Mijostyn

It totally depends upon how much oil has gotten into the intake. We have pulled the throttle body off a car that was still smoking intermittently more than 1,000 mile after someone had replaced the AOS and dropped a bore scope down the runners, when we showed the owner what was still in there, he had us pull the intake and clean it. Not all blown AOS lead to severe oiling of the intake; it depends how bad the AOS was, and how long the car was driven that way. A car that had a sudden but recent failure may have only a slight amount of oil in the system, but even that can take a lot of miles to clean out. Thanx JFP. I would assume that if enough oil was introduced into the intake to cause serious trouble that the oil level in the crankcase would drop enough to be noticeable on our stupid electronic gauges. Might the best approach be to monitor your oil level closely? The combination of persistent smoking and an oil level drop should certainly raise concern and a flat bed ride.

JFP, just wondering. What would happen if you blew a bunch of combustible solvent into the intake before starting the engine, say ether. Could you not at least partially dissolve the oil? Once it gets down there the engine should burn it just fine. My car always smokes for about 30 seconds on start up. I was told this was due to oil residue getting trapped in horizontal cylinders. Problem with blowing solvent into the intake is that it has to collect somewhere, like in the cylinders where it takes all the oil off the walls, which can cause scoring, or it collect in the oil sump. Either way, not good Excuse me JFP I should have been more specific. Using a spray can of ether, spraying enough for the vapor to just wet the walls of the intake then immediately starting the car. Not spraying so much that a significant amount could collect above the intake valve. This is another one of those how fast is fast enough questions.

529plan, Speaking from just north of Haverhill.. It does not appear that things are going to dry out for a while. Worse, the city truck just dumped a pile of salt on my road :-( Nothing like life in the rust belt.

JFP, just wondering. What would happen if you blew a bunch of combustible solvent into the intake before starting the engine, say ether. Could you not at least partially dissolve the oil? Once it gets down there the engine should burn it just fine. My car always smokes for about 30 seconds on start up. I was told this was due to oil residue getting trapped in horizontal cylinders.

This is a classic Porsche problem. The main issue is protecting the galvanized layer on the metal at the bottom rear of the front wheel arch to prevent any rust from forming. You can do it the Hilux way but I think I may have a better solution. Since my first Porsche, a 1986 944 Turbo I have always protected that spot with paint protection film (Scotchguard). Porsche actually gave me the idea as the 944 came stock with paint protection film higher on the front fender and as you know all our cars have the rear flanks protected this way. It has worked great for me. I have never had to touch up my paint down there and I live in New England and drive the cars all year long. It is a little fussy at first. You have to shape the film right and place relief cuts in the film to get it to shape itself around the complex curve in this location. Use craft paper to experiment. Once you have the shape close transfer it to the film and try installing it. It may not fit right the first time. You may have to modify the shape a bit several times until you get it right. Once you get it right transfer the shape to 1/4" plywood and you have a permanent template which will work for both sides of the car. Replacing the film when it gets crappy is now a breeze. You can get the film on line in any quantity along with install instructions. Once you get good at it you can do your hood or repair the film anywhere on the car. In response to 529plan. You have to protect the body at all cost but bolt on parts?? If they are rusting it is either because Porsche wants you to replace them at intervals (like exhaust hardware) or it does not matter. Either way don't get yourself all worked up over it. Relax and enjoy your car!

I ran a search on line and White is correct. The mantra is if the oils gets as high as the crank, the crank will beat it into foam (aerate). If the foam gets into the oil pump the pump stops working, your oil pressure drops and you freeze your engine. I do believe but do not know for a fact, that our cars would start flashing all sorts of dooms day warning messages on the dash. Also, some cars are going to be more suseptible to aerated oil than others by virtue of oil pan design, and pick up location. The significance to me is that I always "over fill" the car. When I add or change oil I first get the engine up to temp then I get the level up to normal following which I add oil 2 oz at a time until I just get the upper bar to light up. I just did this and drove a total of 386 miles back and forth to Maine w/o incident. With these stupid digital oil gauges this is the only easy way to get an accurate handle on your oil consumption. You could of course, do the same thing one bar lower. My brain however, will not tolerated the thought of running around with a lower than absolutely full engine. How neurotic can you get?

Ok kid, you asked for it. The question included touch up paint. So, I do not think this is way out of line. I use very fine ball tipped applicators I get from Griot's. I think Autogeeks has them also. The car must be stone cold and in the shade, preferably your garage. Clean the damaged area with lacquer thinner. Shake the paint well and stir it gently with the cap's brush. Get a generous drop of paint on the applicator and apply it to the chip twisting the applicator slowly. What you are trying to do is make sure there are no air bubbles in the paint. If there are the repair will look pitted after you rub it out. Relax, if you do not like your work you can always remove the paint with lacquer thinner and start fresh. Let the paint dry for one hour then add another coat. Do it once more for a total of three coats. The paint shrinks as it drys and you have to make sure the repair is above the surface of the car's paint. Now let the paint cure for ONE WEEK and no less. Patience is a virtue. Do not worry at all about how the repair looks at this stage. Next lay two parallel strips of masking tape right on either side of the repair. Using Meguiar's #34 as a lubricant wet sand the repair down to the level of the masking tape with a 1500 grit Meguiar's sanding block. Remove the tape and gently bring the repair down to flush with a 2000 grit Meguiar's sanding block. Go gently but do not worry about scuffing the surrounding paint. It will rub right out. You are done when you can not feel the repair when you gently run your finger tip over it. Keep the area wetted with 34 while you work. There are a zillion ways to rub out car paint. Once you are use to certain compounds, pads and machines, and you get the job done to your satifaction, DON'T CHANGE. I rub the repair out using a Cyclo. (Auto geeks) first using Menzerna PF 2500 on blue pads followed by Menzerna SF 4500 on white pads. I have used both 3M and Meguiar's compounds and I think Menzerna is superior to both USING A CYCLO. The Cyclo is a very gentle machine. The story might be very different with an 8" rotary buffer a very aggressive machine. Seal or wax the area and have a fine time trying to find your repair. I have repaired keyed cars with excellent results using this method. Practice on a less cherished car first. Once you have this down the occasional chip is no big deal. I scan the Porsche for chips every time I wash it. I fill them immediately and once I have five or more to rub out, and the time, I do the job. You can let the paint cure indefinitely before your rub out the repair. You can even do door edges this way. The only twist is wet sanding on a concave surface such as the rear fender of a 911 right below the c- pillar. The trick is to take Meguiar's sanding blocks and shape them convex. Just wet your counter top and lay a sheet of 200 grit wet or dry paper down. The water will adhere the paper to the countertop. Now rub the sanding block on the paper rocking it from side to side giving it a slight radius. The abrasive in the blocks goes all the way through. You can shape them any way you want. Once you are finished rinse and rub the block well to get any 200 grit abrasive off :-)

I saw that cross member. Unfortunately, in the Turbo it is blocked by plumbing. There is another cross member that looks pretty sturdy in front of the engine. I do not think a floor jack can reach it. The oil pan is a beefy cast part and looks pretty tough. Some one is going to punch a hole in one trying. The thing is once the front is up the rear of the car is partially counterbalanced by the mass hanging out in front of the jack stands. I am always surprised at how easy the rear end goes up. I can't believe Porsche did not give us a way to get the car up on stands. I will try to dig into it further and will report back if I find out anything.

White, what is the danger if you overfill the car slightly?? Define slightly? Over is over. Over is bad. Main issue is oil foaming and aeration. Becauce it gets beat & whipped. I guess we have to define it in terms of our electronic gauges. If you over fill the car slightly with just 4 oz oil you can light up the top bar. If you go a little further the car warns you that you have over filled. My Porsche tech says as long as the car isn't complaining not to worry about it. My question never seems to get answered which is what harm comes to the engine if it is overfilled a few ounces. The level will drop to normal in a few hundred miles. Must you bother to drop the oil filter or can you just let the engine burn it off? Oil always gets beat and whipped. That's what it does for a living. Aerated oil stays at the top of the sump. The engine pulls oil from the bottom. What harm comes to the engine if is slightly overfilled???

The 997 cars have a bracket at the rear of the engine block, dead center of the car to be used to jack up the rear of the car. This makes it much easier to place jack stands. I have been under the standard 991s and now the Turbo S 991 and there is no such bracket or obvious lift point. Does anyone know if there is a way to jack these cars up at the rear? The rear edge of the oil pan maybe?? Or maybe Porsche does not want us working on our cars any more?

White, what is the danger if you overfill the car slightly??

Hi William, The car has only 8500 miles on it. Did you get it certified?? If so then just drive the car and see what happens. You have 2 years to figure it out. So few of us own GT3s that there is not going to be a whole lot of experience. I drove a 996 GT3 and did not notice any droning but I only drove it once for about 10 miles. Certainly as Loren suggests you best check the mufflers as aftermarket mufflers are notorious for this behavior. The fact that the original owner noticed it long ago and nothing has gone south yet means to me that this is probably normal behavior for this car. At their quietest 911s are noisy cars up to and including out right raucous. Your average Mercedes driver does not have this in mind when he buys a car like this. He is buying "clothing" and what he is expecting is a sharp looking little Mercedes 2 seater. What he gets is more like a little race car...not his cup of tea and that is why so many of these cars whined up on the used market with short miles. Good for us!! These cars have character and a certain degree of variability. You always have to modify your expectations a little and tolerate some things. If you can't then it is not the car for you. I sold a 2001 TT with only 10,000 miles on it because it did not have the character I was looking for and in the end was not worth the payments...to me. Some here think I am crazy and they are probably right. 3000 rpm is right about where most people cruise on the highway. My solution would be to get an Escort with Escort "Live" and crank it up to 4000 rpm. Smooth as silk ;-}

Snap On. If you can't afford the right tools, don't do the job. DIY is a wonderful thing, but there comes a time when you have to pass it off to your local independent. Spending $500 for a tool to do one job does not make sense. All Porsche DIY folks need to have good torque wrenches. A small 3/8 and a medium 1/2 are a must. Not only does Snap On make the best tool but they stand behind their products better than any company I have ever dealt with. Now those of us with center lock wheels need a large wrench capable of 400 ft lb. Oh well, there goes another $600. If you want to do it cheap, why on earth would you buy a Porsche?? By the way, we just had a Harbor Freight store open locally. I have never seen such a large collection of crap under one roof in my life. It reminds me of the old Five and Dime stores we use to have.

See below. I screwed it up.

Phil, these things can go South in a zillion ways. There are thousands of components in there any one of which can fail. They can not be diagnosed and repaired in the field. So, they provide rebuilt units for ridiculous money. If you are stuck in the position of having to pay for a new/old unit compare the cost with that of going to the aftermarket. These guys here know my mantra. With either Alpine or Kenwood you can get a totally modern unit with all the goodies and a custom bezel that even has the Porsche factory finish. The whole thing looks stock. The only kicker is you have to get a NavTV MOST head unit replacement module. This converts the analog output of the aftermarket units into MOST digital for Porsches system. This also allows you to use your stock amps and speakers. The NavTV u it was $699 the last time I checked. Pricey, but way cheaper than replacing the amps and speakers. Way less collateral damage also.

White is absolutely correct. Porsches spec was one liter to 1000 km. this was considered normal as of 2002. My 2001 TT consumed one quart in 1200 miles. Which I complained about and thought I was getting BS. The dealer wisely gave me the telephone number of another TT owner whose car did exactly the same thing. I was told it would improve about a liter per 1000 km as the car broke in and it did. It still burned a lot more oil than any car I had ever owned. I was also told that oil consumption was highly variable. Anyway, I always carried an extra quart of oil in the boot.

It sure is. Porsche's touch up paint is great, the best. If you need help doing a totally invisible repair holler. By the way, for anyone interested ALL the after market stuff like Dr Color Chip, is absolute crap. For fun I have tried all the major players. Only with Porsche's paint can I get an absolutely invisible repair.

Yes, I know about that torque spec but with the Ti lug bolts my brain feels better with 100 ftlb. I have had them on for over a year without any problems. I see no evidence of corrosion on the wheel or in the hubs. I use antiseize on the threads only every time I mount them up.

VERY nice. It is funny how we all have different requirements. The seven speed is great. I drove one and had a blast. If they offered it in the Turbo I would have gone that way. I suppose I'll get use to the PDK. Rough life ain't it? I agree with no PDCC. A friend with experience says the base car handles fine and that you would only notice the PDCC on the track. With the power kit that is one expensive car! Go to suncoastparts.com and get the clear side marker lights, a must on a white car. Then go to tikore.com and get a set of Ti lug bolts. These are gorgeous and will stay so forever. I have the one piece bolts which are $100 less expensive and perfectly fine as long as you keep them clean. Don't forget to use antisieze. I torque them to 100 ftlb. Don't forget to post a picture when you get it!!

I'm afraid not. I went up to the dealer yestersday and discovered that my guy misinterpreted the update. The LED lights will now be available in the other 991 cars but not in black. Black litronic lights will be available in the Turbo cars. So, I will be getting the Black Litronics. The car's asthetics are more important to me than the newest technology in lights. My dealer has a guards red Boxter with the black lights and the effect is stunning...at least to me. If the car does not make you smile every time you see it then it is not worth the money. The LED lights are very nice. The daylight lights are very cool. I'm sure they will offer them in black eventually but probably too late for us. I could leave the LED lights in the car banking on them putting out black ones then replace the lights when the black ones are released but that would be a very expensive gamble. I can live just fine with the Litronics. I have a little over a month to sort it out. If you have a January build I believe you are now locked in. Isn't this fun?? What are you getting White? Give us the specs!!!

The dealer can find the code just by punching in the VIN number on your car. Use Porsche touch up paint only.

Thanx for your input White. I don't track my cars although I do run a certain Autocross course on occasion, I'll use my manual 997 C4S for that. The Turbo will be a pampered car until it is payed off. No more than 2000 miles yearly. Actually, I've not much choice now as far as PDCC is concerned. My salesperson just informed me today that he was not allotted a Turbo for April but another Turbo S. He had a deal to swap allotments with another dealer but that fell through. He is unlikely to get another turbocharged car this year. Crap, you only live once. All Turbo S cars have PASM. My C4S has the sport chrono option which includes PASM and it is the nuts. Nice and casual around town or race car mean in the twisties. Have it your way. I'm not sure how much lower than the regular cars the Turbo S is but it sure is a lot wider. In a low front quarter picture those hips look huge. Even better, Porsche has made the LED headlights available in black. These are way cool on a guards red car. So to celebrate bankruptcy I purchased black "PORSCHE" letters for the back, a guards red PORSCHE windshield decal for the front and clear side marker lights. I'm thinking about making black stone guards for the hips. Not quite sure if they will look right as they have to dodge around the intercooler intake holes. As for whether or not the PDCC decreases tire wear? The car comes with P Zeros. The last Pirellis I ran were awful. These will come off ASAP and Michelin Super Sports will go on. I have these on the C4S. So I will be able to make a rough comparison. Most importantly, and most of you will find this hard to believe, but, when I swapped over to snows I had just under 9/32" left on the rear Super Sports. Which means I lost just over 1/32 in 4100 miles. It appears that I am going to get somewhere around 20,000 miles on the rear tires which for me is absolutely unheard of. All around these are fabulous tires. Great ride, unbelievable wet traction and perfectly controlled 4 wheel slides. They are less expensive than PS2s and last twice as long. I have no idea why they are not N rated. Anyway, After I get 2000 miles (end of next Summer) on the Turbo S I should be able to tell which car wears the tires out faster.

I'll drink to that...and I don't drink.

Now I am stuttering.

Not me.