Help please!!

Good morning, sorry to bother you, but this morning i went to start my car that had been sitting in my garage for a couple of weeks and it started right up but it would hesitate like it needed gas and then died it did it several times and then i saw some blue smoke coming out of the exhaust and then the car started running roughly and everytime i would give it gas it would make a loud explosion, if i let it run it would idle roughly like not working in all 6 cylinders, check engine light started blinking and now its a steady check engine light,does anybody have a clue of what this could be? One more thing i was forgetting about is that fuel was really low, warning light is already on. Thank you.

It could be many things, you say the tank was very low, maybe the fuel pump sucked deposits from the bottom of the tank? other ideas could be coil packs/spark plugs. I had something similar happened to my car and it turned out to be the coils. The smoke could be normal, but if it keeps smoking maybe you need a new AOS. You need to get the codes read and go from there. If you have missfires most likely it will be the coils/plugs. How many miles do u have in your car? what year is it?

I'm not exactly sure, but for the time being, DO NOT start or drive the car. Let's let some of the engine experts chime in. Your story wasn't sounding too bad til you got to the part about backfiring and running rough w/ check engine light.

Check the air filter. Change the filter or bang the air filter out or blow it out making sure the flow or shock is in the direction it entered the filter. Check vacume lines. All simple to do since its right there.

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Get or borrow a code reader. Don't try starting or driving especially if the engine is steady and not blinking. GL

I'm thinking drain the fuel and put freash stuff in. You may want to give the gas cap area a sniff and see if it smells like rotten gas. But I must tell you I am no expert, Take this advice at your own risk

I had similar problems on another vehicle in the past and it turned out to be bad gas from sitting too long.

I am taking apart maf and all components around it, i will try fresh gas as well, i read an article that talked about similar issues when the maf goes bad. BTW it is a 99 Carrera C2 with 44k miles and it was running just fine when i parked it a couple of weeks ago and it has been sitting in a garage kind of cold though, but not so so cold probably mid 30's to mid 40's temperature wise. Thanks everybody for the input.

I just cleaned the MAF and i am going to let it dry overnight and i will check again

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I agree to get the codes read, but the steady CEL is drivable...it is the blinking one which is bad. Sounds to me like bad gas...LOL. FWIW you should always leave the tank full when you let it sit so there is no room for condensation to form (I know this is too late, but for next time).

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You're right...got it backwards!

You weren't driving your car for a month or more? Surfs up, weathers beautiful, and plenty of beach to share. Oh well. If you are parking your car for extended periods use a fuel stabilizer. If you are worried about driving the car once in a while then topping off which would dilute the fuel stabilizer then start with the one year dose then double it after a fill up which would be the two years dose. I would think if water in the fuel was the problem then any condensation in your fuel would of been sucked up during your drive and been evident before th end of the drive. Storing a car it is best to have the fuel topped off to have as little air which means space for condensation to form during temp variations. Blue smoke like you said is normally running rich conditions which is exactly what a normally asperated engine would do with a choked intake ie clogged filter or such. Maybe even you had the engine flooded causing blue smokish smoke. There is also fuel additives for taing the water out of fuel which is normally an alcohol base solution to thin the water and help it pass the jets. Great right. Run water eliminator and jet cleaner too and don't get to dizzy reading the labels because lots of fuel additives advertise miracle this and that. My best suggestion is take it to the dealer They can always make your car run perfect if you have the mulla.

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What did you use to clean MAF that it has to dry over night? Was MAF dirty? If you suspect MAF you can install cleaned (and dry!) MAF and do not connect MAF to wiring harness. Start engine. If symptoms do not appear when they used to then MAF becomes #1 suspect. Might get CEL from MAF being disconnected. You should be prepared to clear the error code(s) and extinquish the CEL. Also, *before* you try the above, clear the error codes, even if none. Doing this clears out some learned behavior in the Ecu which if learned from a bad MAF may be in itself a problem. Start with a clean slate so to speak. Also, I'm a bit leery of self-diagnosis, unless you know what you are doing. The problem may not be a serious one, yet, but prolonged experiementation may give it a chance to become serious. If you haven't already done so, check for presence of mice (or worse) in car. Look for droppings. Check tops of under body and under engine compartment panels for nest/rodent litter. Be sure battery fully charged and in good condition. A weak/low battery can result in some weird behavior. Dump in at least several gallons of fresh premium gasoline. You might try adding a bottle (or a partial bottle) of Swepco gas treatment. Mix in the proper ratio with gas that is in the tank taking into consideration the fresh gas you'll be adding. Add the gas treatment to the gas can before you fill it up. Then give the gas can a bit of a shake before you pour its contents into gas tank. Observe all safety precautions regarding the handling of gasoline! Sincerely, Macster.

Er uh uh oh I didn't read you cleaned the MAF If you cleaned the part on the air intake with something other than what the manufacturer says to do it with you might want to buy another. You aren't supposed to touch that surface

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What the heck are you talking about... (air filter or maf?) it is certainly OK to clean the maf with electronic cleaner...it won't fix a blown maf, but it can help.

I will get the water eliminator and i will try topping the tank off tomorrow morning, today i just had too many things to do, (more than usual) and i didnt have a chance to try every thing that i was adviced to do. So keep your finge4rs crossed :-)

Good luck. Trouble shooting isn't the easiest with fuel injected.

I used electronic component cleaner, just straight from the can, but didnt touch the MAF at all.

Thanks for letting me know. I soak up reading material once in a while on the car and one part was don't put your hands on the surface of the sensor on the air intake. Me, I breath on something and it takes evey chance to break. I didn't want to see the thing take a chance on breaking just because you hit it with something it can't coexist with. Some sensor surfaces don't take to being touch and I wasn't sure about the MAF. There are warning to not touch it's surface when swapping in a cold air intake so take care of it. Have a good one learning the car.

Well, i came in this morning added some fresh fuel and strated it, she sounded fine as i cranked the engine, started with a normal nice sound and after a second it smoked like crazy, loads of white smoke and i got the blinking CEL light again, if i accelerate it seems to run somehow ok, but smoke kept coming out so i turned it off, seems like its off to be inspected in the end. :-(

White smoke... one pipe or two?

I didnt check, there was so much smoke that i got scared thinking of my cat converters being permanently damaged that i shut it off and i didnt see if the smoke was coming from both sides or just one. The car wont keep running by itself unless i give it some gas,but the smoke wont stop, maybe AOS as another member suggested????? i dont know what to do,so tomorrow i scheduled an appointment and i am having my car towed to Autohaus here in Eugene OR to be looked at.

Click Click Boom, the smoke was white and all over the place :-) i wanted to take a picture but i didnt in the end.

Did you check the dipstick? Look and see what the oil looks like. Is the coolant tank full? Is the coolant pale yellow color?

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AOS would be my guess now. Best eliminate this before running engine *at all*! Did it smoke like this? Or even worse? AOS. Sincerely, Macster.

Macster, It defenetly smoked worse than that and looked perhaps a little whiter, i am trying to find some info regarding the AOS cause i have no clue what it looks like or where it is located.

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I know where the AOS is on my Boxster's engine. Passenger side (right side), at back of engine. On top. Had dealer replace two of these now. Sort of tall plastic housing. I have a pic of an engine out of car that shows it but same pic is on Mike Focke's web pages. Here's link: http://sites.google.com/site/mikefoc...torreplacement Replacement instructions apply to 986 engines. But at least you know what it looks like. (I have higher res pics of the same engine and can send them to you. PM with your email address and I'll send the pics to you.) Which reminds me I have pics of a bad AOS cut open. Have never posted those. Sincerely, Macster.

Aos on 996 is on driver side - top of motor right where the tranny/motor split line is. Nearly impossible to see looking in thru the rear deck lid.

One more thing i did notice yesterday when i pulled the hoses off the throttle body when i was cleaning the MAF is when i opened the throttle body i could see like an oil film on the walls inside the intake manifold, i wonder if this has to do with the AOS? I was wondering if i could use a home made AOS and hook it up somewhere between the stock AOS and the intake manifold ( i assume thats where it goes connected to ) to see if it actually collects any oil and also see if there is an improvement in the way the car idles and and if it eliminates the factor producing the white smoke... Just a thought after seeing some people using home made AOS, this way i could save myself the trip to the shop or at least know for sure what the problem is before i take it there, either way it si something thats awaken my curiosity.

Definitely sounds like the AOS to me. I've been thru' that. The film of oil in the throttle body is another sign of a bad AOS. There would actually be a small puddle/accumulation of oil in the throttle body/plenum area if it is bad enough. Bad rough idling, puffs of smoke, oil in throttle body, engine stalling...very sure signs of a bad AOS. Lucky you...could have been worse.

Cosmos, Lets hope for the best, havent had the car looked at yet :-( if thats all it is i will start looking for an aftermarket warranty just to have peace of mind.

So i gave it a little start this morning before i tyake the car to the mechanic and it is confirmed now, white smoke is coming out of both tail pipes, it is defenetly oil thats burning and i removed the rubber boot that goes from the air filter box to the throttle body and there was an oil film inside the throttle body itself and a film of oil beyond the throttle body where it splits and connects to both air intake manifolds so i have my hopes that its only an AOS that needs to be replaced. I will keep you guys posted and also would like to thank everybody that took the time to contribute with ideas in regards this matter.