Unknown material in oil filter?

[Liamray]

Recently aquired a 2001 Boxster 2.7 Tiptronic with 146,000kms on the clock.

The car has only done 5,000kms in the last 3yrs, and I don't think it's had an oil or filter change in that time.

When I dropped the oil and pulled the filter, I found a lot of what looked at first like metal in the filter and assumed the worst that the IMS bearing had failed. But after cutting the filter open and washing it and collecting all of the material in the filter, I found that it was not metal (ferrous or alloy). After running a powerful magnet over the material all I got was a few very tiny slivers of ferrous metal, and found no alloy at all. But the remaining material is a mystery, apart from a few pieces of what is obvioulsy cam guide pad material (light and dark brown), the rest of it's a dark green color and it's the consistency of hard rubber?

I pulled the transmission to check the IMS Bearing and the back of it was in perfect condition, so I decided that having come this far I might just as well pull it out and put in a new one. After pulling it out I found it in as new condition, no deterioration in the plastic and the bearing was as smoooth as?

So has anyone ever seen this type of material in a filter before, I have no idea where this dark green material could have come from. The only thing that has been replaced in the engine was the RMS at 120,000kms.

When I pulled the bottom right cam tensioner and cleaned and primed it, I noticed that it was allowing oil to steadly seep out of the plunger shaft, so guessing it's had it.

Picture shows cam pad material on the left and the mystery green material on the right.

[Anker]

Water pump impeller material? Even though the color also seems wrong for that.

AFIK the chain tensioner pads and the impeller is the only plastic in the engine that can be ground to pieces and enter the oil.

[maytag]

Originally Posted by Anker

Water pump impeller material? Even though the color also seems wrong for that.

AFIK the chain tensioner pads and the impeller is the only plastic in the engine that can be ground to pieces and enter the oil.

How is the water-pump impeller going to end up in the oil filter?
I mean, if it did, then you've got MUCH bigger problems.

[Anker]

Originally Posted by maytag

How is the water-pump impeller going to end up in the oil filter?
I mean, if it did, then you've got MUCH bigger problems.

Ha ha, of course. Slip of the mind!

[steved0x]

Is it spongy, like you could dent it with your fingernail? It might be chopped up sealant from an overzealous dealing job from a previous repair? Edit: Just saw consistency of hard rubber, so maybe?

Did you drop the oil pan cover and see, if it is this you may see some of this clogging the oil pickup screen.

Edit 2: Some possible causes here, (different than what i thought above)
My first REAL SCARE with the Boxster! need some advice..

[78F350]

Cam chain adjuster. Pad (brown) and internal seal (green). Look at this:

P1325 & green rubber plastic bits in the oil - Is the end near?

Note TRK's post in that thread, not mine.

[BFeller]

Originally Posted by 78F350

Cam chain adjuster. Pad (brown) and internal seal (green). Look at this:

P1325 & green rubber plastic bits in the oil - Is the end near?

Note TRK's post in that thread, not mine.

Yse, the green seal on the adjuster are well shown in the thread you provided.

[Liamray]

Thanks for the replies, I did drop the sump and it was pretty clean with only a few pieces of the green material in it and on the oil pickup screen. My money is on the cam tensioners as the culprits.

[thstone]

Wow, that's a LOT of green material!

If you found that much from just one oil change, there must not be much left of that part.

[Liamray]

Originally Posted by thstone

Wow, that's a LOT of green material!

If you found that much from just one oil change, there must not be much left of that part.

Yes it was owned by an 82yr old guy and I don't think he drove it much in the last 3yrs he owned it (only 5,000km), and I reckon that it sat for long periods and that would have allowed seals and o'rings to dry and perhaps deteriorate and crumble?

Anyway I've decided to err on the side of caution and replace the variocam tensioners and timing chain tensioners just to be safe, along with the IMS bearing of course.

[P_Carfahrer]

Originally Posted by Liamray

Anyway I've decided to err on the side of caution and replace the variocam tensioners and timing chain tensioners just to be safe, along with the IMS bearing of course.

Fun job.. I did mine over the winter. Pulled the motor to do it. Biggest PITA is laying the bead of sealant in the valve covers properly.

When you mention timing chain tensioners, are you talking about the four tensioning paddles or the three screw in tensioners?

[Liamray]

I will be replacing the ‘variocam tensioners’, the 3 screw in tensioners and the paddles that I can reach without splitting the cases. When I say I’m doing it that’s not entirely true, though I’ve removed the transmission and have the engine ready to drop out, I have a Porsche Mechanic doing the work on the engine.

[Liamray]

Originally Posted by Liamray

I will be replacing the ‘variocam tensioners’, the 3 screw in tensioners and the paddles that I can reach without splitting the cases. When I say I’m doing it that’s not entirely true, though I’ve removed the transmission and have the engine ready to drop out, I have a Porsche Mechanic doing the work on the engine.

Finished replacing all the Cam and Timing Chain Tensioners, the ‘Variocam’ Tensioners were very worn and the lower pad (closest to the engine) was by far the worst. I dissected the Variocam Tensioner and found that the Phenolic Seals in the tensioners had worn the bore of the tensioner and was allowing oil to bleed past so that the tensioner couldn’t operate correctly. I checked the rest of the engine and everything looked good, some slight scoring on just one of the cam journals but none in any of the rest.
After doing the work and putting the car back together, it ran like new with ‘NO’ dreaded chain rattle at start up, and the performance was so much better than before the tensioners were replaced, found that one of the O2 sensors heating circuit was dead so have just ordered 2 new sensors, but even with the sensor the car goes and sounds so much better, and now it’s not embarrassing to start when people are around, before I had people ask me if it was a diesel!
Porsche should include all of the tensioners in the maintenance schedule, I’ve heard so many people on here complaining about the dreaded ‘Chain Rattle’, and have heard others say that it’s just normal, well it’s not! Since finishing the tensioners my car starts without any hint of a rattle at all!