Carlton191

I have a 997S w/~7kmi. At every cold startup it let's off a HUGE plume of blue (oil) smoke out of the passenger side tailpipe...not a puff...a friggen cloud.

I've burn oil at the rate of about 1qt every 400-500mi. Based on all the posts on here I expected this to taper off at around the 3k mi mark, but it hasn't. I took the car in to the dealer about 2k mi. ago and was told 'it's perfectly normal to have Ss burn that much oil', which I find hard to stomache.

After being embarrassed by the huge smoke cloud at woork, I took it back in 2 weeks ago and asked to speak to the service manager. I was taken back by his threatening tone when he told me 'we will check the ranges, and if we see you've overrevved it, you're on the hook for a new engine'....needless to say, I did not leave the car. I'm the sole driver and have never taken it past redline, so now I'm concerned that any problems discovered will magically be out of warranty.

Any advice??

500

What you have described does not sound normal at all.

Go to another dealership and ask to meet w/ the shop foreman and see if he is more receptive. If you still are not satisified you can ask to meet w/ the Porsche rep.

OCBen

Yeah, go to another dealership, first and foremost.

Sorry to hear about your problem.

Take a look at these for any helpful information:

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ighlight=smoke

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ighlight=smoke

DJ23

It's a shame that your original rep is treating you this way. Definitely not normal at all for the amount of smoke you are describing. Have your car analyzed by another Porsche dealership. Have them verify the problem, document it and have that person contact the tech. department of the dealer you purchased the car from. This way they can't conjure up any erroneous symptoms your car may never have had just to cover them from not repairing your car in the proper manner. Stick to your guns here and use your intelligence to thwart any subterfuge they may through in front of you. No way your car should burn that much oil. Good luck.

Jay

sandwedge

I don't rule out lying and cheating anywhere warranty claims or insurance claims are processed so I think I would approach this by entering quietly through the back door. Obtain a printout of the ranges first without mentioning the problem. You're selling the car and the buyer wants to know or something like that. Then go see the service manager where you want the work done, normal (hopefully) range printout in hand and have them fix the car. BTW.......got 9,000 miles on mine and not a drop of oil goes up in smoke, at least not any measurable amount.

Coochas

The tone from your dealer is really inappropriate. Has your car ever been scanned by your dealer (i.e. do they know if there have been any ridiculous overrevs?).
It is definitely NOT normal to burn that much oil and the plume of smoke is certainly abnormal.
I agree with above comments,...go to another dealer and ask them to scan the DME and give you a printout. Then address the problem.
$100,000 cars should not come with this level of service and I do not think PCNA would approve.

Edgy01

My car goes in tomorrow for a bleed down test to see why it uses about a quart every 1000 miles. Porsche claims that something like 1.6 quarts per 650 miles is within 'their acceptable standards' yet most of us find that ridiculous. I have gotten the regional PCNA representative involved and based upon all the other 997S engines out there that use very little oil even he admits that 1 quart per 1000 miles is not representative of the fleet. Basically, why is there such a difference between engines? I don't buy the 'break in method' as the difference. The far majority of the S owners are getting quite acceptable oil performance. As of today I have about 18,000 miles on my car. it's been consuming at this rate from the very beginning.

In the past I have read of a problem with an oil separator,--which manifests itself by oil foulling of one side of the exhaust pipes over the other and the far higher oil consumption that you are reporting. That appears to me to be the biggest problem.

I would not hesitate in a moment to report the dealership that threatened you to PCNA corporate.

drmarkp

Push hard on this. That amount of smoke on start-up, plus that level of oil consumption (plus more sooting on the one side) = a bad piston ring on the opposing bank. Oil separator has been in problem in Boxsters but it didn't solve similar symptoms in my 997. Compression testing not reliable enough to pick it up - need direct visualisation via an endoscope, or by taking engine out to confirm. Don't ask me how I know! Suffice to say I had to fight tooth and nail for my dealer - and Porsche - to take these symptoms seriously. In the end they found bore six was scored due to a bad ring and tried to fob me off with a new block and piston. I fought tooth and nail and got a new (reman) engine (quite rightly given my car was 18 months old and had only done 7500 miles). And I know of at least two other 997 owners who have had the same problem. Keep pushing. My new engine (now 9000 miles old) doesn't seem to use any oil.
Mark

joey c

i have owned porsches since 98...2 boxsters (base and an s)both new....after them 95 993 and currently an 87 911..i have to admit when i read these posts,i feel sick..i have heard so many negative things about dealers..i recall when i had an rms on my boxster s..the car was 5 days out of warranty..they wanted me to pay..i had made the call about the leak 2 weeks before the warranty expired..it was like pulling teeth to get them to fix it for free...their design flaw..they fixed it for free..but i had to push..it really makes me sick...they should fix rms for free whenever it needs it....i would not buy a new porsche again..i think folks should be treated better after spending 80-100k...j

wdonovan

New dealer. And post the name of your dealer here so all can know who these bullying dirtbags are.

RonCT

A few thoughts... Your car may have been abused, but not by you. I've heard too many stories about employees of dealerships joy riding in customer cars. Not the master mechanics or service managers, but the guys that move the cars (customer parking area to the shop, etc.) and have access to the keys. So, you could get a print-out and find over-revs and that might be enough for a "bad" dealer to deny warranty. What a good dealer does is takes your side because he gets paid either way and keeps you happy for future business. My dealer is a good one.

Besides running to a new dealer (I'd never set foot in that one again) is to find an independent / Porsche tuning shop in your area and plug into the computer to see what a dealer would see. If the report is clean, then you have nothing to worry about and the shop might even give you some tips on how to attack the problem with the dealer.

1999Porsche911

Don't worry. Porsche is probably in the process of issuing, yet another TSB stating that the "acceptable" amount of oil for there cars to burn has been increased from 9 gallons between oil changes to 12 galllons. This will automatically change your oil burning from a problem to "as designed". So there is nothing to worry about. This change will not cost you a dime and make your car normal.

On a serious note: demand that it be repaired immediately. New engine or whatever. Too many Porsche owners who simply own their car for the "bling" roll over too easily when there is an obvious problem and Porsche no longer feels they need to step up and improve their designs and quality. As long as this continues, Porsche has no incentive to make the necessary adjustments.


***Have you looked at the latest income statement from Porsche? There is a seperate line item for "Mobil 1 0W40 Incentive". It is showing substantial increases in revenue, quarter over quarter as consumption and leakage increase .

bella1

I have a C4S delivered June 2007 with 2300 miles driven to Nova Scotia and I have never seen that myself. I would agree with other posts that this sounds like a problem. I have a 2001 996 with 55,000 miles and that burns no oil either.

JFScheck

My 996 Boxster, my ex-Cayenne S and my 997S with X-51 engine package - ALL BURN NO OIL!!!

Yes - if I start the Boxster or 997 for a minute or two (moving it quickly) and start it back up in a few days I get a little "Puff" - but that's about it!

You have got an issue - get if fixed!

Check out the Cayenne side of the house - we have folks with the same issue you are having (burning oil)...

Audi says my new S4 may burn some oil (just like Porsche) but luckly it burns none either. Guess some of these engines when built are a little "looser" than the others - it's these same engines that are rated at the lower HorsePower figures - thus why germans are conservative on HP?

Who Knows - other than you have an issue with your Baby - get her fixed by another dealer if needed...

jollyjolly

The service manager's behaviour (if true) is totally unacceptable.

Post the dealership's name, so others can boycott. Perhaps we could get a list (long) of posters who protest this kind of behaviour!