996 Newbie..help needed

Jeremy! What colour is the smoke? Blue or white? The occasional puff of blue smoke which may occur once in 20 starts or so (and clears after 5-10 seconds) is fairly normal. Dense clouds of white smoke, oily to the touch, is usually a sign of an air/oil separator failure. Unfortunately the spindle isn't available separately, so it might need a complete new motor at £359.50 +VAT - ouch!!

Hi Jeremy and welcome along! 1. Most of these cars will smoke slightly on start up - usually a blueish smoke and it is sometimes more pronounced when they're cold. This is because your cylinders are in a flat position (rather than the more traditional vertical position) and small amounts of engine oil can migrate past the piston rings when they're cold and contracted - as opposed to hot and expanded. this small amount of oil then sits in your combustion chamber and mixes with petrol when you start the car up. It then gets pushed out of your exhaust with the rest of the exhaust gases creating the blue smoke (and slightly oil-burning smell...?). The only thing to be sure of is that the smoke is this blueish colour and that there's not too much of it - rather than it being a white colour with more smoke. If this is the case then it could be your oil separator but that wouldn't be a major disaster either. I would think that it is the fact that she's cold and this is how most of the flat six engines behave. Oil pressure: Yes, all is well here too. Your oil pressure should hover around the 2 to 3 bar mark when she's up to working temp and ticking over at idle speed. Note that the oil pressure will then rise when you gently press to gas pedal - similar to your RPM clock. It's worth mentioning at this point that a lot of owners tend to use the oil pressure gauge as a way of making sure that the oil is up to working temp before they give the car car any revs that are above 2,000 to 3,000 revs or so. This is so that you can then be sure that the oil is working as it should be and that the engine is properly warmed up before you give it the beans. This will (hopefully) help to ensure that your engine is protected from wear when it's cold and give you longer engine life - which is always a bonus![ ] So, when you first start the car try to just drive her quietly and keep an eye on the oil pressure gauge between gear changes - you'll notice that the pressure drops with the revs between gear changes and it should settle at around 2,500 bar if you dip the clutch and let her idle. 2. Haven't got a clue about this, sorry!! Someone else who does will be along any minute, I'm sure........!!...... All the best. Adrian.

Hi all Bought my first Porsche this week.. its a 996 Targa - loving it so far. Two things I wanted to check.. 1) when i start the car (either hot or cold) it smokes initially (it didn't do this when I test drove the car). This clears after 30secs or so - and the car drives fine thereafter. under hard acceleration the pressure runs to 5 bar - and normalises between 3 and 4. Do I need to do something when I shut the car down? I have check the oil level and the obvious stuff... do I need to run it to a local specialist (I live near Bedford). 2) When I bought the car - the owner told me the rear spindle on the rear wiper is broken although electrics are fine - is there any way to get this replaced without having to replace the whole rear glass unit? Advice is greatly appreciated.

Richard / Adrian Thanks for the advice - the smoke is definitely blue and last somewhere around 30secs - 1min .... this also co-incides with a slightly different exhaust note (more "raspy").... maybe this could be an oil seperator issue? The car has been meticulously maintained - I have every receipt/bill since new - but in the last few years the car it has done little mileage apart from one annual golf trip (less than 1000 miles of running around pa). The car hasn;t been run properly until i picked it up this week. Once the blue smoke has cleared - the car runs great - no smoke or any fluctuation in terms of idle/running or oil pressure etc etc.. I have read on other sites that it is best to let the engine cool down after use - is this an urban myth? I assume they mean leave it idling on the drive for 1min or so?? to be sure - I may just get the oil separator checked/changed - can you recommend anyone local to me (Beds/Cambs area). In terms of the rear washer - on the targa roof - can you replace the motor separately? Thanks again...

An easy way to tell if it is the AOS is to remove the inlet hose from the throttle body, open the butterfly, and look inside. If the surfaces are wet and oily, then it is the AOS for sure. The AOS can also make a sound like a reed being blown, as the air passes through the split pipe inside. Edit: yes, the motor can be changed - that's the price I quoted.

Hi guys I have taken the car to Auto2000 - he thinks the oil issue may be the valve seals - which obv doesn't sound good. Is there any alternative to replacing them - Nick at Auto2000 is suggesting putting and additive into some new oil and giving it a change? Does anyone have experience (and costs!) of replacing the seals... Not a great start to ownership!! The rear window wiper - seems to be either straightforward or a pinickity job that some garages don't want to take one. once I have replaced - I will inform on costs etc etc... Thanks again for all the advice...

Update: Having been assured that is was the valve oil seals by Auto2000 (and shocked by costs and complexity of replacement) I took the car to Autofarm for a second opinion. What a difference in terms of attitude, apporach and enthusiasm from Autofarm for not just the brand but also the problem (the advice from the previous garage was that the engines are notoriously unrealiable and to sell the car). They assured me that it was v unlikely to be the seals - and then did a full diagnostic of the engine (inc cameras in each cylinder etc etc). They eventually replaced the air oil seperator (as initially diagnosed by Richard) and cleared out he breathing system of the engine. I now have a car that does what it says on the tin. I can't recommend the guys at Autofarm highly enough - not only in terms of service (they even dropped/collected me from the nearest station) but also its great to see people passionate about the brand. Here's to many happy motoring miles to come..

Hi Jeremy, Glad you got it sorted! Sounds like that could have gone very differently if you'd gone elsewhere...?! Oh dear! Adrian.[ ]

Seriously WELL DONE on having the sense to get a second opinion! The number of dodgy (lets be kind) diagnosis's I've had in the past it makes me wonder how many people have actually paid thousands for unnecessary work! In the original garages defense though if you were not aware of a specific part that failed on a particular model. Blue smoke for 30secs each morning on your average car is a typical sign of valve seal wear. Fantastic knowledge from Richard above. Is it the same AOS part on the turbo? Mine has never smoked on start up so far as I've seen? ..and I usually check because I'm paranoid after other cars I've owned. It also uses next to no oil compared to the 1 litre per thousand miles quoted in the book? Level doesn't seem to move at all?

The Turbo doesn't have an AOS, because it is proper dry sump. [ ]

But it still has the occasional morning flat6 smoke- especially when people are watching [ ] [:-] garyw

Yeh,and they give you the "oh dear look"[8|]

Haha the only embarrassing moment I've had so far was when the remote key wouldn't work as I was showing someone the car.. turns out if you leave it for more than 6-7days the battery in my key dies. 5mins in the ignition and all is well again so I have learnt that this is how the key is charged [ ]

Not quite correct. The alarm control unit goes into energy saving mode after 5 days, and disables the remote unlocking function. The key fob battery is not rechargeable. By inserting the key and switching on the ignition you woke up the control module - hence the remote started working again.

I am seriously impressed by your knowledge of these cars, and thanks.[ ]

and to re-awaken the car, just lift the door handle...

me too...its positivly encyclopedic richard..., how the heck to you know all stuff 996 in such detail, i'm genuinely interested?

Tried that the other day with both handles passenger and driver but no luck?! Was this a feature added to later models? Car started fine after being unlocked with the key?

I think it was an added feature on the 997. To wake it up on a later 996 (after the 5 day timer), unlock the car and then lock it with the key, but without opening the door. The remote should then work.