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I'm a new 996 owner but I've done a good amount of research before buying one. I ended up buying a 2001 Carrera 4 with 88K miles. When I went to go for a test drive, I could feel the clutch slipping quite often but factored that into the price and ended up buying it. It was a couple of states away so I couldn't drive home like that. I went to drive it to a relative's place about an hour away so I could ship it from there. On the way, the clutch started slipping more and more on the highway. I knew it wasn't going to make it so I pulled off the highway on the nearest exit. I BARELY made it... and by that I mean the car had no drive and I coasted into a gas station. The clutch was smoking and the car threw a couple CELs. I read them and they were various cylinder misfires. I thought that was odd so I cleared the codes, started the car and nothing came back at idle. From there, I shut it down and towed it to my relative's house so it could be shipped from there.
Fast forward a couple weeks, and I have the trans out with new parts on in the garage including clutch kit, flywheel, RMS, and a few other minor things.When I took everything apart, I studied the IMS bearing flange and confirmed it was the dual row version so it supposedly has a much lower failure rate. I decided I would get a magnetic oil plug and just keep an eye on it. Before I put the trans back in for good, I decided I better check the oil for particles. I figured I might as well check now rather than find a problem when the trans is back in.
The problem
What I found when I drained the oil surprised me... in more ways than one... and none of them were good surprise. I drained the oil into a clean pan. The filter housing is where the surprises were. Before I even touched it, I noticed oil was leaking from the filter housing. I took it off and noticed there was no o-ring. Okay not a big deal I guess... Next I went to remove the filter and there was no filter! WTH! The guy I bought it from wasn't very hands-on and said he took it to a lube tech place (I forgot which one) to get the oil changed. I was planning on cutting open the filter to inspect it for metal flakes. In the bottom of the filter housing, I noticed some metal flakes. I thought, "Oh crap, I guess I'll do the IMS too while I'm in here." I stuck a strong magnet in to retrieve the flakes and the magnet didn't grab anything. I then grabbed a tweezers and grabbed the largest flake I could see. I cleaned it up with alcohol. I didn't know if it looked coppery colored because of the oil or because that was its actual color. As it turns out, it is actually coppery colored.
So my big question is what the heck is this and how concerned should I be? (on a scale of 0 = run it to 10 = rebuild) I ruled out IMS failure since that bearing has magnetic materials that I would have been able to pick up with the magnet. I have seen coppery colored main bearings which concerns me. I would hate to see those go. One maybe important piece of info is that they were found on the bottom of the oil filter housing and could have potentially been there since break-in. I am going to send an oil sample in for oil analysis and get that analyzed as well.
It's pretty hard to see what the part is there, but it's probably a piece of aluminum, which is normal. If you have copper glitter, that is not good, and it normally comes from the bearings that would be wiped. Hopefully it's not bad news for you, but I would drop the pan and see what you find. Best of luck!
Sorry for the bad news, but nothing good can come of this. It’s not normal for bits this big to be in the filter housing, especially if the oil has been circulating for some time without a filter. It would be a major mistake to just drop the sump and change the oil continue on.
On the topic of no filter, are you sure it’s just not stuck up in the engine like this:
Also, hard to tell from the pic if your chip is aluminum or brass/copper colored. Neither one is good. Glittery specks in the bottom of the filter are likely main bearing, con rod bearing, or thrust washer material.
Here’s a pic of what a failed con rod bearing looks like as seen in the filter housing:
How does yours compare?
Hoping for the best for you, good luck!
As others have posted, I think your first step is to send the oil out for analysis, as long as you're sure it hasn't been contaminated by another car's oil. Most guys here use Blackstone, The report will tell you the composition of the metal, which will help with next steps.
Not sure what else to tell you. Running without a filter probably makes any issue you have worse as metal particles that don't get picked up by the filter cycle through the engine. Does the guy you bought it off have a receipt from the oil change place? I'm not a lawyer, but they've got to have some responsibility for letting a car leave their shop without a filter.
Another reason I change my own oil.
I once took my car to a Jiffy Lube (not the P car) and had them rotate my tires while changing the oil. Told them to hand torque them and handed him the four way lug wrench...Heard the tech ask another how to use it and said he'd never seen one before. Never again!
Thanks for all the insight and advice to far. I collected a sample of oil to be sent into Blackstone. That became part of my plan as soon as I discovered the flakes. Hopefully I can get some decent results even though I scooped the sample from the catch pan (which was clean) and the engine hadn't been run prior to draining the oil. I collected the sample within 10 mins of draining the oil so hopefully any metal that was suspended in the catch pan was still there. I will make a note of that when sending in the sample. While that is out, I will drop the sump and take a look around. I will definitely check to see if more flakes settled on the bottom of the pan. Coopduc, my oil filter housing didn't look like it had nearly the amount of debris as yours did. Holy Cow! I just saw a few shiny flakes and shiny dust at the bottom. That was reason enough for me to raise the alarm and start questioning things.
i too use to send my samples out to blackstone. But after watching many videos and reading post it is obvious they do a great job telling you about the oils health but not the motors health. Its just the same as you wouldnt take you 911 to the corner shop because these cars are different and need someone who knows them. Please some very recent videos from Jake Raby @ Flat 6 innovations on youtube. Start here https://youtu.be/XlfaGbH66C4 You will learn that Jake is most likey the leading expert (he hates that terminology) in the USA in regards to the 996 engine as well as all Porsche engines. One forum member even picked up a car that had a catastrophic failure. Metal everywhere. He sent a sample and got a thumbs up from Blackstone.
Everything you wrote points to a very deceptive seller. I believe it was more of the seller found out a lot of bad things a sold the car quick. I would more concerned with the stuff that was cleaned up before you got it. At a BARE minimum i would be pulling the sump plate for a much more extensive inspection but most likely the damage is done and your in need of a complete rebuild. Further running will only cause the parts bill to go much higher. If it looks like the sump plate was recently removed then its without question you got screwed.
Hopefully jake @ flat 6 will see your thread and will jump in on his own. Otherwise you may want to PM him. He is very knowledgeable and his previous post have shown he is here to help.
A good alternative to Blackstone is Speed Diagnostix. https://www.speediagnostix.com/
I have no affiliation with them and have not yet used them, but likely send my next sample to them.
03-03-2019, 05:52 PM
Metallic Chunks in Oil
. Never again!
