Nurburgring engine smoking insident- help?!?!

Whilst taking my 2003 Targa on its maiden lap of the Nurburgring yesterday evening I came out of the carousel (an area of extreme cornering force on the car) floored the throttle & looked into my mirror to see a huge plume of blue/black smoke. On letting off the smoking stopped & upon flooring it, it came back. I completed the lap with no noticeable problem with the car & the smoking stopped. Once safely back at the car park I allowed the car to rest for some 10 minutes then started it again & smoked out the whole place!! I repeated this resting/smoking routine three times & became the most popular guy on the car park. I then drove 50 miles home & the car felt fine with no smoking. This morning my car is not smoking at all even upon start-up. Does anyone know what this is about? My colleagues reckon that maybe oil got into the airbox through a emissions breather pipe from the engine during the extreme cornering forces & that the oil then burnt off during my trip home. I�ve taken the airbox upper casing off, opened the butterfly valve on the air inlet manifold & found there to be a large amount of black oily deposits inside the tube- this would support the theory. Any support for this theory & other non-catastrophic theories would be most welcome. If it�s something more serious, then I guess I�d like to know about that too. Thanks, Mitch.

Congrats on the 'Ring visit. OK, this a just a guess, but... When people first starting tracking/racing 996s in the UK, they came up against a problem. Because the engines are not 'dry-sumped', they would suffer from oil-starvation on some circuits unless the oil was overfilled. Overfilling caused oil to enter the intake system, just as you described, resulting in a lot of smoke. When oil is hot, it expands. A LOT! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> I would guess your oil got hot enough to rise way above its normal level and it was then vented into the intake system. If this is so, you just might find you have some residue in there which could do with cleaning out.

Just so you know, some oil in the intake system is normal. But there should not really be alot of standing oil in there.

I don't recall getting a reply in an earlier response, but again someone mentions 996 not being dry-sumped. The promotional brochure for Porsche 911 2003 brochure page 34...quote: "...the integrated dry sump lubrication system. First developed on our racing cars, a dry sump system keeps the oil reservoir away from the spinning crankshaft...The dry-sump type system ensures a reliable supply of oil to both banks of cylinders.." So are you guys saying there is not a dry sump system in the 996 and Porsche marketing is false? Am I misunderstanding meaning, or what? Thanks,

The same thing happened to my 01 c4 during a driver ed track event. There is a TSB on it. The fix involves a slightly longer dip stick and a reprogramming of the dash engine oil level indicator. This lowers the oil level by about 1 liter. Since the fix, I have not had the billows of smoke on restart again. You are correct as to the cause. So tell us all about driving your Porsche at the Nurburgring. Regards, Mike

Thanks for the resposes guys- I reckon we're all on the same page with this. I've spoken to a few people that "know stuff" & we're all of the same mind or thereabouts. And I'm driving the Porka every day & it's 110% okay now. Further to what I wrote I recently had the oil changed & it was filled to the max or thereabouts. This supports the theory further- especially in light of the fact I found out that some 2002's were recalled for "smoking after extreme cornering forces"- this is what you're talking about I think SlodrivingMike? So it's back to The Ring next week. Gr8. And as seen as you ask- my experiences at The Ring go back a while. I'm lucky enough to have lived in Cologne for over 3yrs now which is just about 1hr from The Ring, so I get down there when I can & plan on a number of trips through the summer. I first went round in my `97 Mustang which was appalingly bad with severe brake & tire fade. Next time was in a Miata which was a blast but had insufficient top end to really enjoy/scare myself. Then on a Suzuki 650 which is where it all started to go wrong- I crashed it in a tight S bend & buggered the bike but luckily only brusied myself (massive bruise though). Then I had a Honda S2000 which has NASTY handling characteristics which I found to my cost coming out of a sweeping bend at about 70 & suddenly found myself going backwards towards the barrier! Luckily the grass verge was very damp & when I went into that the car gripped & span me back on to the track & off I went with only me & the laundry man knowing how close I came to death on that one! And now this with the 996!! I was planning on taking my Yamaha R6 crotch rocket round sometime soon, but I'm not sure now, not with my run of form recently. And a general comment to everyone that's heard about The Ring & likes the sound of the idea- JFDI!! No matter how far you have to travel & what it costs you- I guarentee you wont regret it, in fact you'll have the time of your life. One of my best memories is from last summer-watching a Farrari F40 entering the track being followed on by an F50, both of which were behind a bus with 50 tourists on it! Totally mad, totally dangerous & totally awesome. All for �12 a go. That's it- I'm going tonight!! Mitch "pyscho" ward

Yes. Thanks for the comments on driving the "Ring!" Cheers, Mike