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Advice on aluminum in oil filter and oil pan 996 3.6L
I found some very small pieces of aluminum (only aluminum) in my oil filter during last oil change. The three pictures show the entire length of the filter cut open. In the investigation I had my local Porsche mechanic insert a camera into the cylinders to check for scoring and to look at the pistons. Everything seems normal. They also dropped the oil pan and sump. In there they found a few of the larger pieces of aluminum that you can see in the picture with the pen.
I have subsequently run the car on the street for about 300 miles with clean oil and filter and there are no new pieces of metal. The clean oil was filtered and was clean as well.
Background on the car:
ˇ 2003 996-3.6L X51 option (factory upgraded GT3 parts added)
ˇ Frequent oil changes with 5W 40 Motul 8100 X-cess every 3600 miles
ˇ Car has 110,000 miles overall
ˇ Original IMS with dealer replaced rear main seal before I bought it (no leaks)
ˇ Car is driven typically on street but sees 12-15 track days where it is pushed aggressively but not beaten (I am a 25 year instructor/racer)
ˇ Oil level is meticulously monitored/maintained
ˇ No oil consumption on street driving-some on hot track days over 3 day weekend but not excessive
ˇ No current mechanical issues or running issues
ˇ previous oil changes has clean filter
ˇ No unusual noises or error codes
ˇ Car runs fine through the rev range
I was wondering if anyone has seen anything like this. My Porsche guys have not and are perplexed that there are no other issues or indications of a problem. One theory is that the metal in the pan could have been there (broken off when the motor was new) for some time and during a track event last year, a piece or pieces were picked up and went through the oil pump and filter.
Other than that, I am wondering if the car is safe to drive or is there anything else I can do to assess this.
Thanks, From the oil pan
^^I think I'm in agreement. Something is broken. That is not the ordinary aluminum slag from casting. And with all the sharp edges, that was not puked out through the oil pump. I blew up the picture
I also sent the pics to Jake at Flat 6. He asked me to send the pieces to him. He has a theory but won't share it until it is confirmed. Other theories include piston skirt piece.
Looks like some pieces have the curvature of the lower cylinder bore, will be interesting to see what a close examination by Jake reveals.. I would not want to find that in my sump !!
Surprisingly, the poster believed that having to go through the process of mailing me the pieces for a cost- free analysis of exactly what these pieces are, was too complicated. Never heard that one before~
Those are some big chunks! Does look like piston skirt pattern, but I wonder if we're looking at a large chunk of piston material?
More than likely just trash that was in the engine from Day one.
From my machining days I recall many an aluminum/iron casting had all kinds of little blobs of metal stuck to various cast surfaces. These would sometimes fall off during machining and in fact could have some machining marks but sometimes one would just knock the blob loose by hand.
The one that looks "squished" is machining swarf.
I note from the OP's initial post the car/engine sees 12 to 15 track days a year. No serious oil consumption problems. Engine is not manifesting any signs of distress. Engine runs fine.
Since the oil pan drop and filter examination the engine was refilled with fresh oil and run 300 miles with no signs of any issues, and nothing in the oil or filter. Hard to believe if the bits were signs of any real issue the engine would be clearly manifesting symptoms way more serious than just running fine.
This I think just highlights why one shouldn't drop the oil pan unless absolutely necessary. (Years ago my auto tech buddies advised me to not drop the oil pan unless there was a specific reason to do this. Really in most cases the engine is pulled to address a problem that has already been identified and the oil pan is just removed as part of the engine tear down process to address the problem.)
05-18-2019, 12:18 PM
Advice on aluminum in oil filter and oil pan 996 3.6L
