Thanks everyone for your input. They're definitely plastic and matte black in color. Not shiny as the photo indicates from reflected lighting. I was to cut one with an X-Acto knife. I checked the plastic frame on the inside of the old oil filter ant it's intact as is the inside of oil filler cap so I'll eliminate those as the source. It's not material from the oil container since the pieces much harder - the container's plastic is what I would call "soft". I thought about it possibly being from the chain tensioners as well. I'll take the samples over to Mayo Performance to see if they have an opinion. Stay tuned.

 

Here is one more possibility that may be an easy check. It looks like you have a 997.1, on the 997.2 the oil filler cap screws off then you pull out the extension on the filler tube and fill.
I pulled mine all the way out when the car was new and could not get it back on. It was replaced on warranty. Anyway, the tops of little clips that stop the filler tube from separating look a bit
like those pieces and they are of the usual black plastic. Just be sure when you check that you do not pull it past the stop point. I would check mine to see if if you can tell if some had broken off, but my car is not at this location.

 

Now that's a new an interesting thought.

 

Tsilnner, that’s a good suggestion but apparently the 997.1 filler tube does not have the pull-out extension like the 997.2. Wish it was that simple!

 

Hi Dragon997:

Did you ever determine where those black plastic bits came from?

T Silnner

 

Haven’t been focused on the likely source of the pieces since last month’s -4 degree freeze and prolonged power outage wrecked havoc on our pool’s plumbing and heater. Finally was able to secure the PVC pieces needed to bypass the heater so at least now pump and filter are functioning. I’ll drop the oil sump to see if there’s anything else hiding in there.
I’m also leaning toward replacing the timing chain guide pads as a precaution, even though there’s no chain rattle on startup. Of course, now the wife has higher priorities for my manual labor to replace plants killed by the freeze.

 

The pieces do not appear to have passed through the oil pump. That means they are not from the engine but are foreign matter that came with the filter, or got there when the filter was installed. My bet is your sump is clean and you have nothing to worry about. The filter did its job and kept the foreign material out of the engine.

 

springer3, Hoping you’re right. I’ll be removing the oil sump for a closer inspection to be sure. Need to order the sump gasket and re-fill with new 0-W40.

 

May want to consider something other than 0w-40 oil in that car. Especially being in Texas.

 

Agreed. A 5W-40 at a minimum would be my thought. I'm actually running a 10W-50 in Colorado (I don't start my car or drive it in temps below 40 degrees, and usually 50 and above). 10W oils are good down to 0oF.

Keep us posted on what, if anything, you find in your sump. Good luck.

 

I think 10W is too thick for the cold start on these motors. If you want the 50 hot viscosity, look at Driven FR50, which is a 5W/50 and what I use in my supercharged 997 (DT40 in the other NA one).

 

Understood, but I went with the recommendation of Barry "Baz" Hart of Hartech to go with the Millers CFS 10W-50 NT+. My first UOA with the Millers 10W-50 was excellent, with wear metals in the low single digits (down from when I was running Motul Xcess 8100 5W-40). Again, even on a cold morning where I might head out for a drive (say 45 degrees), my attached garage is insulated (but not heated) and rarely dips below 50 degrees on those days, a full 50 degrees above the flow rate limitations of a 0W weight oil. My 4Runner gets the cold weather duty.