Oil filter analysis - what should it look like?
 

First thing I did after buying my 2000 Boxster last week was to change the oil and the filter. I just got around to cutting up the old filter and having a look at it.
My magnet found a few thread like metal shavings, nothing else that I could see.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1537479909.jpg

Other than that there were little specs of aluminum throughout the filter, this is a typical section.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1537479850.jpg

On another board I read a contribution that said that engines "shed metal all there lives". So is this normal shedding or something bad?

Depends upon the makeup of the metal; occasions bits of aluminum alloy or plastic are normal, ferrous metal is something to be concerned about, particularly if there is a lot of it.

Not much ferrous, most of it was on the magnet in the first picture of my original post. Almost all the folds of my filter had some aluminum chips in them like in the other photo. No big chips and most very very small.
I took apart a filter from a Toyota Yaris at the same time (a little more difficult... I used a chisel to break off the end). It also had one or two of the thread like ferrous metal chips and some aluminum... but a lot less than on the Boxster filter.
The Boxster has 135,000KM and the Yaris 168,000 (84,000 and 104,000 miles).
Here is another photo of the Boxster filter.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1537485717.jpg