joeTurbo

My 2007 GT3 with 6000 miles now has quite a lot of smoke coming from the pipes at start-up. Only lasts for a minute or so.
Also, at my last track session, it went through about 2/3 of a quart of oil for a 150 mile track session.

No sign of any leaks (even the RMS is almost dry!).

Is this normal?
Thanks
Joe

C.J. Ichiban

smoke on start up is fairly normal...we've got "special" cylinders in our cars. if you're getting more smoke than roughly the size of the car's cabin, then you might have an issue. About the oil consumption- how hot are the track temps you're experiencing?

joeTurbo

Track oil temperature seemed OK at around 260-270 farenheit.
Water nice and cool at around 190.
Joe

Carrera GT

My car smoked off and on until about 1800 miles, then it stopped. Now it starts clear every time. I had assumed it was a ring thing. Maybe I'm out of oil?

C.J. Ichiban

sorry joe I meant to say how hot is the track and ambient air temps? just curious if that's a factor as well. My car doesn't really use any oil, actually neither my RS nor my GT3 did...but how accurate can our digital gauge be sans dipstick????

CGT- what really helps seat the rings is when the car is allowed to cool all the way off, and the metal in the engine changes temps from "full usage" to cold- less than 50*F or so. this can be achieved during break in by actually parking it outside, especially overnight somewhere during the spring, fall, or winter if you're lucky to have delivered it in those seasons. That's when the rings really seat...I doubt after that many miles it would still be a ring issue unless you drove it like a grandma for that first 1800...

eclou

what color is the smoke? Blue = oil, black = rich, white = condensation

Carrera GT

I did give this car a gentle break-in to about 1500 miles. Nothing above 30%-50% throttle, nothing above 4000 rpm. I'd already had a GT3, so I wasn't itching to get the car going. The first 997 GT3 never "smoked" and it wasn't given an easy life. I think there's something happening in the assembly phase which causes things like seal leaks and smokey cold starts.

C.J. Ichiban

FWIW I was at buttonwillow on sunday and there was a 430 scuderia- guy told me it only had 300 miles on it before the first session....

I'm not that aggressive with my cars on break-in, but definitely incrementally exceeded 4k rpms every few hundred miles

MarekN

Have we asked ourselves how much of the smoke on start-up could be attributed to the horizontal engine layout?

Bob Rouleau

Occasional smoke on start-up is normal for flat six engines. Oil consumption is usually very low on these cars. Suggest you never add oil unless the elecronic gauge shows at least 3 bars below full. When that happens do not add more than 1/4 of a liter or quart. The reading on the gauge will vary quite a bit from hot to cold and is very sensitive to any tilt , i.e. unless the surface is perfectly level the reading will vary a couple of bars.

Best,

Philip in AL

I asked the same question earlier this year; about smoke at startup. Here is what CJ said "it's because of the piston clearances in the cylinder head...there's a really long technical explanation but basically because the engine revs so high and the pistons get warm- porsche has to leave a bit of extra room in the barrel for it all to fit at full temp and 8400 revs for a few hours (hot things expand, etc). this is also related to how the engine slops around if/when you lug it in low RPMS as well...(DON'T LUG THE CAR!!)

basically- it's all part of the balance of the rotating parts and such.

when caymans and regular 911's smoke it's from a different cause- because the oil separator is going bad. dry sump engines have much better oiling and don't typically have this problem."

C.J. Ichiban

thanks for the footnote philip!

khaug

You just described my '07 GT3's oil issues to a "T".

I think the smoke puff on startup is normal for a flat 6. This is my third 911 and they've all puffed blue smoke at cold startup on occasion.

Beware the electronic oil gauge! The readings on mine are inconsistent, even though I've standardized my oil-checking procedure (same spot in the garage, oil temp @200 degrees). Mine had apparently consumed a half-liter in 300 track miles at Mosport a couple of weeks ago. Then when I checked it again yesterday, the gauge read "full" once again.

BTW, I switched to Mobil 1 5w-50 with no apparent change in the track oil consumption. That oil isn't available in the US, but I live close to Canada and Canadian WalMarts carry it.