Metal Flakes Found in Oil Filter

[Perfectlap]

That's exactly what I imagined. When a car has very low miles the parts tend to sit dry for long periods of time. The seals around the IMS become weak and brittle, add the the vibration that a dramatic increase in driving will uncork and voila your IMS seal is literally disintegrating as you drive the car. Probably the same for the other vital engine components that are made of plastic. I'm no expert on those other parts but I'm sure my suspicion is spot on. Folks were complaining about this when Mobil 1 changed their formula and it was "said" that the new blend provided insuficient lubrication.

Put it this way, with the prices of the Boxster falling into hands of drivers who look for a low mileage car and then promptly start driving them on daily basis or close to that, the number of IMS failures is going to sky rocket.

Luckily you were astute enough to look in the filter. Most people probably take it to the dealer and I wonder what they say to the customer when they find that debris. "sir...it appears that our oil interval suggestions were inadequate, or our oil recommendation wasn't the right fit or we failed to alert you to the hazards of insufficient running time and now you'll be requiring a $2K repair or $1200 if you want do it on the cheap. If you don't spend this money you're engine will self detonate at any momment. Would you like to have us change the wipers?".

[ubii]

Well, I dropped off the car yesterday afternoon and got a call back from the shop today. They dropped the sump cover and did not find any metal debris, but did find what appears to be fragments of either the chain tensioner paddles and/or ramps, as seen in the photos below. This probably explains the noise that I heard the last several times that I started the car, prior to discovering the metal flakes in the oil filter. They plan on pulling the engine, so they can inspect both and then replace whatever needs replacing. Obviously, this will result in much more labor than what was included in the original estimate. The revised estimate is now about $5500, assuming that they need to replace both the paddles and ramps, as well as the IMS bearing, RMS, and clutch. This is worst case, as the labor will be a lot less if they only need to replace the paddles and not the ramps. Anyway, I am just curious how this compares to what others have paid for this work, in the past.

[blue2000s]

It's up to you, of course, but the chain guides are constantly loosing pieces. It's their job. Finding the flakes in the oil is totally normal and doesn't mean they need to be replaced.

[san rensho]

I agree with Blue on this one. Little pieces of plastic in the oil filter are fairly normal, I get them all the time.

What you are doing is the conservative thing to do, but if it were me, I'm not sure that I would dig into the engine assuming it's an imminent IMSB failure just because I found a couple of bits of ferrous metal and a couple of bits of plastic in the oil filter.

If the engine is not making any noise, the first thing I would do is check the camshaft deviation with the Durametric scanner or the Porsche factory scanner. Camshaft deviation is an early warning sign of a bad IMSB. If there is no camshaft deviation, I would monitor the engine. After 500 miles, I would take out the oil filter and see if I was still getting any ferrous metal in it. If not, I would check it again after another 500 miles. At the same time, I would again check the camshaft deviation.

[ubii]

The original plan was that if we did not find any obvious signs of an IMS failure, when we dropped the sump cover, that we were going to install a magnetic drain plug, new oil filter, and oil, then drive it for 500-1000 miles and see what we find next time. But between the plastic bits that were found and the fact that the car has recently started making a noticeable rattle for 2-3 seconds upon startup, the new plan is to take a look at the chain tensioner paddles and/or ramps to see if they need to be replaced or not. The car is ready for a new clutch anyway, so I am going to have them install the IMS retrofit kit, just for piece of mind.

[san rensho]

Rattle at start up is common in these cars, its usually worn chain tensioners making noise until they get pumped up by oil pressure. Newer tensioners have a spring that eliminates the start up rattle.

[ubii]

My car is still in the shop and I am hoping to get it back on Tuesday. When they dropped the sump cover, they did not find any metal debris, but did find plenty of brown plastic chunks. The chain tensioner paddles were all ate up, so they replaced them. The IMS bearing was showing signs of failure, as there was bearing debris present, when they removed it. The clutch was pretty much toast, so they replaced it as well. I decided to have them install a LN Engineering 160F low temperature thermostat and a RSS lightweight underdrive pulley. I had previously planned on installing these myself, but since they already had everything torn apart, I just had them do it. Once the last of the parts arrive on Monday, they will start working on re-installing the engine and transmission.