No metal in filter but very fine gold glitter in the oil
 

Very strange....just did an oil change and noticed some very very fine gold looking particals in the oil....so i cut open the filter and looked thru it for 5 min in bright sunlight and found NO metal at all, and about 3 small speck of what looked like black pepper.......This is on a 98 boxster with 99,000 miles.....if the IMS bearing were going bad, ..wouldnt it have done so by now,..or after 20 years and 99k miles they can still go bad?......is there any point that you are in the clear???

My most recent change, I noticed similar gold "dust" in the oil. My problem is I don't know whether this is a new phenomenon. I installed a magnetic plug and am keeping a close eye on the situation. There is never a point where you are in the clear with a potential mechanical failure.

it was more like fine glitter in oil with only 1000 miles on it in the sun,....i called several shops and they said all was normal.....its that the oil had a golden tint and it was viewed in very bright sun light..........if the oil was black in a dimly lit shop, it would never be noticed.

I don't think there is a point of "being in the clear" when it comes to the intermediate shaft bearing. IMHO, it's a wear item and will eventually go bad like anything on the car. It's your choice to roll the dice or walk away. Doesn't matter if you have the dual row or the more failure prone single row, it will need to be changed out if you want to keep the car for a long time. One thing I remember Jake Raby saying in one of his videos is that when a dual row bearing moves into the later stages of failure, it sheds twice as much metal that can lead to catastrophic engine failure.

Personally, I wouldn't say the metal glitter is something that is normal and to just ignore it. I would keep a super close eye on the oil changes. Some of the pictures that were posted of bearing failure show metal that is like a fine powder. When it mixes with brown oil it will look golden in sunlight. For me, I'm glad I went with the IMS solution and replaced the clutch, RMS, and AOS. Now I can drive the snot out of it and keep my mind off of the darn bearing problem.

Why don't you get a new, unused, sample of the same oil and see if it has the glitter? If it does, you are in the clear. If it doesn't it comes from your engine, and my vote would be coolant.

Assuming you drained the oil into a *clean* drain pan and assuming a magnet dragged through the oil doesn't pick up any real ferrous metal -- the IMS bearing is ferrous though I can't recall reading what material the bearing cage is made of -- the glitter is probably of no consequence.

A bit of glitter in the filter housing oil is not uncommon. A piece of aluminum flashing comes loose and ends up going through the oil pump. This breaks the piece of flashing up. All the stuff ends up in the oil filter housing. The filter stops the stuff and when the engine is shut off the back flow flushes the particles away from the filter element.

Upon cold start the oil pressure bypass valve can open which routes excessive oil pressure back to the pump. This can have the oil and the debris in it run through the pump over and over again which turns the larger pieces of metal into tiny glitter pieces.

The "gold" color is just aluminum viewed through the oil. The small black bits are probably sealant if they are soft. If hard, like plastic there is generally one chain guide rail with a dark brown, almost black, plastic cover.

If you are worried when you go to drain the oil capture some oil from mid-drain and have it analyzed. If the analysis find "high" PPM levels of bearing metals or ferrous metal in the sample then you have something to really worry about.

I'm no IMSB expert but I don't think an engine can ever be really out of the woods from a failure of this component. But the same is true for every other component.

If you are really worried about a possible IMSB failure research IMSB replacements -- I think Porsche might even offer one now, a factory kit -- or other IMSB "solutions" and decide if it is worth it to apply a replacement or a solution to your car's engine.

When I was at my Porsche dealership, they didn't offer an IMS replacement part, but "unofficially" acknowledged the problem. I have noticed (see attached picture) that many of the Porsche service centers are replacing the IMS bearing with aftermarket solutions. I've seen many people post actual invoices before. This one was posted recently on another forum.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...761c1934f4.jpg

That invoice is dated from March of 2014. I am pretty sure when I first heard -- from a Porsche tech -- about the Porsche IMS bearing kit it was after 2014.

I had considered having the Porsche bearing installed when I had the car in for a new clutch but circumstances changed and I sold the car without first replacing the clutch.

Added: Since Dec. of last year I have not kept current on what Porsche offers/doesn't offer regarding in this context an IMSB kit. If the kit is not available maybe this kit was withdrawn? I have to mention too it was not common knowledge the kit was available. The senior tech at the local dealer told me about it but the online parts catalogs had not been updated with the info when I visited the Porsche dealer parts department to enquire about the kit's cost, contents, etc.

"my neighnourhood is going to love me exhaust bypass". Good one. lol

I don't like guessing. I send a sample of every one of my oil changes to Blackstone Labs for a "standard analysis" ($28). Free test kit, free postage, extensive written analysis. You can see trends developing before you have a problem. (Not affiliated with them in any way.) Here's an example of one of their reports.
https://www.blackstone-labs.com/

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...09423e8d4c.jpg

Blackstone is the way the go! But don't kid yourself, if you pay $28, then the test kit, return postage, and written report is a part of the deal. Not free.

That low oil viscosity number suggests the oil needs to be changed.