Fingers crossed!

Pulled into work a bit early and while waiting in the car for the shop to open I started the car back up to get some heat only to see this cloud of white smoke go past me. Shut it down and waited a bit and tried again same smoke out of both tail pipes ( tried to see if it had a sweet smell but really couldn't tell) lasting for at least 30 seconds and went away mostly but still smoked a small bit. Checked the oil and no intermix I could see. Coolant reservoir was empty (could have been that way prior but not sure) but clean no sludge I could see. Oil fill cap did have some oil/water sludge in the end of the tube and underside of the cap from what I've heard can be normal. Started it and Check for heavy vacuum At the cap and definitely had a sucking but nothing crazy and the idle didn't stumble that I noticed when I pulled the cap off. Opinions? Aos or cracked head? No cel lights or anything. Cars at the shop now. Hoping to find out tomorrow. Btw it's an 2002 996 C4 3.6L 6 speed. I also noticed a heavy burning plastic smell the last few days but all my 996's seem to have a sort of smell like that. Just seemed a bit worse last few days. Now I normally leave in the dark in the morning and it's dark when I get home. Not sure if it may have been smoking the last day or two but not sure. Fingers crossed it's an AOS!

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I would not bet on it for two reasons: First, if the AOS was bad, you would not be able to get the oil cap off with the engine running. Second, 3.4L engines are very prone to cylinder head cracking.

It's a 3.6. My car started to do the same thing after driving. It also was a 2002 C4. I did everything, leak down, Compression test, plugs coils, AOS which was a *****. Everything tested 100% Still smoking on start ups and it started to burn about 1 lt every 300 miles. I traded it in. My guess was the valve guides. The engine had less than 20k on a 3.8 rebuild. Hope this helps.

Yea I am at a loss. I thought the cracked head issue was a 3.4 and not 3.6 issue? Main thing concerning me is the coolant loss. But like I said not sure if it's been that way for a while or just now. Scratching my head for sure.

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3.6L also crack heads, not as badly as the 3.4L, but they still do it.

Sorry I missed the whole loss of coolant. My car didn't have that. Pull your plugs. See if there is build up on them. Sound like JEP is correct.

With a cracked head wouldnt you see the smoke primarily out of one side not both?

You would see it coming out of the opposite side pipe. On the 3.6 996 the pipes cross. Most likely its the pass side of the motor. So the driver side muffler would have the smoke. Problem is if it is a slow leak it won't really smoke bad and a lot could get burned off in the cylinder. You might just have a few problems and not just one.

Yea I definetly had it out of both pipes. Shop is suppose to get back to me tomorrow with the findings.

Well I heard back from the shop this morning. So far no coolant leaks with the pressure test were detected but the oil was found way over full. Also the oil filter housing was leaking and damaged due to what looks to be channel locks being used on the housing. I've only owned this pcar for only a few weeks so this this is the first time it's been a shop since I purchased it. It was traded in on a new corvette then that dealer wholesaled it to the small dealer I aquired it from. The dealer I purchased it from did zero work on it and sold it to me. I suspect the Chevy dealer that took it in originally is probably the one that overfilled the oil and damaged the housing since the car has an extensive history at porschr service centers up until that point which is also the reason I bought the car. This however doesn't mean that there aren't more issues' but that's what's been found as of now.

Verdict is in. Too much oil causing the smoke and leaking at the oil filter, a leak at a t-fitting for the coolant once it was warmed up and pressure tested again, Also bad ball joint and tires were worn unevenly due to alingment. Had the oil filter opened up and it's clean no metal. So the two leaks are getting repaired, new a-arm, 4 tires and an alignment, ims guardian and having a set of fabspeed bypass pipes put on (Yes loud I know had them before) and a b&m short throw shift. Dodged the bullet on this one!

Good news - could have been worse!

Agreed! I will be sleeping much easier tonight for sure!

Good to hear stuttgarts930'!....consider it an early Christmas present from the Saint Nicholas!

Indeed. The Last motor I had to rebuild was my 930 close to 15 years ago and I owned a home with a garage and a second vehicle at that point so I did it at my leisure myself over that winter. Now years later we've moved out of that state back home here to mass into a high end complex which while Iove for all the ammeneties they won't so much as let you more than change a tire here let alone rip a motor out where others would be blinded by the horror lol. Good thing is this issue came about the day before my 3 week vacation started so I don't need a car right now and it will be finished in the next day or two. Until then I will play with the wife's cayenne turbo. Sometimes these things just have a way of working out I do think I'm going to pick up a little 914 as a emergency car though. Ship one up from down south for 3-4 grand with no rust. I've always had some sort twisted attachment to them and out of Allred p-cars this family has owned over the last 20 plus years that hasn't been one of them .