Oil Change - Your Thoughts on Brown Solid Particles?

[thom4782]

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

[kbrandsma]

Originally Posted by thom4782

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.