Smoke coming out of the passenger side exhaust.

I have smoke coming out of the passenger side exhaust pipe. 911, 996, 2002, C2. Came on suddenly. Smoke colour is foggy, cloudy colour (not black, not white). Engine was running ok, although slightly chuggy. I stopped the car immediately and had it recovered. Any clues?

Could be the air/oil separator, but it usually causes white-ish smoke from both exhausts. Smoke from the left hand exhaust can be associated with bore scoring on bank 2. I hope that isn't the case, but you'll only know after a borescope test. Fingers crossed for you.

Thanks Richard. Recovered to Pie Performance, so should hear some news today. Fingers crossed.

Gutted! It's bad news. Engine has a cracked bore in the engine. His bore camera showed a crack in number 3 bore. Car is with Chris Lansbury @ Pie Performance. Nice chap too, knows his stuff. I popped over to see him this morning and he explained whats gone wrong. He said the engine needs taking out and sending up north to be taken apart and repaired. I think he said High-tech, or Tech9, (or something like that) is the company they use for engine rebuilds. Seems my engine needs stripping, repairing and rebuilding. Hummfffff. He also said since everythings gotta come out, its a convenient time to upgrade/replace some other engine items so he is gonna quote me on other jobs, like timing-chain replacement. Not had a price quote yet, that comes next week, but it ain't gonna be cheap and my eyes are already watering in anticipation. I asked about just replacing the whole engine with a second hand engine, but he said cost will be similar and better to have a stripped and repaired and upgraded engine, rather than a secondhand engine that might have the same issue later. Engine has done 92,000 miles. Any thoughts on this? Edit: Just looked on ebay and i see a lot of £5k engine rebuild options. Ummmmmmmmm.....

I would ask them to find out the latest price on a Porsche exchange short engine. (The block with new pistons, liners, crank, and latest IMS, etc, etc). They were being heavily subsidised a while ago, and figures of £2700 were being quoted on some forums. By the way - No 3 is on the left-hand bank. The exhausts cross over, so the smoke should have been coming out the RIGHT hand exhaust.......

see here www. hartech .org/. Great reputation apparently. Sorry to hear your bad news! Keep us informed as things progress, it can happen to most of us.

Sorry to hear. But not uncommon on early engines Gen 2 dfi engines don't seem to have all these early issues. Which ever way its going to be expensive considering the value of early 996 and Boxster s it will need serious consideration to resolve the problem in the most inexpensive way. Good luck. Cliff.

If its a Hartech rebuild you can start at £9k. Could be worth looking at other options or if its a keeper then possible financial options

Sorry to here this news. Hartech have a great reputation. You could also try Westwood Cylinder Liners for 996, link to some machine shops here http://www.westwoodcylinderliners.co.uk/links/

Bad liuck - Here's another firm well worth a look for engine rebuilds http://www.autofarm.co.uk/contact

I wouldn’t recommend you touch one of these options - even with a very long bargepole [:-]

Oh no! Just got the quote and as i read it Mike Tyson jumped out of nowhere and punched me in the face! Ouch! Quote: "Removal and refit of the engine, this also includes out time to get the run strip to the bare bone ready for sending off. The engine stripped, the failed bore repair with a new liner, the remaining 5 strengthened, the engine cleaned and rebuilt ready for sending back to us, we also recommend fitting a new water pump at the time of the rebuilt. This is covered in the estimate.” £1950 – engine removal and refit, major service, anti freeze. £3750 – Engine build for cracked bore. Plus £189 water pump, plus VAT - gives me a bill of £7,232.47p They have also given me the option to consider some extras whist the engine is out: "Replace timing chains, replace chain guides, upgrade the drive bearing for the cams, replace the crank bearings and full recondition the heads and rebuild and test. This would be an additional £3500, plus the vat.” Ouch! Value of the car all fixed up and working is what? 911, 966, C2, 2002, 92000 miles: £12k if i'm lucky? I have a horrible feeling my Porsche ownership could be coming to an end. I just retired and it may be time to be 'sensible' at long long last. Thanks for your recommendations. I will ask about "Porsche exchange short engine” and I’ll call Hartech and Autofarm myself. Lets see what they have to say for themselves. Any other bright ideas would be most welcome.

Yeah, i will not be going nowhere near Ebay. It was just quick and easy to check.

You could try ringing some of the Indies and see if they have any s/h short blocks or spares in their workshops. Unless you are handy with doing the labor yourself and part strip of the engine, you could probably save a big chunk of cash. On a positive your engine is repairable and I would not get hung up on mileage.

As I said if its a keeper then its worth hunkering down for a long term investment, or sell it for parts for around £5k

If it makes you smile every time you drive it. Then repair it doesn't matter how long it takes but you will be glad you did. Some people have bigger problems than there car if I can help I will do my best

Ouch! Maybe speak to someone like Autofarm or Hartech, see if they will take it on a trade in/trade up - probably still need another £7K to get back on the road in something 911 equivalent though. Oh dear, looks like all roads lead to £7K for you at the moment. Good luck - feel for you!

Yeah, still makes me smile every time i drive my Porsche. Car's been an absolute gem for the nine glorious years i've had her. Absolutely loved it. Car's in very good order otherwise, everything works fine, body work is good too. She is a keeper but i can't afford it to go wrong again in an expensive way some time down the line. So it's a soul searching time for me right now:-( I can't do any of the work myself as i have no experience at all. On top of all this i just shelled out £5k on a new engine on my Mercedes! It's all going Pete Tong and i'm having a car nightmare right now. In fact, just sold the Merc today and bought a Peugoet instead:-(((( I will report back with what Hartech and Autofarm say.

Get a second hand unit in it and get shot. Hope things work out Best of luck. Cliff.

Best of luck which ever road you go down Daniel, Tough decision at that price but I'm sure you'll regret parting with the car good luck.

Danny I feel your pain: what you're experiencing seems to be the luck of the draw with these cars. I know it's not easy but can you convince yourself to spread the outlay you're facing over the last "nine glorious years"? It won't make the money grow on a tree, it won't reduce the bill but it's another way of looking at it. I don't think you said how much smoke you've got from your nearside exhaust? When I had my 996 into OPC Cambridge last year for the free 111-point inspection kindly arranged betwen OPC Cambridge and the 996 Register I mentioned "slightly smokey n/s exhaust" to the technician who went over my car with a nit comb: his remark was to "leave it until the bumper's black". I don't suggest that you can ignore the issue forever but it might be that you have a bit of time to up-end the piggy bank, maybe you should discuss this with Pie Performance I'm sure they'll give you honest advice. I suppose there's a discussion about whether you entrust the repair of your engine to a shop who can carry out the repairs in-house or who outsource to a specialist like hartech or autofarm: I can't answer that for you but I'd want convincing that they really know their onions if going down option 1. Keep us posted eh?

That is exactly how i view these costs: spread over nine fun and glorious years. I was lucky for nine years, but I always knew these cars cost a lot when they go wrong, so i had mentally prepared myself for something bad during my ownership. So the issue is not the costs, so much, its what do i do now? Should i stay or should i go now? I'm still thinking what to do. I did not see the smoke, my wife was driving, but if she noticed, and stopped , and it was midnight, then there must have been loads of smoke! LOL. Will report back when i have further news.

Midnight? Either she'd been giving it the beans and is feeling guilty that she might have broken your precious or she was a very well lit road and there was a lot of smoke which she (or you for that matter) hadn't experienced previously? A big cloud of smoke and none since of similar magnitude? Tell you what, I know I've got a bit of bore scoring in the approved 996 manner because my n/s exhaust is noticeably sootier than the offside one but it doesn't blacken the bumper and I can sometimes get a little cloud on first start up in the mornings but I don't ever get loads of smoke of a magnitude which I'd see in the mirror and I wonder if Richard Hamilton's early reply might be pointing towards this being a different issue.

Hartech may buy the car from you as an option ? Once repaired with a Hartech rebuild then it will be worth 15K maybe ? If you like the car stick with it is my vote

Just seen advertised 3.6 engine for sale on eBay sellers name stevestrange007 he is a Porsche breaker the engine he says has a reading of 23,000 k all for 5k

Stevestrange007=Douglas Valley Breakers.

Been there seen it done it. Zentrum did mine 12 months ago. Like a new car now. I know how you feel but when you get up off the floor and resign your self to the cost it was all worth it. However, to sell it after rebuild it will be a selling point but difficult to recoup the outlay. Best of luck which ever way you jump

I'd imagine the engine will be fairly bullet proof post Hartech rebuild, plus it may be worth a slight premium when you come to sell.

About 18 months ago I saw a 996 advertised at Autobahn in Coventry with, iirc, about 190k miles on the clock, 35k of them with a Hartech engine. It was up for sale for about £8.5k, and I really wish I'd bought it. It sold quickly and I reckon it was a bargain. Now, not many of us have got the cost of a Hartech engine lying around waiting for a rainy day that we can afford to throw at a car as unplanned expenditure but, if you plan on keeping the car it is probably worth it. If you plan on doing the engine replacement and then selling on, it probably isnt, but as it is, it's probably not worth much anyway. That probably doesn't help you much, except to emphasise that Hartech engined cars are desirable, whereas cars with smoking engines aren't!

I thought long and hard but in the end i sold the car 'as is' to the Porsche garage. They gave me what i thought a fair price for a car that needed minimum £7,350 spent on it: £5k. I spoke to AutoFarm and they quoted me 'realistically minimum £10k' for a cracked bore engine rebuild. And i know only too well that costs can easily spiral upwards once cars get pulled apart and all their gory guts are exposed. Pistonheads had 16 private seller Porsches available of equivalent age. Eight above £14k and eight below £14k. They even had two identical aged models with engine rebuilds @ £13,500 and £13,000. That would make my baby worth around £12,500-13k - or i should say, what i could sell it for if i got it repaired. My circumstances have drastically changed recently, i just retired at the tender age of 46 and my retirement plan never included a Porsche, unfortunately. If i still had my city job, money and lifestyle i would have probably sold it too and upgraded to a 997!! But that was then and this is now. So thats the end of my Porsche ownership for the time being. Sad really, an unfitting end to nine glorious years of Porsche ownership. Man, i loved that car! Best thing i ever bought by a long way. Made me feel great. Gonna really miss her. Bought a Peugeot instead. Ho hum... But owning a Peugeot is fine. I'd much rather drive a normal car and never work again, as opposed to working like a dog and driving a Porsche on the weekends. So for me its the end of an era, and the beggining of a new one. I love my Peugeot: i got 72mpg on a long trip the other day! LOL.

Really sorry to hear that Daniel, but best wishes for the future, and I hope you are able to get back in a Porsche one day. You have plenty of time.

Sorry to hear but sometimes a hard decision needs to be made Money don't grow on trees That's the problem with these early 996 and Boxster engine failure problems just not economical to repair the repair is as much as the cars worth. Also there's always a few more expenses once the engines removed so probably right decision . Good luck for future. Cliff.

Just got the following message from the garage who bought the car: 'Just to let you know it was a good thing you sold the car. The piston tops have been burnt from the coolant going into the bores, so the engine costs have gone up a lot!!' I'm gutted for him actually. My lovely ex-car all messed up! Anyways, onwards and upwards, and thank funk i sold her!

Big decision, but probably the right one. I've made sacrifices over the years when it comes to cars (and owned a couple of Peugeots). I am sure the yearning for Porsche will never leave you. Besides an early Boxster can be had for not a lot of money, bang-for-buck is unbeatable in my view - not that I want to tempt you.