Sigh....Smoking car

So I got my 2007 CS delivered yesterday, and I go about 3 miles and POOOF a big puff of blueish white smoke and the smell of burnt oil. I get the car towed home. I figure it is the AOS so I got one today, and finished the job up about 20 minutes ago. I just took it on a drive, and about 2 miles and POOF the same big puff of white blue smoke. I'm pretty discouraged right now. I didn't even get to enjoy my new toy yet. Any ideas what is going on?

Some white smoke, especially on startup, is normal. If an AOS failure is causing the smoke, it's not usually subtle, but more like a WWII smokescreen. Q. Is the oil overfilled? A bad overfill can cause AOS issues.

Yea, last night when I first drive 4th car, it was one enormous masive cloud. I took out the aos today and the membrane had a crackin it. I think my problem is solved.......I forgot when you change the aos you have to give it time for any left over oil to burn off. In driving again, and everything so far is good. Not much smoking and getting less.

Smoking car issue again. Ok, I changed out the aos. I thought the initial smoking of my car afterwards of changing the aos was left over oil burning off. It seemed ok after awhile. I just took the car out and twice I had big clouds of white/blue smoke. Then all the smoking stops, and it's as if nothing is wrong. I can let the car idle and no smoke, none, I can really get on it and no smoke....nothing. It seems every time the massive cloud of smoke happens is right after exiting cornering to the left. It has not happened whenever I go straight. I get no warning lights, no overheating, and everything seems fine. Anyone got any thoughts on this, I would appreciate it.

Sounds like all is good. I would have flipped out. These cars do some strange stuff. I have to keep in mind to not panic and see things through. First week I had mine the oil level dropped big time one day and I was very worried. Turns out, the car needs to be in the exact spot each time its checked and I had moved it that night.

AOS going toes up is pretty stressful... Took several good drives before our smoking completely cleared up. Believe me, I was fretting over it until it finally got sorted! Good luck!

Re: Smoking car issue again. Does the engine sound fine....any knocking or consistent ticking?

Re: Smoking car issue again. Engine sounds fine. No knocking, no ticking, nothing. Only smokes and big plumes of it when I turn left. This last time It happened I was going very slowly around a left corner. I have been doing some researching/googling and I saw on a pelican parts page other people mentioning this same exact thing. The tech said maybe to much oil, ,which im going to check tomorrow morning. Another guy who had the same problem traced it down to a scavenger oil pump fitted in the wrong position. I just bought the car (2007 CS) from a Porsche dealer, and they changed the oil before delivery. Maybe its possible they added to much, or maybe more leftover oil needs to clear out from the old AOS. Just weird that I only get smoke (and not a little smoke but a massive massive cloud) after coming thru a left hand turn.

Re: Smoking car issue again. I would agree it sounds like the oil is overfilled.

I checked the oil this morning and it is very low. I'm at a loss.

I put oil in it. When I changed the aos I took the plenum off and cleaned out all the excess oil in it and cleaned the oil put of each side over the manifolds. This morning I took the plenum back off, and there is lots of oil back in it. Oil is definitely getting thru.

As you can see in the attached image, oil is laying in there. This seems to explain the smoking only when turning, because the oil laying in there is being shifted in a turn and thus draining on down. Still, why is it in there, I changed the old AOS .

From memory, oil can only drain from the AOS on left hand bends due to its location. It therefore may be worth experimenting driving enthusiatically through a few right handers an see if it smokes and then repeat the process through a couple left handers. If it smokes on both right and left it's unlikely to be the AOS , but if only on lefts then you could have a faulty one despite it being new.

Trev450, I just tried it. I drove it aggressively on a bunch of right turns, and no problem, no smoking, everything was normal . And then on my first try at an aggresive left hand turn - POOF! And then of course once it goes POOF, the oil is already in there so at that point even right hand turns produce smoking. You really think the new AOS could be faulty?

Its not unheard of to get a bad one.

Well, it's not the most expensive part in the world, so it's worth a shot to buy another one. I'll order it tomorrow. I'm getting really efficient at taking it out. Im down to a 10 minute AOS replacement time, and I don't even jack the car up now.

Sounds like your having a real headache, I feel for you. I recently modified my 2007 Boxster and changed out the AOS while I was in there, preventative measure only. One of the things I learned, despite being underwhelmed by the outcome of my mods, was that there is only one likely way to get oil into your plenum/intakes and that is through the AOS . Before buying a new one you may try disconnecting and blocking off both ends of the AOS pipe to the plenum and run it until the smoking 'should' stop. If it does then you can confidently blame the new AOS , assuming no one has done something bizarre with the crankcase breather pipe from the LHS head, like connected it directly to the plenum 'somehow'. The AOS should shut off engine vapor flow to the plenum when there is a large pressure differential between plenum and crankcase be means of the rubber disc/valve to avoid sucking up oil even when the engine is correctly filled with oil. With the car at idle, closed butterfly valve in throttle body, there is a pretty large differential so the AOS should be closed. If there is extreme vacuum on the oil filler cap (There will still be some, try removing it at idle) with this new AOS that may indicate that it is indeed faulty. As stated this could happen with a good AOS if the engine is overfilled, neutral throttle position (No hard deceleration causing the above mentioned pressure differential) and pulling some G's on a left hand bend. Could your oil level sensor be bad? A drain and measure would be the only way to check that for sure. Just some ideas that go along with the most likely bad new AOS that hopefully help more than hinder. Good luck. Craig

Thank you Craig for your time to write so much with you experience, I appreciate it. I have since spoken to the dealer I purchased the car from (3 states away), and they feel really bad about what has transpired and want to make it right. They told me to schedule an appointment with my local porsche dealer and they will handle everything from there. How awesome is that? The car goes in tomorrow for diagnosis. Once they tell me whats wrong i will post it on here. I'm feeling good!

It is pretty normal on a 987.1 to get "some" amount of oil in the plenum/intake by default, just the way the engine and AOS are designed. That being said, there was someone who experimented with placing some sort of bolt into one of their tubes between their AOS and the engine (I think) and that helped reduce the amount of oil getting through while still allowing vacuum pressure to build. There's an old topic thread with pics around here somewhere, some searching should find it...

Just lurking on this particular thread as I learn more about my 06 CS and the finicky oil sensor that they came equipped with. Great to hear that the dealer is coming to your aid and hope you get the problem resolved. Keep us posted on the diagnosis and follow-ups.

Update on my car............. I just got off the phone with Porsche service. They installed a new AOS , thinking the other new one that was installed was defective. They test drove my car with the newest aos and it continues the massive smoke cloud. No change. They will be doing some more diagnostics, and will keep me updated. Sigh...........

Sorry to hear this. Keep us updated as to the developments.

Update.......... Just got off the phone with Porsche service. The smoking problem has been solved. They found a foreign object laying directly underneath where the aos mounts to the motor, down in the hole. This object was causing higher oil pressure in there, and thus blowing thru the aos . That is the good news. They think the object might be a broken off piece of the timing chain guide. So they need to remove the cam covers to inspect that area to make sure it is indeed a peice of the guide, and to see if any other pieces are missing. To do so requires dropping the engine. Funny thing, I seen the object in there and even took a picture of it, but I had no idea it didn't belong in there, because to me it looked like a flap or something so I just never proceeded any further.

Can you share the pic? Sent from my SAMSUNG -SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Yes I can post a picture, but I'm not sure how to do it from my phone. When I hit the button on here for attachments under advanced tab it sends me to my camera to take a picture and does not send me to image files on my phone.

icsplz: Does the engine have to be removed to get the rocker covers off? If they are doing this under a good will warranty might be a good idea to spend some extra cash and have them fit a new clutch friction plate and release bearing while its out. May save a fortune later on down the road. Keep us in the loop, Cheers, C

The cam covers can come off without removing the engine. I've read in the 101 Boxster book you can swap cams with the engine in too. I've done it once to install the TTP third oil pump on RHS and once on LHS chasing what I thought was an errant intake manifold bolt that wasn't there luckily. You have to drain the oil and remove the black steel engine support plate. Regrettably the dealer's shop manual will want the engine out to do this. They should also inspect the oil filter closely for pieces of chain guide. I hope you have a warranty of some kind. Good luck.

Any update???

Off topic but are there cams to put in the 987.2 motor?