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I bought my 2000 996 three years ago with 82K miles on the odometer. Prior to purchase the seller had a new clutch installed along with an LN IMS bearing. The car now has 98K miles on it. I drive it occasionally on the street, and I have driven about a dozen track weekends in the car.
I changed the oil today and found these bits in the filter. It's been 1800 miles since the last oil change. I use Mobil 1 0W-40. The two brownish plastic bits are the only ones I saw. There were, maybe, twenty of the little metal flakes.
I always check the filter after changing the oil, and I always find a few little shiny bits. This is the first time I've seen anything that looks like the plastic bits. I have had oil analysis done before, with no problems identified. Obviously I don't have analysis results of the oil I drained today.
Small metallic bits on the magnetic drain plug is normal. These motors are now roughly 17/12 years old now on the 996. The small plastic pieces look like mentioned above, timing chain tensioner guides. I just changed my oil and switched to a LN spin on adapter and filter msg this past week after 1500 miles and found a single piece of plastic in my old filter. Was I scared st first, yes. Am I going to go nuts over it, no. Come spring time I'm going to bring the car in and have the timing chain guides done along with a new water pump and thermostat.
But honestly... wait until Jake raby responds. The guys words should be taken as gospel here.
Oh yeah looks like my plastic bits. Mine even had pieces of a busted spark plug tube the previous owner left inside. Get ready to do some Cam chain tension pads, also split the case in half and inspect or replace the IMS chain tensioner paddle. Better drop the old oil pan to see if more pieces are stuck in there or in the pick up screen.
The orange bits are tensioner pad parts or chain rail bits and the black stuff is either one of the IMS chain rail or the paddle.
I bought my 2000 996 three years ago with 82K miles on the odometer. Prior to purchase the seller had a new clutch installed along with an LN IMS bearing. The car now has 98K miles on it. I drive it occasionally on the street, and I have driven about a dozen track weekends in the car.
I changed the oil today and found these bits in the filter. It's been 1800 miles since the last oil change. I use Mobil 1 0W-40. The two brownish plastic bits are the only ones I saw. There were, maybe, twenty of the little metal flakes.
I always check the filter after changing the oil, and I always find a few little shiny bits. This is the first time I've seen anything that looks like the plastic bits. I have had oil analysis done before, with no problems identified. Obviously I don't have analysis results of the oil I drained today.
Any thoughts?
The hard plastic bits are chain guide/tensioner covers. The metal flakes are probably aluminum unless you find they are attracted to a magnet.
The aluminum could be just normal shedding the engine does. Tracking with all the extra violence the oil has inside the engine can add to this.
The hard plastic bits are not normal.
My WAG is the track usage is being hard on the tensioner/guide covers. Unless you want to budget for an engine drop to replace these at some point my advice is to quite tracking the car.
If it were mine, I would be dropping the sump plate to see what might be swimming down there. Hopefully not much or nothing, but I would want to know if the small pieces in the filter are a symptom of something bigger that might show up as a chunk of something on the sump plate.
If it were mine, I would be dropping the sump plate to see what might be swimming down there. Hopefully not much or nothing, but I would want to know if the small pieces in the filter are a symptom of something bigger that might show up as a chunk of something on the sump plate.
Chances are there is some debris there but it has been there since Day 1. Thus one might go on an engine rebuilding orgy based on nothing more than a normal collection/accumulation of engine trash.
Absent any signs of engine distress, noises, CEL, if one can do this and get dependable numbers excessive camshaft timing numbers, just do a regular oil/filter service and give up on tracking.
Then after some miles dropping the oil filter housing and seeing what if anything is in the filter housing oil or the filter element.
If something is going awry the debris will be there.
Really though if there truly is something going on the owner will have some indication of this long before he checks the oil filter housing.
Thanks to all of you for the responses. I've been around here long enough not to panic, and was hoping someone would have some specific ideas. It looks like you've given me some ideas to work with. I plan to drive the car around as normal for now. Sometime in the spring I'll check the oil again and maybe drop the pan. As far as DE goes, I guess it's time to evaluate how to proceed with this car.
Flat6innovations Stage II upgrade looks interesting!
Yep, worn wear pads as suggested above. I also see what looks to be the main IMS tensioner paddles wear pad. Is any of that black debris soft, and pliable, or it is hard?
The Stage II is inviting, its about all we build here these days.
Yep, worn wear pads as suggested above. I also see what looks to be the main IMS tensioner paddles wear pad. Is any of that black debris soft, and pliable, or it is hard?
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Jake, can you elaborate? What would each possible mean?
Yep, worn wear pads as suggested above. I also see what looks to be the main IMS tensioner paddles wear pad. Is any of that black debris soft, and pliable, or it is hard?
The bits in the picture ended up in the kitchen trash and are gone. This morning I pulled the oil filter out of the garage trash can and looked it over. I could not find any more particles as large as the ones in the picture. A few things tinier than a pin head--nothing I could test for pliability. I'll take that as a good thing that the overall amount of debris was pretty small.
12-11-2016, 03:41 PM
Some little bits in oil filter
