Porsche 911T Project - Smoking

Driving through my own smokescreen - not a good sign. 

Generally, you'd have to admit that when it comes to cars, smoke should be kept deep down inside the mechanisms, with perhaps an odd well mannered puff released in the name of 'character'. What my brain was struggling to comprehend, this sunny day on a quiet motorway, was just how I'd managed to produce a minor destroyer screen of the stuff, and actually drive through it. 

As any fule kno, the engine is at the arse end of a 911, so noxious emissions should, by rights, be worrying following traffic, not the driver sitting some 4 feet in front of the tail pipe.

I did it again, repeating the slight increase in effort needed to overtake the Trilby'd lane 2 dodderer, and was again greeted by a curtain of grey, oily smoke. 

The penny dropped like a rod going through the block. The heater was on, oily fumes escaping from worn rings were exiting through the colander of a heat exchanger and making their way into the cockpit via the heater vents at the base of the screen, and rising like a prog. rock special effect in front of my eyes.

Oh well. Actually the poor old engine had been doing its best to let me know its last legs were approaching since its arrival from Florida. The oil pressure didn't rise much beyond the bottom quarter of the dial, cold starting produced some meaningful rattles (and another small smoke screen), and I did have to add oil to the tank every so often. 

Its just that until I actually found myself fumigated I could pretend that "they all do that", and that "those old 911 engines are as tough as old boots" and plan to spend dwindling funds on bright shiny new things.

So, this winter I have to bite the bullet and sort out a new motor. 


SS7