Massive White Smoke From Right Side Vent

i bought my new cayman s yeasterday and after driving it for 40 miles , massive amounts of white smoke started comming out of the right side vent . a couple of minutes later i got the sign on my display to check coolant level. i parked the car , waited a few hours before opening the coolant cap and to my surprise it was EMPTY . i have a few questions : what was the massive smoke a result of ? could it have casued any damage i should worry about in the future ? am i entitled to replace the car since it has only done 40 miles and the error is theirs ? thank you

I'd be getting the dealer to pick it up, pronto,and wouldn't do a thing to it. Let them "sort it out" (i.e. don't fill it with water, let them see how they've let it out)

So sorry to hear your plight. It must have been a nightmare for you. The coolant was either not there in the first place or it leaked out while you were driving. Either way, this is clearly negligence on the dealer's part and goes to show that their PDI wasn't up to the standard. To have such a thing happen at such low mileage is serious and may have serious consequences in the long run. I would take the car back to the dealer and demand the car to be inspected by a third party, and demand a warranty extension for the engine. If you can live with the wait again, demand that they replace the car.

do i have the right to ask for it to be replaced ? i mean has there been instances where you have heard of dealers replace cars for whatever reason ?

Sounds like a nightmare. Depends where you are - California sounds pretty good for lemon laws. I'm in the UK and when I had problems they offered to buy it back, but would not provide another. (There was a 6 month lead time and they were selling like hot cakes then) If you push them, they may well buy it back but then if you really want it, that'd be a huge disappointment. Personally I'd give them the opportunity to put it right. Also don't assume anything. It could be that it was ok at the PDI and something has broken / come off emptying the coolant. As for damage - depends how quickly you stopped the engine. The most unlikely, but worst scenario would be a cracked cylinder head, but if that was the case you'd know about it (ie. it couldn't be hidden).

If I were you I would-- leave the car where it is, call the dealer, call the Regional Manager, Call Zuffenhausen!! Let everyone above know how upset I was and how negligent they where. Get legal counsel. Demand a new car! You spent alot of money on a new car which you know has been abused, and which you suspect may have experienced internal damage. I would not take the car back.

$%@#%^&^!* ^&*!%^#&* #&**@(@0, and ^@#%&^@* yourself!!!! i'd call anyone i could at the dealer , porsche etc.

Give the dealer a chance to diagnose and fix the problem. It's unfortunate to have a failure so early, but that's what warranties are for. That's the only thing the dealer owes you at this point.

No offense, but some of the responses here are a little drastic. Clearly there is a coolant problem, and clearly the dealer needs to look at it and make it right. A warranty extension? What for? His car is broken, they'll make it right. That's what the warranty is FOR. A new Car?!?!! Please! At this point it's a minor cooling issue. Someone else talking about lemon laws. Seriously you guys... An incident happened. There was a big show of smoke sure. (WHITE smoke, like coolant makes...). I may be proven wrong later, but it sounds like he has a coolant leak. I say get it fixed. Make sure everything is right. Keep an eye on it, and if there's any weird behavior get it checked out right away. The guys who think you need a new car are the reason why insurance costs so much. Everybody wants something for nothing. Much like suing McD's because their coffee is too hot... At least that's my opinion.

Those were the sentiments I was trying to explain as well.

Agree 100%

I agree with Swancoat and dibaldi with one exception. I would call the dealer and have them come pick it up. You really do not want to drive it in its present state. You do not know where the failure is and some engine componets are not water friendly.

rami - the last few posters have given you good advice. Don't move the car, have the dealer summon roadside assistance to come pick it up and take it in. Worst case scenario, they put in a new crate motor from Porsche shipped in from Germany. My guess would be that even though you didn't see any coolant in the filler neck, there was probably coolant still in the system. It takes a long time for that volume of liquid to either burn off or leak out, unless it's a catastrophic leak, in which case you would have seen a huge puddle under the car when you stopped. You didn't mention such a puddle. Have the dealer diagnose and fix the problem. If there's damage, they'll find it and fix it. I doubt under even the most strict "lemon laws" you're entitled to a new car, and I also doubt they'll offer one. There will be four years left on your warranty if there's undiagnosed damage to the motor - plenty of time to find out and get it rectified. If it continues to be a problem, that's when the lemon laws come into play. brad

I'm with the last few folks. You may have just blown a defective hose or something. Mistakes and defects happen. It's no reason to get so worried about the car. If it were me, I would have them flatbed the car to the dealership. Make it super clear that you are very unhappy about this. Wait to hear what went wrong. If it's anything minor, have it repaired and let the dealership know that you think they should throw a short shifter in there for free to make this up to you. If you're nice and reasonable, I bet they'd be happy to throw you a bone.

Paint issues! The stuff circulating in your coolant system is not paint friendly. If you did blow a hose, make sure that they clean the car well. You don't want any of that stuff lingering on the paint even if it's an area you can't see, ie. under the engine cover.

So long as the engine did not overheat, probably no serious damage done.

I am sure there some who have had a overheating car and never experienced any further problems--that is not my experience. I have had a car and a truck that overheated and they just never where the same. They had a succession of blown gaskets, oil leaks and valve replacements. This was after the head was planed and the dealer said that it was "just like new". There is no joy in owning a car--especially an expensive one--in which you have lost confidence, and I would not be confident that once a car has overheated that it would be 100% again.

Here's 2 quick facts: 1) At no point did the original poster say it overheated. i)There was a lot of smoke ii)There was little, if any, coolant left iii) Poster mentioned specifically that the 'low coolant' warning came on - however, he did NOT mention anything about an overheating warning. All evidence here points to the problem being stopped in its tracks well before anything overheated. 2) Your car wasn't 100% about 3 minutes after you drove it off the lot. It never will be again. Get over it. Sorry - I just get sick of hearing people say, "What?!? the dealer scratched your car?!? You should settle for nothing less than a new car!! Also the dealer's first born. Anything less and you should sue! Blah, blah blah..."

Photog, overheating a car is just that. You're past the point and too much heat has been generated. Just because coolant is burning, doesn't mean the car overheated. In your situation, you REALLY overheated your car. Sounds to me your valve/pistons expanded, warped or collided and your fried your rings. And at that point your engine would have seized, and had you tried to start the car again, your expanded rings and pistons would have just shredded your cylinder walls...making your engine never the same, reducing your compression, causing lower gas mileage, burning oil...a headache. But a lot of it depends on the costruction of the engine too. Different metals and designs are affected difererntly. Dont scare the guy, he said he saw smoke, saw the idiot lite and parked the car. He did everything right, only thing he could have done better was pull off to the shoulder and call Porsche .

Swancoat and dabaldi are correct, the facts as stated do not support my conclusion. I think I need to spell-check "assume".

I think what Swancoat was trying to get across, maybe he didn't express it in the best way, is that the new owner has every right to be upset, very upset. But he probably was out of line thinking he could demand a new car out of the mishap. And, I agree with that. brad

, sorry , i went through a similar situation with one of my cars. i am a little touchy on this subject, pissing matches against the dealers usualy end up being lost. i dont want us to be the ones to stop him from at least trying to get something... YOU WILL NEVER GET WHAT YOU DONT ASK FOR. if they see he is super pissed , pissed enough to not want the car, maybe they will do something, they will no doubt do as little as he lets them get away with. if i were him id at least say that is the solution that will make him the happiest. then work backward from there.

Came to your house and cleaned up hydraulic fluid spilled on your garage floor!?!!! Come on, nobody does that. Or did I miss something and your post was just "funning" us?

My take on this, and being a mechanic, is to let the dealer work on the car. It could be that a hose clamp was not on correctly or something simple like that. I work on $300K+ vehicles and anything can happen. If the temp in the engine got to hot it should set a code in the computer. A good shop will fix the problem, pressure test the cooling system. road test and check that the engine was not damaged. If they do not find anything wrong with the engine at this time the record will be saying that there was a coolant loss problem and if something should happen down the line, remember you have a 4 year warranty, it should be taken care of. Yes it sucks that there is a problem but remember if you wanted the perfect anything you would be paying a lot more than the car cost, and then there is no such thing as perfection, as hard as people try. To many people want something for nothing, you demand too much and then on a track day when you miss a shift and damage the engine will the dealer want to help you? Just treat people the way that you want to be treated.

AJK - No, I'm not kidding... they actually did send someone out. The dealer was only 2 miles away, and they offered to send someone out because I was leaving that night for a business trip out of town for a week, and they didn't want my girlfriend attempting to clean it up, nor let it sit for a week. I gladly accepted. brad

Yep, Beez has got the gift! Russ