PLEASE HELP! 2002 Porsche 996 Carrera putting out a lot of blue smoke on startup

My 2002 Porsche Carrera puts out a pretty big cloud of blue smoke when I start it up (especially after it's been sitting for more than a day or two.) I also find myself adding oil pretty frequently (about a quart every 500 miles or so.) I have been using Castrol 10W-40 High Mileage fully synthetic oil. The car has 70K miles on it and this is the only issue I've had. What does this mean? Is there anything I can do to improve its oilconsumption/the blue smoke? Could it be the AOS? Would really appreciate your input! Thank you!!!

Could be, try searching for AOS troubleshooting there are some simple tests to get you going.

I assume the oil is not ending up on your garage floor. Might want to check your coolant tank for signs of oil in there...

Has never leaked a drop of oil onto the garage floor. Going to check the coolant now. Thank you for your responses so far!

Coolant looks to be a milky, orange color. Not what I would think it should look like. Here's a picture

I would have your Porsche mechanic take a look. Good luck!

Milky orange coolant is screaming "intermix". Like Gonzo recommends, get it to a good Porsche mechanic asap.

Thanks. Will do. What does intermix mean it could be? Is it bad to drive it til I get it to a mechanic?

Yikes! Been there.....intermix = cracked head

None of it is good news. Starting it again will make it worse. Park it, flat bed it to a good mechanic. Pray, if that's your thing.

If you have time, search INTERMIX here and set aside a few hours of reading. Flatbed your car to your trusted Porsche mechanic and hope for the best. P.S. This will not be pretty/easy, will most likely NOT be cheap...try not to let this spoil your Christmas

I agree with everyone here... Have it towed to a trusted Porsche mechanic asap and do NOT attempt to drive the car until the engine is repaired or further damage will definitely occur. Questions: 1. Have you experienced any blinking warning lights on the temp gauge? 2. Do you remember if the temperature exceeded 180F greatly? More than likely, you are experiencing a cracked head which is allowing oil to ingest into the coolants channels and maybe even pulling that "milkshake" mess into the combustion chamber which could explain the horrible smoke. More experienced Rennlisters can help explain it to you. Hope you find a solution fast. But from what I understand of this problem, prolonging the repair could mean major $$$.

Its always run just a touch over 180 temperature wise. Nothing out of the ordinary. The car has driven well and I haven't experienced any loss of power, etc.

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Then you're in the early stages of the problem. What you describe (and show in pictures) is pretty textbook explanation of intermix. Could you please post a picture of the oil filler tube opened? That would show the severity of the problem. Where are you located? One of the main reasons to NOT prolong this type of repair is that the oil that is contaminating the cooling system will eventually cause the coolant line to deteriorate and thus need to be replaced. My best bet is the engine has a crack that will need to be located and then will mean serious repair. After the engine is repaired, the whole coolant system will need to be flushed and thoroughly cleansed of all contaminates. As others have mentioned, it won't be cheap, but keep your head up and hopefully an trusted mechanic can get you back up and running.

I'm located about an hour from Pittsburgh. Here's the oil tube opened

^^OUCH!

The oil filler tube "mayo" is normal (will be gone if you get the engine hot and drive a longer distance). Can you take a better (in focus) pic of the coolant? You can also syphon out some in a clear plastic cup and take a pic. Orange color could be due to old green coolant mixed with the newer pink coolant. It's hard to tell from your photo how "milky" the coolant is.

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That image means things are more serious I'm afraid... you're getting coolant in the oil too which explains the smoking problem. Don't drive the car my friend. Take a deep breath and find a good indy to repair this problem. Driving the car with contaminated coolant will destroy the rubber hoses. Don't convince yourself that although the car seems normal to just drive it and ignore the problem. You'll be shooting yourself in the foot.

Shoot, thanks everyone. Any recommendations as to what I should do if I just want to get rid of the vehicle? I'm starting to get sick of dealing with the issues as much as I love it.

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What other issues have you had? Your first post said this was the only issue, have there been more? I am looking for one, want to sell it as a roller?

Mostly mechanical issues, starter, window regulator, problems with the top, the locks.

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Best advice you can get is to listen to Ahsai

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+996...Let's not assume the worst just yet. There are Christmas Miracles...

Are you in WV? A more in focus shot of coolant tank would be good. Is the smoke coming from one side of the exhaust or both sides? What year is the car and mileage, have you owned it for very long, do you know service history? When you drive the car how long are your trips?

I am in WV. Smoke coming out both sides, I believe. I'll upload clearer pics as soon as possible. when I take the car out, I usually drive it a decent distance. I'm 25 miles from my work place.

I'm all for Christmas miracles, but the car consuming a quart of oil every 500-miles along with the milkshake is pretty much a smoking gun. I would just tow the car to a shop and pray for the best. If you were to part with the car now, you'd probably be looking in the 5-7K range.

Length of your commute makes me feel that you should not be seeing so much moisture in oil filler tube. Ahsai tip off pulling some coolant out and letting set in cup is on the mark. Other than the stress of what is causing the intermix, you will want to adddress the actual intermixed coolant asap. The oil will start to destroy the many coolant hoses in the car, making either your repair or selling the car as a roller more costly.

Thanks all. What exactly should I be looking for when I siphon out some of the coolant and put in in a clear cup?

No oil floating on top. The color should be orange/pink depending on lighting. You can also shine a light through the cup and see more clearly.

It doesn't look like intermix to me and I've seen many. Intermix will not have any orange or green to it on the top layer. It will be chocolate milk shake color- to used oil black depending on how much frothing has occured. Oil is lighter than water/coolant and will be floating right on top, and doesn't take very much to create a layer that you cannot see through from the top(ie. you cannot see any color of the coolant). If you have any doubts take a turkey baster (or the baby snot sucker thingy) pull off fluid from the very top layer and put in glass and look at it. Like Ahsai said the "mayo" in the oil pipe is normal. The smoke on start could be normal as well but I would change the AOS JIC, and make sure not to overfill oil. The oil consumption is too high at 1 quart per 500 miles. Porsche specs being as liberal as they are at 1 liter per 1000km (1qt per 622miles) is still more than I like to see. Hopefully a new AOS will reduce oil consumption , If not other tests could be in order.

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Thanks for your input! Siphoned out some of the coolant and it looks super clear/ clean. Doesn't appear to be any contamination of any kind. Put it in a clear glass jar. It's a clear orange color. I'll post a couple pics.

You don't have intermix then. If smoke is coming out from both sides, it's likely the AOS is bad, having too much vacuum. You can use a manometer on the oil filler tube to measure the vacuum on a warmed idling engine. It should be about 5" to 10" of water. ​​​​​​

Good news!

Christmas Miracles do happen!!! Another quick test for the AOS. With the car idling, try and remove the oil fill cap. If it's hard too remove (too much vacuum), your AOS is likely bad. I assume in your last pic, the coolant came from the very top of the tank. Since oil floats on water, you won't be able to see oil in the coolant tank unless it's at the top. Looks like good news overall, although an AOS is still $1200+ at a Dealer/Indy.

Reading this thread I was hoping it was going to end with something less sinister! What an Xmas present! Get the AOS done hopefully you'll be good to go. As for the other issues do some searching on here from what you've mentioned windows, locks and tops could be a control module getting or being wet. If you can't find the answers start a new thread but I've read those symptoms on here before and there are answers. Merry Xmas!

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Wow... look at that clarity! 180 degrees (no pun intended) better! Follow Ahsai's advice... he's the Rennlist Porsche gandhi. Keep us all posted on the progress!

Thanks again to everyone for all your help! I really appreciate all the responses and support. Would it be okay for me to drive it the 80 mile drives to my Porsche mechanic so I don't have to pay for towing? Again, thanks everyone and Happy Holidays!

I would think you'd be fine. If I'm wrong people please chime in.

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't drive your car. Looks like the only verifiable symptom you have is smoke on start up and high oil consumption. I don't get too excited when someone with a flat six complains of smoke on start up. I've seen many do this for no apparent reason (other than the piston/cylinders are horizontal ) even brand new Porsche's on the show room floor sometimes smoke up the whole showroom. That being said, the AOS failing could be a source of increase smoke on start up. Have the Tech test the vacuum on the crankcase with a vacuum gauge calibrated in inches of water, also have him check the fuel trim adaptions BEFORE clearing any codes and record them and post them. If the engine is running rich but not quite rich enough to set a code, it can cause excessive smoke on start up. The MAF is the most common fault of rich running engine. The RKAT value of any number on the negative side means its running rich (trying to lean out from adaption). The setpoint is -0.36 at which the code and CEL is lite. You could be running just under the threshhold (-0.35) of setting the code.

Whew, good to see you do NOT have a PITA issue. If you have time before the drive, check out this vid of a quick/easy test for a bad AOS. NOTE: may not always be this obvious or dramatic You Tube

Another check is to verify that your oil level isn't above the bars on the dash gauge & engine dipstick. I had smoke a few days in a row earlier this year & drained some oil to correct it. Good luck-

I have driven mine a few days this last week without issue. Turned it on to pull it out of the garage and got the blue smoke. I will follow the above mentioned steps and see if I can figure out what's going on.

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Hey Brandon, do you get a PPI when you bought the car?

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If the AOS is the cause of the smoking the AOS will likely not make it the 80 miles. In what proved to be the 2nd AOS failure, I drove my Boxster 2K miles with what proved to be a going bad AOS. The only symptoms was at the end of a day leaving the freeway the CEL would come on concurrent with just the hint of an engine stumble. The error code -- I forget the code now -- had me suspecting a failing MAF. Feeling I could in a pinch disconnect the MAF and drive on I kept going. Made it to my destination in about 2.5 days of driving. The next AM started the car and the smoking was there and didn't stop. I flat bedded the car to the nearest dealer around 80 miles away. (Did the same thing the 1st failure. As soon as the AOS advanced to the point the engine smoked at startup and continued to smoke I had the car flat bedded to the dealer. This was on the recommendation of the SM at the dealer who correctly guessed the problem.) The 3rd time the engine was fine, not even a CEL, or any engine misbehavior. I took off from a stop light and checked the rear view mirror and saw a cloud of what proved to be oil smoke. A check of the dash found no warning lights and after a bit I realized what was going on. Being only 10 miles from the dealer I thought I'd save the tow and drive the car. The smoking had stopped as I continued to drive the car on a city street. But after about a mile or so I got caught at a long stop light and the engine started smoking. The light finally changed and I drove on but the smoking wasn't stopping like it had previously and the engine was acting up a bit. I shut off the engine and called for a tow. My advice is to arrange for a tow. You do this at the convenience of your living room. You can position the car so the tow truck operator can get at the car with no problems. If you attempt to drive the 80 miles and are unsuccessful you have to hope you have cell phone coverage at the point the car breaks down and can get a tow truck in a reasonable amount of time. There is the risk -- this is what the SM told me the 1st time and has been the major reason I always tow the car when the AOS is acting up -- the AOS passes so much oil to the engine the engine suffers hydraulic lock up. It may not do this while running but when the engine is shut off the oiled intake walls drain their load of oil and this runs into a cylinder through open valves or collects on top of a cylinder with closed valves and what the engine is cranked the engine locks up.

Mac is right on this one. Here is what can happen on a high RPM hydrolock.