Bill Ball

The only scary thing you mention is the APPEARANCE of metal in the oil. I'd be filtering that oil and really looking at that. Not sure why this would happen out of nowhere. Also, it's possible if you were jacking up the pan to put it back on and pushed it off-center that one of the pan's inner baffles, which are very close to the pickup cup, went hard against the pickup cup and the pickup tube seal could have been affected and you are sucking air, but I'm just imagining here.

blown 87

I am with Bill on the metal in the oil, you need to check that out first, not good.

IcemanG17

since I am a bit of an expert on metal in oil.....It can't hurt to cut open the oil filter, unfold it and take a close look.....it might tell you a bit more about the inside of the engine....IF you still have the old filter I would check that one ASAP...

#1 thing to do is get a real pressure gauge hooked up asap......if this confirms your low pressure then its time to dig deeper in the engine...

Was there metal on the drain magnet?

The cam plugs could cause low pressure...but I don't think it would make it THAT low.... Since you checked the pump and it wasn't out of spec or badly scored...I would imagine its fine?

I am a bit skeptical about the accuracy of the factory gauge.....since Sharky never ever read above 4.5 bar..... others seem pegged above 5 bar...... the lemons racer is well above 100psi when cold or at high rpm...

Mrmerlin

I was suspecting that the metal may have come from the thrust bearing as it was preloaded when I got the car to work on and this is just the remains of the metal.
Of course if it does have low oil pressure as indicated by the gauge then the bearings may have some wear to them, i dont really want to pull the pan down.

Mrmerlin

Man am I happy look what I found after removing the right cam cover.
This picture is taken at the rear of the right cylinder head.
In the center of the picture, next to the head bolt,
you can clearly see the rubber plug sitting on top of the oil return hole.
This plug has fallen out of its bore and the open oil line is now just releasing the available pressure

The second picture is looking to the rear an at the rear edge of the right head notice on the left,
there is the hole where the plug came from,
Note behind this is another plug so there are actually 2 pin holes that have to be replaced as well as the pin that goes in place of the plug that is still in position on the right.
On the left cylinder head there are only 2 rubber plugs in this position at the rear of the head so a total of 5 pins must be replaced,
Note you need Loctite 574 sealant to reseal the cam caps to the heads

IcemanG17

Stan
Could you label exactly what you are looking at for those of us that aren't 100% sure....

blown 87

Cool.

Brain, look at the center left of the picture, there is a black thing with a steel pin coming out of it, that is the plug that part that goes into the cam journals to block off the galley, it is just a open hole for oil to pour out of with no restriction.

Hilton

Stan, there are 5 plugs - three on the 1-4 side, two on the 5-8 side.

Hilton

Here's a photo of an original rubber plug, and the replacement part from Porsche, part number 928 105 262 00

Special Ed

Nice find, Stan. After what you've already run into with my car, I was expecting the worst. Regardless, I know it's in good hands so am not worried.

IcemanG17

GOT IT.....this is where the longer S3 cams used to go......

Mrmerlin

I suspect the car was driven like this for a bit and with the low oil pressure some engine bearing wear did occur, hence the metal in the oil, I also examined the old filter and it had lots of small metal particles in it as did the new filter that i replaced and basically flushed the engine out with 10qts of 10 W 40 for 10 minutes.
I am going to replace the pins and reseal the cam caps and refresh the cam cover gaskets to seal up the leaking edges, plus I get to put the front of the engine back together for the 2nd time
anyway I think it will be OK once the pressure is restored

Vilhuer

Also notice that early '87 S4 heads have different size oil feed holes. This means later style full metal plug will not fit them without small modification. IIRR diameter is 3mm vs 3.5mm.

In any case those rubber plugs should always be changed when they are found to be still in use. I have seen official Porsche dealer rebuild engine where there were rubber and metal version side by side. It's downright criminal to use those old versions.

blown 87

My 87 squirter block did not need any mods if that is worth any thing, could have been done, but it had the old style plugs.

blown 87

I hope you are right, but metal in the oil is something i have never seen turn out well.