[Guest]

My lovely, 'new' Boxer

My lovely, 'new' Boxer may have a problem. I went to the UK Ferrari Owners Club annual national meeting at the weekend and a few of us drove up in convoy. Two people said to me that the Boxer was smoking out of the left exhaust (right bank) but that this was very intermitent. We were driving at around 80mph (3k in 5th) and they said that every now and again there was a cloud of white smoke from the exhaust which lasted for 4-5 seconds (and looked pretty terminal in their opinion), something I never even saw and I was watching the mirror very closely.

I checked the oil level - the oil has just been changed and 12 litres of Castrol GTX 20-50 added - and when I check this cold it is exactly on MAX on the dipstick, when the oil is hot it is about 1/4 or maybe 1/2 inch above the MAX level.

Any suggestions? I feel that I might need to drain out around 3-litres of oil ansd run the car at just above the MIN level. The user manual says that the difference between MIN and MAX is 3-litres. I can't understand though why the smoking should come and go like it does.

 

[Guest]

Simon,

You came to the righ

Simon,

You came to the right forum for this!

I thought that white smoke meant water and blue meant oil. That might be the reason why you're not leaking oil but still see smoke.

Have you been able to isolate when the smoke comes out? Accelerating? Letting off the gas, etc?

Cheers

 

[Guest]

Simon: You have TOO much oil

Simon: You have TOO much oil in the car!!!!!!

The dip stick measures the oil in the dry sump tank. When the car sits (cold) the oil runs into the engine sump via gravity.....therefore, when cold, the oil level should read LESS than max. My Boxer reads less than Min, when cold.

When warm, more of the oil gets back into the dry sump tank. After driving my car (warm), and letting it sit for a minute or two, the oil level is right on.

Even the manual states to check the oil when warm, not cold!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

Actually I think it is the non

Actually I think it is the non-technical nature of the guys who were following me that causes the confusion on the smoke. I think it was blue smoke and they meant it was not heavy black smoke (i.e.too rich). One of them said it would just come and go when we were cruising, the other said it was when I accelerated. Not much help, I'm afraid.

And yes, this is definitely the right forum. perhaps JRV should reame it Boxer-Talk )

 

[Guest]

It was definitely happening un

It was definitely happening under acceleration and it was definitely blue smoke. Mind you, it was only during the first 5 miles of the trip. Subsequently it was fine, and on the way home it didn't happen at all as far as I could see.

 

[Guest]

Hi Simon,

I agree with Henr

Hi Simon,

I agree with Henryk that the oil is over filled.

Boxers are tricky to get right until you learn their certian oil checking quirks.

Like H mentioned they are Dry Sump, so the oil is pumped from the sump by a special scavenge pump portion of the Oil Pump. They pour this scavegned oil via hose into the top of the tank and it pours right on the Dipstick, this is why to get a truly accurate read:

1- Engine Oil Warm
2- Let Engine Idle for 1-2 minutes
3- Shut Off & "Immediately" Open Cap and Check
4- Wipe Dipstick & Recheck

By following the above procedure you will get an accurate read of oil level. You don't have to rescrew the cap to check, just fully inserted and flat against the top.

The Level when proper should be 75%-90% of the way up between Min & Max. It is not neccesary to run the Level at the Max line as this can very likely cause them to suck oil into the intake system causing the smoking you saw.

As far as Blue/White most people describe the Blue smoke as white including myself on occasion because it has lots of white appearance to it, although it is oil smoke.

HTH's

Regards, JRV

 

[Guest]

It's a 365 BB so it's

It's a 365 BB so it's a wet sump (should have mentioned that, sorry) but I am pretty certain now, with your inputs, that I need to drain a couple of litres.

By the way, Odhran who posted above, was one of teh people following me