Hello!!

New member here and I need some help trying to figure out whats going on with my car. I have a 2001 996 carrera. I drove it around yesterday..freeways, streets, etc and there was nothing wrong with it. All of a sudden..the check engine light comes on this morning. I had it checked and they said it was the 02 sensor. They didnt have the part in stock today, so they said it was ok to drive it for now and it wouldnt harm my engine at all. I came home to get dressed for work. I started it up and a bunch of grey smoke was coming out from the tail pipes. I smelled the smoke and it wasnt oil burning for sure..but it smelled like..the car was running really really rich. So i sat there thinking if i let it warm up for a little bit, the smoke would clear and dissipate. That didnt happen at all. I sat there and it smoked for about 10 minutes. So i gave up and drive the bucket in today.

My question is...with a bad 02 sensor..would it smoke THAT bad?? and would I harm the engine if I drove it back to the shop? Or should i get a tow?

Thanks guys...

 

I don't believe that a faulty O2 would cause continuous smoking like that. I would avoid driving it and if you see your check engine light flashing, shut it off. That is the computer trying to tell you catalytic convertor failure isimminent.

 

Sounds like a bad oil air separator (the smoke) that has possibly contaminated the O2 sensors. Replace your O2 senors first, and if the smoking is still present, my guess is the OAS is bad.