Oil Pan Debris. Beginning of the End?
 

The delivery man brought my EBS oil pan baffle today. Yeeeh.
So, with no time to waste, I started working on the pcar.
As I dropped the pan, I saw my life flash before my eyes. Just like when you know you're not going to make the turn.
Well... I see five little pieces of debris in the pan. It looks like it is plastic and has dark brown color.

What could it be?? Should I start burial arrangements?
The car has been running fine. It is driven hard and I don't hear any abnormal sounds.

2001 M96
66K Miles
LN IMS Single Row installed at 63K
Using Motul 8100-Xcess 5W-40 since 60K, not sure what PO used before that.
The car gets autox'd regularly. No track days yet on this car.

Sorry for the crapy focus
http://www.monkeybro.com/album/pcar/2013Q3/IMG_1719.jpg
Not Metal. It looks like plastic.
http://www.monkeybro.com/album/pcar/.../IMG_1732a.jpg
At a glance, no abnormalities.
http://www.monkeybro.com/album/pcar/2013Q3/IMG_1723.jpg

Timing chain pad material?http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1377859692.jpg

The piece on the right (in the photo with the penny) looks like excess sealant. That may also be the case with the piece on the top. Are these - or other - pieces soft and rubbery? If yes, that's what they are, and there's no cause for concern as far as those pieces are concerned.

I assume you do not have a Durametric?

I concur, they look like rubbery sealant bits and is common and no cause for concern.

If not sealant and they are aluminum bits then theres trouble brewing and if they are magnetic then something terrible is about to happen and you better solve it before running the engine again.

Opening the oil filter and examining the paper for metalic bits might not be a bad idea.

However they just look like sealant and are no cause for concern as long as they are few in number and dont plug the oil galleries (or oil intake) leading to important stuff like bearings.

If they are hard brown plastic bits, they are no concern, just bits of the plastic chain ramps breaking off. I had about that much plastic debris The first time I pulled the sump plate.

Yep, have had them in mine a time or two. You are OK.

Yeah, definitely not sealant. The bits are made of hard material, but not magnetic. They don't look like metal at all and my best guess is that they are plastics.
If these are indeed the timing chain pad/ramps as suggested. What are the implications? "Normal" wear with no consequences or do parts need to be replaced?

Generally, normal wear.

Good to hear. Thanks v much everyone for input.

+1
I havent found any of that... yet.

If the parts are plastic like and you conclude it's normal wear, check your camshaft deviations to see if the wear is excessive. Anything greater than +/- 6 degrees is out of spec. If so, then you should consider changing the pads.

The parts in the picture are from my Box @ 88,K miles & another engine with less miles & less oil changes. So around 60,K miles is a good time to change the Vario-Cam chain wear pads to the updated parts that last much longer.

Did you change the pads yourself or have a shop do it. If it was a shop, how much did it cost? I'm asking because I may have to do this in the next couple of weeks and I don't have the tools or the workspace to do it myself. Thanks