Smokin [not in a good way] 951 Help

[DDT951]

Hi All,

I have been trying to get my 951 running and just issue after issue.

Back story. About 1.5-2 years ago parked the 951 in the garage. Drove it into garage and it was running absolutely fine. It made a lot of power (has aftermarket turbo kit and dynos before nearly 400rwhp). Parked in garage.

The only issue I was having was silicone coolant hoses seeped leaked. So I decided to remove them and replace them with Porsche rubber hoses.

Early this summer was getting ready to move the car and it would crank but no start. I had to be in Europe for June so left it at mechanic (flatbedded it). Told him to get running and change the silicone hoses. He did that, said fuel pump went bad sitting and fuel filter was damaged. Also said it was having DME relay issue? But it runs now.

So I grabbed the car to get emissions test.

When I took the 951 yesterday it started smoking like hell from exhaust and makes boost (17psi) but feels dead like a regular 944. The car does "hit hard" when coming on boost. The smoke appears mainly when giving gas (accelerating) and not much when cruising or at idle.

It was suggested that i pull the outlet boot from Turbo and look for oil is a seal went out. That seems silly with less than 5000 miles on turbo and just sitting there not being used, how would a turbo go bad?

The smoke is not like when I had a leaking head gasket... at that point I put in better studs and headgasket so I doubt headgasket is problem.

Today I was doing some more troubleshooting. I have it running "stronger" (but it still dosn't seem nearly as fast as I remember.. the thing used to spin tires in second gear). I found a broken ground wire to the MAF system and fixed that.

The 951 still has smoke that smells like oil burning. Heavy smoke under boost.

But, when took it out for a drive and get some boost going, the dipstick blows out of the tube and gets oil all over the intake manifold and turbo.

So my current thought is turbo is OK since it spools and boosts well.

Of course it could be a bad piston / ring. But that doesnt seem likely with just sitting.

Maybe it is a bad oil separator (OAS / PCV). That is a lot of work to get out and replace so instead of throwing parts at it, probably will have a compression test done. That is quick and dirty to do as a starting point. Rubber seals go bad when just sitting (rubber ages) and as far as I know it is original ( I don’t believe the OAS was changed when the engine was out of the car for resealing).

My questions. Where to start troubleshooting this? Also, could a bad OAS cause the car to lose power?

(PS found this forum. Looks much active for 951 than the other one I have been on for literally decades).

[Tom]

Hi All,

I have been trying to get my 951 running and just issue after issue.

Back story. About 1.5-2 years ago parked the 951 in the garage. Drove it into garage and it was running absolutely fine. It made a lot of power (has aftermarket turbo kit and dynos before nearly 400rwhp). Parked in garage.

The only issue I was having was silicone coolant hoses seeped leaked. So I decided to remove them and replace them with Porsche rubber hoses.

Early this summer was getting ready to move the car and it would crank but no start. I had to be in Europe for June so left it at mechanic (flatbedded it). Told him to get running and change the silicone hoses. He did that, said fuel pump went bad sitting and fuel filter was damaged. Also said it was having DME relay issue? But it runs now.

So I grabbed the car to get emissions test.

When I took the 951 yesterday it started smoking like hell from exhaust and makes boost (17psi) but feels dead like a regular 944. The car does "hit hard" when coming on boost. The smoke appears mainly when giving gas (accelerating) and not much when cruising or at idle.

It was suggested that i pull the outlet boot from Turbo and look for oil is a seal went out. That seems silly with less than 5000 miles on turbo and just sitting there not being used, how would a turbo go bad?

The smoke is not like when I had a leaking head gasket... at that point I put in better studs and headgasket so I doubt headgasket is problem.

Today I was doing some more troubleshooting. I have it running "stronger" (but it still dosn't seem nearly as fast as I remember.. the thing used to spin tires in second gear). I found a broken ground wire to the MAF system and fixed that.

The 951 still has smoke that smells like oil burning. Heavy smoke under boost.

But, when took it out for a drive and get some boost going, the dipstick blows out of the tube and gets oil all over the intake manifold and turbo.

So my current thought is turbo is OK since it spools and boosts well.

Of course it could be a bad piston / ring. But that doesnt seem likely with just sitting.

Maybe it is a bad oil separator (OAS / PCV). That is a lot of work to get out and replace so instead of throwing parts at it, probably will have a compression test done. That is quick and dirty to do as a starting point. Rubber seals go bad when just sitting (rubber ages) and as far as I know it is original ( I don’t believe the OAS was changed when the engine was out of the car for resealing).

My questions. Where to start troubleshooting this? Also, could a bad OAS cause the car to lose power?

(PS found this forum. Looks much active for 951 than the other one I have been on for literally decades).

Welcome to carpokes! How'd you hear about us? RL and Pelican were great back in the day, but Pelican has other priorities so it's dwindled a lot lately, and RL has just never been the same since they were bought out by Internet Brands. Long live Carpokes!!

Sounds like combustion pressures are getting into your crankcase. When that happens, it will push up the dipstick, and can blow oil out the AOS into the intake, and can prevent the oil in the turbo from draining, all of which can cause smoking. I think you are right to start with an old fashion compression check (or leak down) to see if the rings (and valves) are sealing. 2 years could be long enough for oil or carbon to interfere with the rings. A can of Seafoam might be all you need and/or it might just get better as you drive it -- especially if you are already noticing some improvements. Of course, that's just internet speculation and it could be lots of things, but you have to start somewhere and that's as logical a starting point as any in my mind....

[DDT951]

Dr Google is where I found this forum. Have been RL forever (have had my 951 more than 25 years) but not really active.

How does seafoam work? Where do I put it into a 951. Might work or be helpful.

[DDT951]

The car did make good power before. It has a Vitesse S2R kit in it. Made 405rwhp at 19.5psi. I have run 23-24psi but its not a lot faster than at 19.5psi (only made about 2mph more in a quarter mile with 4-5psi more boost) so turned it down.

[Tom]

My friend Ed has that same VR turbo and I can vouch for it being a fantastic turbo for these motors. At 19.5 psi, you are going to have some blow by no matter what, so once you get this sorted, if the dip stick is still pushing up, the easiest solution is to drill the top of the AOS to a larger diameter.

[Tom]

Seafood...




p.s., always nice to see more RL refugees here. I was Tom M'Guinn there for years...

[DDT951]

Got it solved. Was very simple. 5 minutes after the panic ended.

Shop that got it running and replaced coolant lines.

ISV and OAS lines were switched. OAS was hooked up to pressure side of intake pipe and ISV was to vacuum (before turbo).

Switched them. No smoke. And it has full tire spinning power (now for stickier tires).

YAY..

[Tom]

Got it solved. Was very simple. 5 minutes after the panic ended.

Shop that got it running and replaced coolant lines.

ISV and OAS lines were switched. OAS was hooked up to pressure side of intake pipe and ISV was to vacuum (before turbo).

Switched them. No smoke. And it has full tire spinning power (now for stickier tires).

YAY..

Yeah, LOL, that would do it! Glad it was an easy fix and that you found it before doing too much surgery! And hey, if that's what it took to get you over to ?carpokes, it was a necessary evil in my book. Onward and upward!