Urgent in France - 996TT Yellow Gunk Oil Cap

[jonc4s]

Hi,

Im in France in Reims, fingers crossed the Turbo driving perfectly thus far. Was running low on oil, had some mobil 1 in car so topped up and noticed small amount of yellow gunk in oil cap!! Bad news?? I have euro cover but obviously want to make it home. Isnt yellow gunk a sign of head gasket?

Ive got a big drive home on Monday, any precautions i should take??

Help!!

Thanks -Jon

 

[jonc4s]

Juat to add - before i left Paris, i cleaned out the filler cap with a tissue. Drive 90 mins at 90mph ish to Reims, checked again and its as clean as when I left which can only be a good thing right?

 

[Richard_Hamilton]

Stop worrying. It is quite normal, especially in this cold weather.

If I had £1 for every 'Mayo' post on this forum.......

Relax, and enjoy the drive home.

 

[jonc4s]

Cheers Richard!!

No need to hold back on return route then!

Going to head to rheims go circuit tomo for some Fangio beating exploits...

 

[adrian996]

Hi Jon - or should I say, "au revoir!"

Check mine out for comparison (or "comparaison")...


Bonjour! []

 

[jonc4s]

Bonjour!!

Certainly wasnt that bad!!

 

[924nutter]

Bonsoir, J'ai aussi le gunk jeunne sur mon chapeau d'ouille. C'est normal perfectement je coir, especialment dans par temps froi.

 

[jonc4s]

Hello all,

Successfully back from France, thanks for advice whilst I was away. Glad to know the gunk is not an issue! Will keep an eye on it regardless!

Had a couple of minor stumbles that I thought I would ask about.

1. When at Reims French GP circuit I was enjoying a spirited drive with a 997 Turbo and my car threw up PSM/ABS Failiure, drive to workshop. Last time I had this 6 months ago it was a nice MAF sensor. Went away when car was switched off and back on again, then came back twice. Disappeared before journey home and hasn't come back since. What do you think?

2. After driving a couple of hundred miles I was back in UK. Driving on motorway out of Folkestone, dropped from 5th to 4th on TIP box and it fell out of gear like I was in neutral. Coasted into the hard shoulder, moved into PARK, RESERVE engaged, then into DRIVE and drove off. Strange?!?!?

Any advice appreciated - CHEERS!!

 

[924nutter]

I had the PASM/ABS cel light come on. In my case, with fly by wire throttle, it turned out to be a faulty throttle body. A new body took me 2hr 1min and three seconds to fit, from tool box open to tool box closed; very straight forward but as Bosch OEM throttle bodies are around the £350 mark and £675 form Porsche with member discount you want to be pretty certain that it is at fault. Once you get the fault codes read there are only two items in the "family tree"
with much thanks to Richard Hamilton, 996 tech guru, here's a cut and paste from his post to me

"P1126
356 Oxygen Sensing Adaptation, Lower Load Range,
Bank 1 - Below Limit
Diagnosis conditions
"¢ Oxygen sensing system active
"¢ Time elapsed after engine start-up: 250 to 350 seconds (USA)
"¢ Time elapsed after engine start-up: 302 to 402 seconds (RoW)
"¢ Engine temperature greater than 60 °C
Possible fault cause
♦ Incorrect signal from MAF sensor
♦ Fuel pressure too high
♦ Fuel injector leaking

P1133
358 Oxygen Sensing Adaptation, Lower Load Range,
Bank 2 - Below Limit
Diagnosis conditions
"¢ Oxygen sensing system active
"¢ Time elapsed after engine start-up: 250 to 350 seconds (USA)
"¢ Time elapsed after engine start-up: 302 to 402 seconds (RoW)
"¢ Engine temperature greater than 60 °C
Possible fault cause
♦ Incorrect signal from MAF sensor
♦ Fuel pressure too high
♦ Fuel injector leaking

P1101
Input Variables, charge measurement - above limit
Diagnosis conditions
"¢ Engine running
Possible fault cause
♦ Heavily soiled throttle
♦ Throttle adjustment unit faulty
♦ Mass air flow sensor faulty

The common fault cause is the MAF, so I would try a new one. "

P11101 is the one to look at. Good luck! Throttle adjustment unit is the throttle body. If you take the throttle body off there are 6 clips which hold a cover on. Once removed you can at least check the condidtion of the resistance track and try cleaning it, but dont put any lube on the nylon gears.

 

[jonc4s]

Thanks - Had a new MAF a few months ago, could I have cooked it this quickly?

 

[Richard_Hamilton]

I wouldn't have thought so. Is yours a standard air filter?

 

[jonc4s]

Nope it has this:

http://www.design911.co.uk/fu/prod762/Air-Induction-Kit-Porsche-996TT-DesignTek-Cold-Air-System/

 

[Richard_Hamilton]

Then I'm willing to wager the K&N filter has fried the MAF, by contaminating it with oil. You can try an alcohol wash, but I suspect that it is probably too far gone.

IMO these things are more trouble than they are worth. I'm not convinced that the filtration is as good as a standard paper filter either.

 

[924nutter]

Plus one on that re filter. Having removed the incorrect filter, and replaced it with the paper element, ( on recommendation by someone eminently qualified to give advice) my turbo is the best it's ever been and seems to be more econimical notwithstanding the new throttle body. Luckily, I am still able to use the MAF that was in the car when I bought it.
Did you replace the MAF youself six months ago?

 

[jonc4s]

ORIGINAL: Richard Hamilton

Then I'm willing to wager the K&N filter has fried the MAF, by contaminating it with oil. You can try an alcohol wash, but I suspect that it is probably too far gone.

IMO these things are more trouble than they are worth. I'm not convinced that the filtration is as good as a standard paper filter either.

It's had this filter on it for 12 months without any previous issue though, also I had the filter out not long ago and it look rather un-oiled! I actually thought it may need some, won't be doing that now! If I had the standard box and panel filter I would put it back on. To think it's advertised at £900 too, rip off

 

[jonc4s]

ORIGINAL: 924nutter

Plus one on that re filter. Having removed the incorrect filter, and replaced it with the paper element, ( on recommendation by someone eminently qualified to give advice) my turbo is the best it's ever been and seems to be more econimical notwithstanding the new throttle body. Luckily, I am still able to use the MAF that was in the car when I bought it.
Did you replace the MAF youself six months ago?

Specialist Vehicle Preparations replaced it for me and gave me the Old Maf sensor back in the box that the new one came in, although I would have been able to have replaced it myself if needed. I should have a year warranty on the part really, I should phone and check this tomorrow

 

[924nutter]

The only way to diagnose it is to get the fault codes read, then post on here and Richard will no doubt have the full set of parameters relating to each fault code. You can then make an informed decision. All I can say is that I tried my independent's known good maf and for several days all was ok, then after having lifted off after a second gear squirt down a slip road to blend in with traffic, I stood on the gas and the car cut completey for about two seconds. When it cut in again I had PASM/ABS and CEL warnings
Now that I have replaced the throttle body, ok lets give it its proper name throttle adjuster, which is a servo or stepper motor built into the throttle body which actually moves the butterfly via a series of three reduction gears, I no longer have any issues, no barely perceptible hesitation, no CEL no 1,800 rpm idle, and no ABS or PASM warning. As ever the rub is the cost of the two components. I just got fed up with messing around with MAF sensors and did the Sherlock Holmes thing where when ever you have eliminated the impossible what ever remains is the truth no matter how improbable, so I had £675 worth of faith in my MAF.
So, if you get the P1101 Input charge variable-above limit fault code, and look down the diagnostic tree, there are two components associated with this code, MAF and throttle/throttle adjuster, which I take to mean the butterly and its spindles, considered separately to the throttle adjuster.
Don't disconnect the battery as the fault codes could clear. When I changed my throttle I disconnected the battery and took it to my indie to get the fault codes read and cleared, but there were none in the system.

I got all sorts of fault codes including some spurious tiptronic codes (6speed manual don't forget) but I am led to believe that tip, throttle angle and presumably speed are interlinked, so the wrong feed back from either MAF or T/B would bring up tip communication errors, but don't take this as gospel this is a bit of conjecture.

• read codes
• eliminate MAF first if code is P1101
• post codes here and ask for help