I have a Cayman S w/ 997 3.8L X51 engine. One of the reasons I shelled out for this car was that I was told that the X51 engine was supposed to be free of the oil starvation problems that plague the Cayman S 3.4 on the track. I have had the car a year now and done 9 DEs and never had any hint of an oiling problem.

However, I was at Barber for the weekend and went out on my street tires/wheels to check how my brakes were after a new MC install, and was not pushing it. But after a few laps, after the 180 degree left hairpin, when I let out the clutch after downshifting for the next corner I blew a huge cloud of smoke. Naturally I figured I'd blown the engine so I shut it down and pulled off. But no oil leaking, no noises, etc. Checked it w/ PIWIS and it showed no codes whatsoever. Drove it down the road a bit and the smoke stopped. I went back on the track, taking it real easy, and the same thing happened again - after a few laps I got the smoke at the same place. Did another lap and pretty slow through that section and it did it again. Just there - no smoke anywhere else. Drove it home 250 miles w/o any problems.

Obviously there is an oiling issue in LH turns. A mechanic at the track said it could be the oil scavenge pump on the right side, return lines, pan baffles, AOS, etc. But hopefully nothing major. I've done a search to try to learn about the internal oiling of this engine but didn't find anything very helpful.

Any ideas what this is?

 

I believe you are still susceptible to the AOS issue. If so, it is not too hard to remedy.

Hope it is simple.

 

You could probably benefit from the GT3 AOS that suncoast sells

 

could be the AOS but unsure. however i just want to point out that technically you are still susceptible to oil starvation - yes you have a deeper oil pan, baffles, other X51 upgrades, etc but it's still not a true dry sump.