turns off. I drove around and the CEL went away! Hopefully nothing is wrong. The car is bone stock right now. My car was not Porsche certified but I did purchase an EasyCare extended warrenty to hopefully I am covered. My only other issue is that my neck is killing me from hitting the boost! They should have offered a free massage with the purchase of this car....and maybe even a happy ending!

sushi

I am in search of the same car. What should I expect to pay? and is there anything I should be careful about? Private party, dealer, whatever? I am brand new thanks..

JasonAndreas

If you let your car idle for at least 30 seconds before you shut it off does it still puff white smoke on the next morning/startup?

JPschnitzer

General consensus is that you should let the car idle for about two minutes before shutting off...This allows the Turbos to cool. I try to follow this, and I rarely get the smoke puff on start-up. Also try to drive the car easy, off-boost before pulling into destination....this also helps the cool down and ultimate longevity of the motor......Same applies for starting in the morning.....easy for 10 minutes until car is warmed up.

plessdude

Being that the car is new to me I have been pushing it a bit hard. i will try to let it idle for 30 seconds before shutting it down. On a side note, I used a ODB scanner and found out the CEL might be a MAF problem..... The place I bought it is going to take care of the problem through my local dealer but I am a bit scared that this car could have issues. Anyone heard of a MAF failure at 6000 miles?

wross996tt

There has been much discussion of MAF failures (both here and at 6speedonline). I'm not sure anyone knows exactly what is going on with the MAF failure (e.g., is it dirty or did it fail?). It does appear to be a problem in general though and does not appear linked to mileage? Mine blew at 3600 miles.

I also follow the cooldown by idling for 2 minutes. I also have not seen any puffs of smoke.

plessdude

Thanks for the info. I have spent the last few days pouring over all the information here at rennlist and at 6speed. Wow there is a lot of good information here guys! I guess it appears that the MAF failure is a part of Porsche ownership. Other than little things like that these 996's seem to be pretty solid. Well let the mods begin!