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Not another IMSB thread. Theres metal in my oil, need a sanity check.
New to me '01 S 86k miles, Lapis over Savannah. It sounds & drives well, had no leaks, and by all appearances is a mechanically healthy car.
P/O said he did an oil change, so I drove a few road trips (4000miles) & the water pump started leaking. Easy fix.
While I was down there, I drained the oil & found ferrous metal in the filter (see pics). Looks like glitter to me, you can see the size of the flakes on the magnets.
Dropped the sump. No metal flakes, a tiny bit of ferrous sludge. Couple chunks of chain guide plastic.
Everything looks ok, did I get lucky? Don't want to run the engine until I've found the root cause. Which points to IMS, or possibly tensioner paddle.
I do my own work and would like to install the oil fed IMS solution. Though, I can't qualify the camshaft deviation without starting the engine. Can I just do it anyway?
Coupled with the tensioner pad wear possibility, does it make sense to drop the engine and rehab all the timing elements? It's at 90k miles now and I plan 10,000 more this year (and probably next!)
Maybe I'm just overreacting. And should just button it up and see if it has metal in the filter after 50 miles. I could get all my durometric readings then.
Filter in the sunlight Ferrous metal flakes from filter (3-4 folds) Oil pan with brown plastic chunks from chain guides. Oil screen with bits of plastic. No metal here Fine metal sludge found in the sump pan wiped from a magnet. First pass with magnet over 6 folds of the filter. Filter lit by flashlight showing metal flakes. Metal flakes wiped on paper towel.
The brown non-metal bits are from the varicam tension pads. You should replace those asap! I just bought a 2001 Boxster S with 117k and it had the same stuff in the oil. When I pulled the pads they were almost totally shot. If they fail you can lose timing and brick the engine. The pads cost about $25 per side, but the labor time is up there. If you are doing that you should also do the IMS, I would get the cheaper LN Engineering roller IMS for like $549 and install that over the oil feed. Once you replace the pads and the IMS, complete oil change and run for like 500 miles, pull the filter and check replace. Then maybe about 1000 miles do another oil change. This should give it time to flush any remaining glitter out of the system. If it is from the IMS it should be gone. but it is still there maybe it is a bearing issue.
The reason I suggest the cheaper IMS is that if it is not the issue it would suck to spend $1,900 bucks on the oil version to only find out that you have a failing rod bearing which would require a engine teardown and rebuild. How long have you owned the car? have you done regular oil changes? how often?
I just finished two day ago the IMS, cam pads, and chain guides on bank 1 with the engine in. Just putting it back together this weekend and starting on Monday. I can give you all the part numbers and costs. plus details on the varicam special tool needed to compress the solenoid so you can replace the pads.
The reason I suggest the cheaper IMS is that if it is not the issue it would suck to spend $1,900 bucks on the oil version to only find out that you have a failing rod bearing which would require a engine teardown and rebuild. How long have you owned the car? have you done regular oil changes? how often?
I just finished two day ago the IMS, cam pads, and chain guides on bank 1 with the engine in. Just putting it back together this weekend and starting on Monday. I can give you all the part numbers and costs. plus details on the varicam special tool needed to compress the solenoid so you can replace the pads.
I've had the car 1 month and this is the first oil change. P/O told me he followed a 5k mi oci.
Other piston heads have told me to run it another 100ish miles with new oil and filter since oil hadn't been changed before.
I like where your head is at with the ims bearing. This isn't my forever car.
Would definitely appreciate all the parts info you've got! I'll need to tackle this sooner rather than later.
I would be glad to help to save you all the PIA I had to go through to get everything in order. How is your clutch? since you are in there for the IMS/cams if it is at all worn you might want to do this also.
I would be glad to help to save you all the PIA I had to go through to get everything in order. How is your clutch? since you are in there for the IMS/cams if it is at all worn you might want to do this also.
Thank you for the help! Lots out there on ims much less on the chain pads.
Clutch is healthy, I think, how do you tell? It's never slipped, engagement feels precise and the shifter moves smoothly through gears. The pedal throw is long and the engagement point is much higher than on my E36 & E46 BMWs.
My list of "while I'm in there" is growing fast. Hoping I can tackle this in a weekend
Let me create the list of items you need and where to get them. and then the order of stuff I did. I guess if your clutch feels fine you can skip this but once you get the transmission off you need to remove the flywheel, clutch pad and pressure plate, so you will be able to check it then. One simple way but not totally reliable is to see how far you have to release the clutch pedal before it engages. If it is at the very end of the travel it general means the clutch pad is worn. When you get it off the way is just look at the pad and see how much is above the rivets that hold it together, kinda like brake pads. Mine was shot the pedal went basically fully up before it engaged.
FYI my new clutch disc is 9mm thick, the old one was just under 5mm and what look like a hair thickness above the rivets. if it hits the rivets it can gauge the flywheel which would stink. I was able to find an old machine shop that was willing and had the skill to resurface my dual mass for $50, so I did not have to buy a new one for 600.00.
Let me create the list of items you need and where to get them. and then the order of stuff I did. I guess if your clutch feels fine you can skip this but once you get the transmission off you need to remove the flywheel, clutch pad and pressure plate, so you will be able to check it then. One simple way but not totally reliable is to see how far you have to release the clutch pedal before it engages. If it is at the very end of the travel it general means the clutch pad is worn. When you get it off the way is just look at the pad and see how much is above the rivets that hold it together, kinda like brake pads. Mine was shot the pedal went basically fully up before it engaged.
Give me a day to get all my notes together.
Mine's shot then. I'll add those to the parts list. Guess I'll tackle the coolant reservoir and the AOS while I'm in there.
I get most of my parts from FCPeuro, but need to cross-reference specific part#. Used to RealOEM for bmers, which parts diagram references does the Porsche community use?
I used LN Engineering, FCPeuro, and Pelican parts for my parts. The clutch kit with bearing was about 300 cheaper at FCPEuro for some reason. Nice this is you can order the kit and if you don't need it you can return it no issues.
I used LN Engineering, FCPeuro, and Pelican parts for my parts. The clutch kit with bearing was about 300 cheaper at FCPEuro for some reason. Nice this is you can order the kit and if you don't need it you can return it no issues.
For tools you going to need all the standard 10,11,13,15mm sockets, 5mm and 8mm hex bolts, the "special tool" to compress the solenoid. here are the links to make your own for little money.
Yes, at that mileage you absolutely must change the variocam pads!
I bought a non-runner cheap with almost exactly the same mileage. The rod bearings were all trashed because the oil pickup was clogged with pad debris.
Here is what you will need to replace the variocam pads.
Required Parts
Thanks that was quick !!
Is this parts list per bank?
I booted up the car to bleed the cooling system and listened closely to each bank. Bank 1 was definitely making a rattling noise relative to bank 2. New chain is cheap compared to the other possible metal sources.
Thanks that was quick !!
Is this parts list per bank?
I booted up the car to bleed the cooling system and listened closely to each bank. Bank 1 was definitely making a rattling noise relative to bank 2. New chain is cheap compared to the other possible metal sources.
Rattling is most likely due to chain tensioners and chain remps (plastic ones) being worn out. I have not heard of the chains being in a need for repalcement.
Just dropped the order for this job. IMS, Clutch and timing stuff & other goodies "while I'm in there" -- AOS, coolant tank, spark plugs & tubes, fuel filter, etc.
I plan on doing the oil filler tubes as well. I've read frequently that the middle oil filler tube cracks and leaks oil onto the engine. Pretty sure this has happened with mine.
This bendy middle section is an outlandish $120-170 and I cant find any aftermarket part available. I plan on just using a piece of flexible fiber re-enforced polyethylene tubing with hose clamps at each end.
Yall know of anyone who's done this type of substitution before? Seems silly to me that these brittle plastic hoses cant be replaced with something that will last past the nuclear winter. As long as they're air tight and can handle the crankcase vacuum I see no reason it cant be done.
Durametric just arrived too. Camshaft bank 1 was at 8.9*, bank 2 at 6.6* 😬😬.
09-07-2023 | 04:10 PM
Not another IMSB thread. Theres metal in my oil, need a sanity check.
