White smoke with bluish hint from drivers side exhaust pipe

Hi everyone, My saga continues since I bought a 2004 40th AE over a week ago. Still at the porsche dealer. They doing clutch flywheel ims etc.. now I got a call from the mech saying they started the car before they dropped the trans and the smoke was coming out from one tailpipe on drivers side. He gonna do compression test tmrw. Any opinions or advice? Trying to get different angles thanks

Could be several things, depends how big the smoke development is and at what moment. Sometimes a white plume is even considered as normal once a while after a hard ride. Drivers' side means coming from the right bank, cylinders 4,5,6 involved. Possible causes. - AOS defect: symptoms big plumes of smoke, vacu�m suction on oil cap removal, normally both sides smoking. - leaking valve seals could result in a small plume at startup, after a day or more. - scored cylinder(s) If the cylinders are clear and spark plugs look clean It could be some oil seeping through via valve seals. Does not necessarily mean a big problem if it is minor.

AOS becomes less suspect if it's consistently just one bank... If it's smoking enough that they called...well, presumably Porsche dealers have encountered M96-powered cars that smoke a little at startup, so I wonder how much it's smoking...

Wait, is this the same tech that discovered the "water damage?" Sounds like he's trying to get your car.

Yes same tech lol. I have a video of a smoke but I can't post it. The was there since last Monday and I guess sat for few days. However they said they started yesterday and today same story. What's AOS?

Air Oil Separator - Emissions stuff that is a pain to fix. Commonly go bad.

Could also be some oil that found its way in during maintenance which burnt off when started or even an oil overfill after changing the oil and filter. (edit: I understand the smoke was before any works?) I recently switched oil type because the car was suffering from some higher then expected oil consumption. No smoking. When checked the bores and plugs were all neat and clean. Did the oil change, Oil pressure sensor replaced. After this the car smoked somewhat from the driver's side exhaust at startup. Which became less and less each startup afterwards until it disappeared after some days. Because of the clean plugs, cylinders and intake my mechanic suspects some valve seals on the right bank to leak a tiny bit. Here comes the switch of oil type into play to see if it makes a difference.

Did you switch to a less viscous oil or a more viscous oil?

I only owned the car for a week. Can't say anything about previous oil. I know the seller changed oil and used synthetic oil 5w40 blue blood cam2. I was also told I'm gonna need to replace one of the catalyst converters an o2 sensors but he quoted me 2500 for the part alone. I'm gonna have to do in the next stage not now. Too much money already spent..

No idea why cats for these car are so damn expensive. Look at aftermarket or used. Good luck!

I think at some point you need to reclaim the car - once you're sure it's safe to drive - and log some miles before you spend any more money on repairs. The catalytic converter may need replacing, but it's not going to hurt the car if you drive it that way for a little while. As long as you don't have an emissions test any time soon, I'd concentrate on missing oil before I worried about the catalytic converter. Until you find and fix that oil situation, you have the potential of damaging a new catalytic converter anyway. Once the work you've already agreed to is complete and you have the compression test results he's said are coming your way, I'd hide the credit card for a while.

Yeah. I'm defenetily inclined to do so. Further down the road I will look at used or aftermarket cats. The oem are abnormally priced.

If it turns out you need them and you can't do aftermarket, you might look into Carnewal's rebuild program - but later.

a good vid of a bad AOS: Porsche 996 air oil separator - YouTube

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In my case I switched from Mobil 1 0w40 to Motul 8100 Xcess 5w40. The idea behind the change was to find out if an oil with a different additive package such as the Motul would have a beneficial effect on the sealing of rubbers of the valve seals. After 1000km it seems lik oil consumption is not yet enough to be measured, so positive news. Before I had to refill a quart every 1500km which seemed to me as excessive with a revised engine with 30.000km on the clock. But after the change I had a puff of blueish smoke, from bank nr. 2, on startup the next day after driving home the day before. The next time it was much less. I checked last time, it is hardly noticeable now, little blue shiny smoke just before the smoke from the enriched mixture at start comes flowing out of the exhaust. Maybe the fact that the car is parked sometimes with the right side slightly tilted down effects the smoke development?

I'd get bank 2 boroscoped if I was you. no sense in dumping money on cats if the motor is on its way out.

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Double check on the boroscope! Ask them also to verify the throttle body, to see if it is really oily, it could point to a problem with the AOS. If the boroscope further does not reveal any cilinder defects and the spark plugs and bores look clean without any carbon residues you have to look elsewhere for the 'problem'. In that case I would just drive the car and see if the smoking is just a one time event or if there is a correlation with other factors to be found. Just remember a puff of smoke occasionally could happen. It is sometimes inherent to the flat engine design that some oil could enter the cilinders during cooldown after engine shutoff. Other cause can be that oil gets also past the AOS in some circumstances during driving. When parked it then slowly runs down past the throttle body on stand still. On next startup is enters the engine, causing some considerable smoke which should disappear after some 10-20 seconds. AOS malfunction could be verified with the oil cap test already indicated before or a very greasy throttle body. You still did not describe how the actually smoking was/is?

Hmmm.. it's white color smoke when give gas comes out like bunch of white clouds. From bank 1. Anyway to post video? I'm awaiting compression test. Will keep posted

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Considering throttle dependent smoking seems like AOS is to blame. See also here for an example and how to check Porsche Boxster White Smoke Fix - YouTube Just to be sure because you were talking about the driver's side exhaust before. And now mentioning bank 1; bank nr1 is passenger side exhaust pipe; bank nr2 is driver side exhaust pipe.

Sorry. Bank 2

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Just puzzles me that it is one bank only. Maybe not the AOS at all. Because normally with a defective AOS it should be both exhausts that emit smoke upon revving. Someone else could probably tell you more. Therefore boroscope seems to me still compulsory.

So compression test was okay. They said it's within normal limits. Whatever that means. Tmrw boroscope. One of them mentioned something about camshaft allowing pooling of oil and it burns after . Didn't elaborate till does boroscope . It's seems like every day they find something new lol. It all started with clutch/ims appointment ...

GET THE CAR OUT OF THERE!!! Drive it for awhile see for yourself what is or isn't happening.

The service advisor is a freind of mine so they doing all this checks as a favor. I am however getting annoyed at this point. So if they don't get their **** togather by tmrw I'm gonna take the car out.

Relax! Don't get annoyed If it is a favor let them verify the most obvious things. If there is constant excessive smoke development it should be sorted out. If further nothing noteworthy can be found and the smoke is not a recurrent event, take the car out and drive it some weeks to get familiar with it and see how it holds. Keep an eye on the usual variables such as coolant temperature, coolant level, oil level, ... and report back to your mechanic your findings.

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you can have great compression results even with scored cylinders. if you're concerred about scoring, get a boroscoped done. edit: read the rest. glad to see a boroscope job is being done. I hate to tell you this but your symptoms sound like mine. prepare for the worst l, which is new motor/rebuild.

If it is smoking that bad it will fail SMOG on HC. That ends the dickering. They would need to fix it well enough to pass SMOG

Okay everyone. The results are in : scored cylinder number 4. Need a new engine or a rebuilt. Don't really know wht to do. I can't afford nor can I justify buying a new engine. I don't know how much is a rebuilt vs. Used engine. It's a 3.6l manual trans. Any advice?

Man, that sucks! Sorry to hear that. A new engine needed only owned for one week??? Any warranty where you bought the car from? With a scored cylinder, a rebuild will be at least $15k (due to $4k re-sleeving) Used engine is about $12k and it's a gamble. My reco is if you plan to keep the car for long (>5yrs), go for a rebuild and if not, just sell it as a roller and start fresh if you can trust the diagnosis 100%

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The cheapest option is to replace the engine with a used engine. look on ebay, there is a member here that rebuilds them and puts them on the auction site. Really sorry to hear this news. Its exactly my sitch. Bought dream car....realize it has a done motor. Or I will give you 6k for it as is.

That sucks. If it's only been a week, you should definitely research your state and dealership policy to see if anything can be done. These days, only invasive PPI's really means anything. Otherwise you are just wasting your money unfortunately in most cases or taking a bigger gamble. I'll give you 6.5k.

yup, any porsche 996/boxster i plan to buy in the future will get a boroscope job done before purchase.

C'mon guys, a 40th roller should be worth at least $7k given the usable engine core. Why the 40th seems to be more susceptible to bore scoring? I forgot if Jake had explained it before.

ok....7k.

Unfortunately to mitigate the most risks these days, Car fax should only show the car has been owned in moderate climate states like GA and states that hasn't had any natural disasters lately, IXX has been proactively replaced by certified installer with a proper prequalification, and invasive PPI carried out. Even after that, you'll be driving and some young teenager texting on his/her phone will side swipe you and insurance will total out your car. Boy, I hope I never have to sell my car. It will be a very tough crowd to sell to. BTW, $7.5k if it is verified to have x51.

Damn that sucks man. Water damage might have been better

Yeah. I'm totally in shock right now. The dealer where the car is now giving me 10k for it towards a 997 for 38k. Too much. Who is the member that rebuilds engines? I saw few of them on ebay. Between 8 and 15k. How much does it cost to install? On average?

MBMotorsports i believe is the name you are looking for.

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Well maybe he can drive it and leave it parked at one of the popular bars around his area and hope that some drunk patron hits it on the way out.

Very funny..actually not a bad option at this point. Does anyone know a shop in ny metro area that I can talk to regarding replacement of the engine vs. Rebuild?

If you decide you don't want to rebuild the engine, in currently in the market for a rolling chassis (I have quite severe body damage, but a good engine). If you've had too much, I'll happily buy the car off you if the non-engine bits are clean. PM or email me

Can't help with a shop, but in that area I'm sure it would be easy to find a decent spot to park it and "accidentally" leave the key on the dash because you "remembered at the last minute" there was something you needed out of the back seat I think this is the first "what do I do with an effective roller" thread where I've seen insurance scams offered up

Sorry to hear, What did dealer quote you for a new engine? so you could get a 997 for 28k with a 10k trade in. Might be worth doing but 997 engines can also suffer the same fate, just a matter of time imo.

24k in parts including engine clutch flywheel. Plus labor lol. It's not worth it. If I cannot get my money back (there is a lemon law 30 days) I will get a used engine, with updated IMS. Probably can do all for around 10-12k... I can't get a new 3.6 with x51 anyways. Gonna have to get a short block 3.6. I don't know...still processing

http://flat6innovations.com/index.php/engines/ordering

Did you consider the Smog aspect ? In California, the seller is responsible for repairs if they sell a car that will not pass the Smog Test. Did you get a current test certificate? What were the HC's?

No smog test in NY state

Is anyone selling a 3.6 engine? lol

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Likely a few k's higher than that even with a used engine. Also, with a non-40th used engine, the resale of the car will go down the drain.

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I agree but luckily, the x51 package is all top end that can be transferred. If OP has secondary oil pump, even that can be transferred.

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True but that will be more labor (and parts e.g., head bolts, head gaskets, etc) than just swapping in a plain 3.6 Also this is assuming everything in the x51 is good too. If you need head reconditioning, another $1-2k easily.

Meaning i can get a base 3.6 motor and transfer wht ever in need from the old one?

yes.

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Yes. I would contact mb motorsports and see if they can supply you with a steel liner short block with custom pistons/rods to increase to 3.8L and transfer over your x51 top end components. That would at least be an "upgrade" vs. a straight replacement and chances for future bore scoring should be a lot less theoretically.

How much would that be? Custom pistons rods..etc sounds expensive

MB Motorsports has a used x51 for sale according to their website. That may be your cheapest option and would not hurt the value of the car

Got a response from mb motorsports. They quoting me 13k to rebuild cylinders with sleeves if I ship the car to them. Vs. Buying a used motor for 12 and installing it localy. Advised against re boring to 3.8 too expensive to see the gain. 20hp at most

Anyone knows a good shop that can do the same job in nyc area. Connecticut Jersey? There has to be someone out here who is not insanely expensive lol

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$13k plus shipping is not insanely expensive when you are talking about solving this issue. Unfortunately motors for these things aren't cheap. You can spend about the same to have someone else's motor installed, but then you know nothing about it and you no longer have a numbers matching car. Normally that is not an issue, but as you have a 40th its a consideration.

I'm sure with shipping, clutch and stuff it's gonna be more like 15

I gather there is no magical alternative to get out of this "money pit" ironically I just saw that movie on TV ... last week. Maybe it was an omen. Lol So in people's experience nothing can be done for 10k the most?

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Like has already been said, even a motor swap will be about that all in if you can't do the work yourself.

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Nope, you either have to go all in or cut your losses, there is no middle ground.

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Unfortunately not. Mine cost me about $17.5K and there are lots of others out there that paid similar amounts. It wasn't an easy decision to spend that much but in the end, for me, the car was worth the investment. Everyone has different feelings about their car, and different circumstances. Take some time to explore all the options and make the right decision for yourself.

Srry to hear about the engine status. How come rebuilds are so expensive in the US? I got my engine resleeved by Hartech. New cranckshaft. Other engine parts could be recycled. Incl. Imstallation costed 8k Eur.

Cause the mechanics here are out of their minds. It's cheaper to buy a new car than to repair it. The labor cost anywhere btw 100 to 180 dollars in hour

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Wow ... That explains a lot.

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it is expensive. I am rebuilding mine myself, and about 13k in now. probably be between 15 and 17k when all said and done. bolts alone will be a few thousand. new heads bolts, 24 of them, $12 each. case bolts, bearing carrier bolts, the list goes on and on.

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13k for a motor dropped in and ready to go is an amazng price

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that's still close to 9k after conversion.

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Yes. I bought it like that from the previous owner. I got detailed bills of all the work done. My indie charges 65$/hr so there is a big cost gap!

Yeah. Last time a mech charged 65 an hour in US was probably 10 years ago lol

I think a culture of repairing here is not as strong anymore comparing to Europe or Russia. Probably cause the cost of a new car in general is very affordable comparatively to wages. Plus we don't pay displacement taxes or highway taxes. Or VAT. Just sales tax based on locality between 6 to 9 percent.

How bad is the smoking? A car with bore scoring can usually be driven for thousands of miles until the usage of oil gets so bad that it's repaired. Many owners who's cars have bore score, simply don't know about it, and drive their cars for years until a sooty tailpipe tells them there is a problem. Maybe you can use the car whilst you save up for a rebuild. If my C4S gets bore score, I'll have it rebuilt, with all the design faults future proofed, and have an amazing car. After all, if I wanted to upgrade the car, I'd have to throw money at another car, so I may as well throw money at this one. Good luck with whatever you decide, these are amazing cars. New cars are rubbish in comparison.

I was lapping my car with scored cylinders. I was beating my previous lap times too. I stopped after reading that It could eventually lead to d chunk issues and I would be out of a useable block at that point

AWD Guy, I'd not read that. I thought D chunking is what the 3.4 engines did, not the 3.6. If the engine is noisy, then the bores have gone oval, and sound like piston slap. If that is the case, it's knackered and needs a re build. Sounds like there's a different take on it in the US, in the UK, the consensus is that as some stage, ALL M96 engines will have bore score, it just depends upon when and how bad. Sounds like the OP bought a car which was sold on as the previous owner knew it had scored bores. This doesn't happen overnight, it comes on very slowly.

Well the car didn't smoke at all when I bought it and it didn't smoke when in brought it to the shop. It started to smoke when they turned it on before dropping trans. For a clutch replacement. That's when they did boroscope. I wish I could upload a video of smoke and boroscope. I have it. Maybe someone would like to see it and throw in their 5 cents. I really want to keep the car if it's financially feasible.

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In other discussions it has been noted that there is an observation that bore scoring seems to be a more common issue in England/Europe that it is for us here in the US & Canada. For us Canada seems to get it the worst and even in the US the issue is predominately found in the areas that see the colder temps with the majority of reports happening in the spring time frame. I seem to recall a semi-recent (last 6 months) discussion where Jake shared some thoughts about why some might see scoring while others don't (ours for example has been run in sub-zero temps every year of it's life and it's top end scope in the fall came back clean). I can't remember the details or the thread though I haven't read before about scoring leading to chunking, but I know Jake is very adamant about not continuing to drive the car as it is just circulating fine particles throughout the motor which can lead to bigger issues.

everyone's "financial feasibility" is different. when I got this issue and asked some rennlisters what they did, a few of them said they bought another Porsche. lol. that tells me most Porsche owners have a lot more money than I. even at 15k+, it's been a very tough pill for me to swallow. what are you willing to spend to get this car back on the road? 10k ish? go with a used motor 10-15k? rebuild on your own 15-20k ish, I'd be shipping my car off to flat six innovations. don't want to spend anywhere near that? get rid of the car, suck it up and rethink the whole pcar ownership thing. sucks....buts that's the honest truth from me.

^What AWDGuy said. Do not do a cheap rebuild where they reuse everything. A decent rebuild has at least $7k parts in it that's not including re-sleeving . I have a 3 page part list in excel spreadsheet listing everything single seal and bolt that need to be replaced once the engine is opened up.

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maybe I imagined it. dunno...but it makes sense. especially after seeing my cylinders condition once it was pulled. if I kept at it, there wouldn't mu check cylinder walls left.

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This is on the cheap side relatively speaking as they are replacing the cylinder liners and if this is with steel sleeves, I believe those require custom pistons so make sure you're comparing apples to apples. If the 13k price is indeed for a steel sleeve rebuild along with custom pistons, I can't see how boring to 3.8 would be that much more expensive considering you are already using new sleeves and pistons, assuming you are just enlarging the bore to get additional displacement instead of messing with the stroke(connecting rods) and possible the crankshaft as well. This is sound advice. There's been at least a few members here with known bore scoring that have even tracked their cars and continue to drive them for a few years. As stated, I'm sure there are also many owners out there that are driving around with scored bores and not know it. This diagnosis or the need for any alarm can be further confusing caused by the owner's manual that oil loss can be normal between oil changes. This is direct from the manufacturer in the owner's manual and is common place unfortunately these days, especially among German brands. Now if it smokes other than the occasional initial startup where you are puffing out smoke all the time when you're lightly accelerating or the motor is drinking oil at a high rate like a quart every 1k miles, that maybe a sign that it's gotten pretty bad to a point where rebuild maybe in order sooner than later.' My $.02

Well don't get me wrong. I'm not delusional and this is not my first porsche. I had 944 turbo and a 928. I understand that it's a high maintanence car lol. I guess if i had it for a while and was attached to it I would not think twice to get the engine re done. It's just very traumatic after I spent almost 20K on the car to find out i need another 15 to get it right. That's all. That's why I'm weighing my options. Btw, they didn't get to check the condition of IMS bearing. The question to the esteemed group is as follows: given the situation with oil pooling and etc who probable is the IMS failure? Thanks again

Sorry but I don't get the question. IMS failure will not create smoke. If you choose to rebuild, IMS will need to be addressed anyway.

No, what I meant is would the condition of the engine cylinders such as increased oil consumption, burning oil etc affect the condition of the bearing. I read that alot of ims failures due to poor maintenance lack of oil changes in addition to bad initial design. I guess wht I'm trying to figure out if I was to drive the car like that until I get money to rebuild the engine or replace it would I have higher chance of IMS failure and then def be needing new motor without reusable core?

I think that will depend on who you ask. I can only speak from my own experience. I had major cylinder scoring on both cyl 4 & 6. major scoring. scoring you could feel very well and easily by scrapping your finger nail over the cylinder and the piston skirt. the car was driven for a few thousand miles like this. when I look at the service history of my car, the previous owner complained of blue smoke in 2013. they changed the aos and he figured that was it. the previous owner had the lne retrofit done in 2008 iirc. so quite a few miles on this bearing. the report came back showing the bearing was in excellent shape. so, technically you could keep driving without causing major damage to the bearing but I'm sure theres a **** load of people shaking their head at that suggestion. also keep in mind that oil passing through is killing your cats. go look at how much those are to replace.

Oh got it. Scored cylinder will shed cylinder material in the oil (very tough and shown up as Aluminum in the oil). The debris can destroy the other engine components depending on how good your oil filter is and how good the by-pass valve in the oil filter canister is (a bad or weak by-pass valve will allow some oil to go unfiltered during engine start up, for example). Then the contaminated oil will get to all the bearings, IMSB included (oil passes through the bearing seals). Have they dropped the oil filter and oil pan? Those are a must to give more info for you to make an informed decision. If they find debris, you definitely do not want to keep driving the car.

Leon, did you buy your car on ebay? Your car and avatar picture look suspiciously close to the car below. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-finds-63.html Porsche 911 911 40th Anniversary Edition Very RARE 3 6L 6 SPD | eBay Ebay listing : 172006392943

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I agree with this. However the million dollar question is what are you comfortable with as there are various stages of scoring which may or may not shed that much metal(to begin with at least). If you go the drive for now and save up for rebuild route, you can always try to minimize this by getting LN oil adapter, magnetic plug, guardian, and doing more frequent oil changes. I don't really advocate doing oil analysis(through Blackstone at least) as they only measure down to 30 microns generally as some say the most damage can be done from particles that are only between 5-15 microns. But either way you should drop your pan and finger your sump to see what you're working with and where you're currently at with the condition. Is your mechanic also able to take any pics of the walls with his borescope? If so, you may want to post that as well. But am I understanding you correctly in that you only paid $20k for a 40th anniversay model? If so, that was a major red flag right there.

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Oh man. Nice find Kalash. Inquiring minds would really like to know. I'd say I hope not, but I guess at this point it doesn't matter either way. Just sucks to be in leon's shoes no matter what

No I bought it from precision auto in Waterbury CT.

Do they offer any help and how many miles on the car?

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But did you pay $20k for it?

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Hmm, well the car looks very similar to that 40th Anniversary Ebay car. Your avatar picture looks to be from the same parking lot and the same lighting. Perhaps dealer flipped it to you? That car sold for $16k*, so if dealer flipped it to you for sub $20k it makes sense. Do you have C A R R E R A on the trunk lid? Look in your frunk and compare to the frunk picture from the e-bay car. Best bet to find out.

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You must not frequent the "show us your 40th AE" thread. They all look "very similar" to one another

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No doubt, but look at his avatar picture and E-bay listing thumbnail. Same light, same black wheels, windows down, same "doodle" on the front bumper. And low price. Too many similarities not to notice for me.

Yes I do. I also have their bill of sale. From Manheim auction

No carrera. It says porsche

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Nope. The sales person is pretty normal. But the owner is a straight up scumbag

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Ummm... That might indeed be the same car then. It should have the 911 script badge. The "P O R S C H E" badge didn't come around on the water cooled cars until the 997.2. It's not an unheard of mod to a 996, but it's rare. Coupled with the lower than normal sale price and location (I remember the ebay one was in the NE somewhere, but I don't recall where exactly) the quacking is sounding a bit more duck like... Much of the stuff we mentioned in the CL comments could have been taken care of cheap to get it ready for resale. Look for that bent bracket above the spare tire though. That may have been a bit more work for them to address and would be a dead give away. We suspected that car was not on the up and up, but (if this is the same car) no one expected this level of pain. As I said before though, regardless of if it is or isn't the same car, it still sucks equally hard for you and I think we all feel for you here.

Thanks guys

Sorry to say but I agree with Alpy about $20k for a 40th...got to be some significant issue/history.

Just got my car out of the shop. Will compare w wnt u said

Cel just went on lol

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Do you have any scanner that can read the codes? Does the engine feel strong and smooth? Any smoke and abnormal noise?

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No smoke . Engine feels strong. Drives just fine. Don't have a scanner

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Damn man you can't get a break can you? Did you kick a black cat while breaking a mirror under a ladder or something? Hopefully something just didn't get plugged back in right after all that work.

Idk man. I drove it for 10 miles before it happen. It feels normal.

Did they wash it before they gave it back to you? If so maybe you just have a cracked coil that they forgot to mention with all rest going on. Need to know the codes it stored though. If you don't want to go back to the dealer, auto parts stores will typically scan the computer for you. CEL (mostly) relates to emissions stuff so those codes should be readable by any OBD-II scanner. Take a look at Paul's Cylinder 1 Misfire thread for an example of the codes related to a cracked coil.

Ys they did wash it. Lol its like health exam before execution lol

Can the CEL be cleared?

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No one, especially a dealer, isn't going to "give away" a 40th anniversary model for $20k unless there is something significantly wrong with it. I gotta feeling if OP holds onto this, we could see a very long thread of various issues from him.

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The "OP" most likely won't be holding on to this. The car has been seen by couple of independents plus a dealer shop. Same verdict. Need to go. Have few things pending. Def NOT getting new motor.

I think the car is doomed. It's like a movie "the money pit." Just turned on the headlights washers and both plastic pieces fell off. You can't even make this **** up. Someone prior owner or a dealer glued them on with silicone. It's not expensive to replace it's just the pure fact of infinite ridiculoussness.

The has been the best read of my short 996 ownership - Leon this kick in the teeth feels quite similar my ownership In racing Porsche cars a major blood letting every few years - yet I still come back for more because I learn what incredible Driving experience and how I feel behind the wheel - if you love it fix it otherwise walk away - these gents said car was worth 8 or 9 K more than you paid ( 40th anniversary) after you rebuild the motor it will get that number ( same block and heads ) Your real out of pocket is much less since the value is ? all fresh and newish - this is the story I would tell my wife - Sent from my iPad using Rennlist

Maybe you have a point. I'm going to see someone in new rochele ny. His name is Mike some indep mech..with very good reviews and he sounded normal on a phone. Will keep you guys posted Thank you everyone for great your input

I think I'm gonna replace one cat converter with aftermarket, replace spark plugs and coils. Do clutch and ims bearing and drive it. I have a feeling that the dealer shop just slightly exaggerated the scoring of the cylinder. I showed a video to one guy who is been a mechanic for over 45 years. No porsche guy a bmw guy. He said it doesn't even look that bad. Not bad enough to do an overhaul now let alone to replace an engine.

I still suggest you keep driving it for a few weeks first to make sure there are no severe symptoms before you do anything on it. Also should make sure the CEL is only cat related and nothng else. Your BMW mechanic could very well be right and I surely hope he is.

Yeah. I'm gonna have the codes read and see whts up

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+996 Don't spend a dime on it other than dropping the pan, fingering the sump, and inspecting for any debris. Do an oil change, cut open the filter, send oil sample for analysis, and borrow Paul's microscope if you wanna play it extra safe . Then drive it over the next 1-2k observing the amount of smoke and any oil loss. From there you can make a more sound decision on whether you want to spend any more money on it or cut your losses. That would be the more prudent way IMO. Due to all the gloom and doom stories, fear mongering, pessimistic opinions, and just bad negative reputation of these cars on the net, it's natural for owners to often have drastic knee jerk reactions to some of these issues which may or may not be serious.