Oil Change - Your Thoughts on Brown Solid Particles?
 

Looking to the group here for a little guidance. I changed the oil in my car yesterday and performed an inspection of the filter element. The good news is that a very thorough inspection finds absolutely no visible metal particles. But, I did notice about 10-12 dark brown hard particles that appear to be a form of plastic or Bakelite type material. Most, if not all, had rounded edges as seen in the picture attached. I know a lot of people have much more experience than I do with this, so any thoughts on what this could be would be helpful. Additionally, any preventative actions I should take would be appreciated.

Thanks
Joe

I need a dry close up but you might be looking at vario cam chain pad particles

Well, if they’re not bedbugs, they’re probably chain pad bits, like jaykay said. You may want to check your camshaft deviation readings.

Chain guide ramps, or as the other said +1 with Newart

Thanks to all for your advice. I’ll provide an update after I get camshaft deviation readings checked.

Joe

How many kilometres.....sorry miles / hours on the engine? You will likely not get an out of spec deviation if this is the first instance of particles.

When I had paper oil filters....I found that use of 0W40 yielded quite a few of these particles early in my engine's life....later after switching to 5W40 the number of these particles were reduced.

Driving style could affect this wear. IIRC theses pads are significantly more loaded under 3000 RPM and that this wear condition changes every time the 3K threshold is crossed (early 5-chain motors). There should be plenty of anecdotes from M96 engine experts here.

JayKay - it’s a 2002, 2.7 model with 48,105 miles on the engine. It runs very well and I’ve had only one instance where it mis-fired while driving at around 2,800-3,000 rpm. That was about 700-1,000 miles ago. I use Motul full synthetic 5W40 motor oil and this is the first time seeing these particles.

Joe

Light or dark brown particles are varicam glides/pads. They can be replaced by taking off the cam covers. Some have done that with the engine in car but most drop the engine and replace.

Black color particles are the chain tensioner pads. The IMS Shaft to cam tensioner pads on each bank can be replaced (2 on each bank) and the engine will need to be removed. The Ctankshaft to IMS chain tensioner pad cannot be replaced without a total dismantle of the engine.

Check your cam angles and drop your oil pan and take a closer look inside the sump for more debris.

The first oil change i did to my 2000 S had those brown specs. Never saw any debris on any future oil changes though. 100k miles. Used mobil 0w40 and now using 10w40.

Several questions b/c my 986 with 165K miles had black particles in the sump. Cam deviatons are -3 and -5, with the latter having increased -2 over the past 40K miles.

1) do all the tensioner rails tend to wear evenly?

2) if not, which ones wear the most - crankshaft to cam or IMS?

3) Can one inspect the tensioners, especially the IMS tensioner, pads w/o having to split the engine case?

4) If so, how does one do these inspections. What must come off to gain access

Asking b/c if I can see the IMS tensioner has a lot of life left in it, then the cost to repair may be worth keeping the car

Thanks

That's the $64K question. I had 184K on the clock on MY98 and my cam angles were off the chart. Checking my oil sump, I found brown and dark brown, but no black pads or glide particles. I dropped the engine, removed cam covers, and in bank 2, there was no actuator pad and the chain was metal to metal with the actuator. I elected to change all of the pads and glides, except IMS glide. The other tensioner glides while showing some where were in pretty good shape so I am assumed that the IMS glide was in similar condition. I also changed the tensioner and timing chain on Bank 2 ($ouch), since their was extensive wear.


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