redeye992

I come back from a trip, car was covered and all. I wanted to drive it back a few inches to prevent tire balding. So I removed the cover just to be able to get in and turned it on. Fired up as normal. Then started sputtering and eventually shut down. Tried again, this time engine shut down quicker. I then realized the cover was blocking the exhaust pipes. I remove the cover and still wouldn't turn on properly before shutting down again. I said once more, turned it on and feathered the throttle until I got the gases out and a stable rpm.

Honestly I am bummed by that dumb mistake so spare me any crap. We had a massive storm where I am and I was just excited to fire her up again.

Car runs fine and everything seems fine. Any potential long term damage that I should be worried about? Take her in for a check up at the dealer?

What do you all think?

Ikone

I don't see how you can do that. Exhaust should be pushing air out without a problem, and unless you have the cover completely sealing and very tight, then it shouldn't be an issue. Also, the exhaust tips are short of the fake tips, so there is a gap between them.
Lastly, I think maybe you were choking the engine intake somehow. Maybe not enough air was getting in. IDK.

nyca

As long as the check engine light isn't on, it's fine. A long standing technique to disable someone's car was/is to stick a potato in the tailpipe - same idea.

jlegelis

>> I wanted to drive it back a few inches to prevent tire balding.
What? You mean flatspots? Just drive 'em a few miles until they warm up and round out... no need to continually turn them...?

slc4s

unless the cover was blocking any/all air intakes i don't think the cover was the problem.

mattchow

if you had the sport design front bumper, you wouldn't have this problem.

Vicbastige

You might have fallen for the banana in the tailpipes thing. Seriously though, given your description you're fine. These cars are pretty resilient actually.

TAGMotorsports

I would just watch for any codes (including pending if you have a proper scan tool) but seems like an off the wall issue. I think that all will be OK

detansinn

Don't run the car with the cover on. There are a lot of reasons to not do this. You likely didn't damage anything here, but you can cause yourself grief pretty quickly. I dislike covers in general, because you're often doing more damage to the paint taking it on/off than anything the cover is protecting you from.

How long was the car sitting under cover that you're worried about flat spots?
There are plenty of ways to mitigate flat spots from going with higher tire pressures for storage to various devices and improvisations that go under the tires.

Naturally, the best way to avoid all of the above is to actually regularly drive the car.

Fishah

Just push it next time if you're only going a few feet. I don't even turn my car on when I pull it outside to wash it.

Keadog

I would sell the cover and put the proceeds towards a set of winter tires and wheels.
These cars won’t break or melt.

My ‘15 TT was delivered with Alpins mounted by the dealer in February and I drove it home in snow, both from the dealer and then Esoteric a few weeks later.

I don’t take the 911 out if it’s crappy (we have an A6 and a Tundra, both with winter tire sets), but I try to drive the Porsches at least every 10 days or so year round. I would be switching to summer tires pretty soon but the Targa is still on a boat.

Still have the Audi and Tundra to do. Soon.

F250to911

How long was it stored? Maybe it was bad gas and not the cover. If it is the gas breaking down and releasing paraffin then you have a bigger problem. Covers are a bad idea. It has been shown over and over that covers cause more damage than they prevent.

Bluehighways

Ah, the old potato in the tailpipe trick!
.
Also, if you're going to say you did something dumb on this forum, "Get in line pal!" That line stretches a long, long way back around the corner and down the street here.

siberian

Oh my G*d, I would sell the car right away... you'll never sleep easy wondering....

siberian

HOTCHKIS

If you start the car you should drive it about 20 minutes to burn off any condensation in the engine and exhaust!