p997s123

I purchased a 2008 Cayman S CPO'd with 1500 miles. I purchased the car with the intent of using it as a DE car for 80% of its use. I am just beginning and run with the Blue group PCA @ Sebring. I've only completed 3 track days so far.

Last weekend I blew HUGE amounts of smoke after Bishops on 2 seperate occasions. Further research reveals this is a known problem on tracked Caymans (usually with R coumpounds: I run stock Bridgestones). There is an oil ingestion issue which can occur during high G left turns. The fix is to install a Motorsport Oil Seperator, $500 part and 12 hour shop time. Porsche will not cover this repair.

The service manager seemed to think that this should not cause a serious problem, but admitted that Porsche would not cover the motor if it grenades as long as the car had been tracked.

A friend of mine races Spec Miata (also a Porsche enthusiast). He feels that I am really taking a chance continuing to track the car if the severe smoke issue continues. Another friend who was a professional racer was driving during one of the episodes and he too expressed serious concern re: the amount of smoke.

I've read many of the threads at planetporsche.net (dedicated Cayman/Boxster site) re: this problem and as expected, views range from "this car is not designed for the track" to "my car smokes all the time and it really isn't an issue". Installing the Motorsports Oil Separator does seem to solve the problem but at a pretty high cost.

With all of the experience on this forum, I was hoping to hear some of your thoughts regarding this problem. Am I really taking a chance continuing to track the car or is oil ingestion not necessarily a big problem in terms of motor longevity.

Any input would be appreciated.

WHB Porsche

The cooler is only a little more than a set of tires with 12 hrs. of labor. No reason not to do it.

eshane

As so many will tell you on this forum, if you can't write a check for it, don't track it. This is fun, but very, very serious business we do out on the track. Just ask the guy who stuffed his GT3 at turn 10 this weekend in the first session on Saturday.

Gary R.

Either modify it or sell it and buy a dry sump car...

schwank

I think it comes with the territory. In every one of these cars there are improvements to be made if the intent is to drive it hard in a track environment. For road use, compromises are made.

If you paid for a Cayman S for 80% track use, a $500 part is not where you balk. $500 is cheap. And I run a 'cheaper' race car than a Cayman S!

race911

Maybe Mooty (John) will see this an comment, as he had 2, 3, 17 of the things for a year and a half...... Or PM him to see what was going on with the (seemingly) 10K track miles he did with all of them.

earlyapex

John loved his Gayman, but gave up on it after he spent too many days getting it fixed. Where are you John?

mglobe

I see lots of Cayman's running on the track with no problem, but I've also heard a few stories of engines grenading. Of course I've heard that about virtually every generation, yeah even the air-cooled ones.

I'd check your oil level first and make sure it's not overfilled. Not the same symptom, but my 997 used to smoke on start-up after a hard track session. I found that running it 1 bar below the top oil level eliminated that problem.

FWIW, I suspect that Porsche actually would cover your engine if it were to go. I wouldn't go out of my way to talk about track use, but so long as there's no evidence of engine abuse in the way of OBDII errors, I suspect they would take care of you.

cgomez

Most likely my Cayman is one of the hardest driven/raced on this side of the Pond (2 seasons with prior owner, this season with me). The engine is still in one piece and running strong.

The oil smoke "thing" is mostly due to ingestion and the BEST solution is to run the RIGHT level. Usually, most people run oil levels a bit too high (within factory range) and this is what causes the ingestion.

I don't run a "oil separator", just an X51 pan to prevent starvation and there's no need for a cooler either. Max engine oil temps during an Enduro 90min race in 100F weather were 228F.

The weak link in the Cayman is the Power Steering system. There you need to install: underpulley, PS fluid cooler up front and improve heat shield of PS hoses.
The second weakest link is the transmission (most cars that have raced for 2 or more years have replaced/rebuilt their trannys). A tranny fluid cooler is a good idea, specially for Enduro races and high speed tracks like Daytona.

hope this helps.

FTS

Not that I have as many track miles or driven as hard as CG above, but I have 7K track (DE) miles. I don't have any modifications at all to the engine or PS lines, or anything else, I just run with R888 tires. Thus far all is well with no signs of any potential issues, I no longer get the smoke either, because I suspect as CG mentions, I try ensure I have the 'right' level of oil in the engine, which is for me one notch down from the max line.
This does not mean that my engine is not going to grenade itself sometime, but if it happens, I'll deal with it in some manner I guess; I am out of warranty with 58K total miles.

Giacomo

My friend and I both started DE years ago in our Boxsters. Mine was an '01 S in which I installed the Breykrause deep sump oil pan kit and it never smoked once despite alot of track miles. His was a base '03 and it smoked all the time, although I can't recall whether it was after right or left hand turns. I know the local dealer did attempt some repairs, all under warranty, to remedy the smoking issue but it continued to smoke at the track. Big, honking clouds of white smoke at times. Three years ago he bought a race car, as did I, and he continues to drive his '03 on the street and never had a smoking issue again.

stuttgart46

I went through a couple of motors in the SPBOX. I would not race another one without an Accusump.

morefun

My '06 CS has @ 45 track days on it. I installed the Mantis oil sump extention and windage tray early on and have not had any any issues with smoking since. I slso have the PS underdrive pulley, installed after melting the high pressure line - replaced under warntee. Both cheap and Easy to install.

rlm328

My unmodified '06 Cayman S did about 10 DE Events (20 days) with no problems. Texas gets hot for the early fall and late spring events (high 90's air temp track temp 120 to 130). I have so far, knock on wood, had no problems with the car. As mentioned above my oil level also likes to be 1 notch from the top.

As an add on, I spoke with my dealer about engine repair if something major happened. They indicated it would not be a problem. As it is a PCA aponsored event and they advertize the cars as high performance machines.

himself

I wouldn't say this. Maybe for a race car, but for a DE car, there are plenty of ways to offset the potential of something going wrong. Aside from the car warranty that is in place for mechanical problem (which may or may not be honored), you can get a DE insurance policy that will "buy" your car if you ball it up on the track. Also, some street policies still cover DE mishaps. It's all contract driven [pun intended].

For those driving $20-$50K+ DE cars, this is probably a better/cheaper option than writing a check for the car. If you have a race car, you are in a different boat.

-td