Trading in the Box

[Jake Raby]

Is Mark the tech there? He is one of the best techs we have run across in a long time. Are the particles Ferrous metal? Can you post or send me pics of the particles?

[mylamb]

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

Is Mark the tech there? He is one of the best techs we have run across in a long time. Are the particles Ferrous metal? Can you post or send me pics of the particles?

Jake, I don't know if the tech looking at the car is Mark, or not. I can ask tomorrow when I speak with them again. The service manager said they saw copper filings in the oil filter. I really don't know what that means. Copper? I asked about time (because I would have to drive it 30 minutes back home if it's not going to get repaired right away) and he said it's not that critical yet, I could easily have a few months, but the process has started and it will need to be replaced eventually & they are not recommending a rebuild.

[urban_legend]

Could come from the bearings in the oil/water pump I believe.

[986Shaft]

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

Is Mark the tech there? He is one of the best techs we have run across in a long time. Are the particles Ferrous metal? Can you post or send me pics of the particles?

Sorry to thread-jack, but if Jake wants to look at pictures of metal, I'll post some. Here are pictures of the filings from my engine. Asked the mechanic to do a leak down test and check for metal fragments. He took off the oil pan/cover (whatever it's called on the Boxster) and found these. He stopped at that point, told me that some of the filings were aluminum and that the engine needed to be replaced. He said that aluminum filings indicated the bearing had failed so severely that the case was damaged. He didn't do the leak down.

Original diagnosis was IMS failure, but nothing was opened up at that time.

First picture is of filings in the bottom of a coffee mug. 2nd picture - most of the filings jump to a magnet, even those that look like aluminum. 3rd picture is what remains in the mug after the magnet - probably just stuck down.

So I believe I didn't learn anything from this exercise. I already expected that at least some metal would be present - even if an engine can be repaired it requires a thorough flush. Maybe the photos tell you something, Jake?

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by 986Shaft

Sorry to thread-jack, but if Jake wants to look at pictures of metal, I'll post some. Here are pictures of the filings from my engine. Asked the mechanic to do a leak down test and check for metal fragments. He took off the oil pan/cover (whatever it's called on the Boxster) and found these. He stopped at that point, told me that some of the filings were aluminum and that the engine needed to be replaced. He said that aluminum filings indicated the bearing had failed so severely that the case was damaged. He didn't do the leak down.

Original diagnosis was IMS failure, but nothing was opened up at that time.

First picture is of filings in the bottom of a coffee mug. 2nd picture - most of the filings jump to a magnet, even those that look like aluminum. 3rd picture is what remains in the mug after the magnet - probably just stuck down.

So I believe I didn't learn anything from this exercise. I already expected that at least some metal would be present - even if an engine can be repaired it requires a thorough flush. Maybe the photos tell you something, Jake?

Trust me, I have tons of photos.... Yours tell me that your engine is trashed.

I wanted to see what the particles looked like.. If they are copper, that means the main bearings are toast as they are the only copper bearing in the engine.

Could have had an oil pump failure, or the oil pick up tube could have been clogged..