New Member – 1998 Boxster (Arctic Silver/Red) + Some Oil Analysis Concerns

[Jvarghese]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to introduce myself and my car. I picked up a 1998 Porsche Boxster about a year ago—Arctic Silver with red interior, 5-speed manual. I bought it with 183k miles, and it’s now at 188k. The car wasn’t in perfect shape, but not terrible either. There was a small rip in the driver’s seat bolster that had a rough repair, and the top of the door cards were peeling a bit from sitting in the Arizona sun.

I’m the third owner—the car originally belonged to someone who passed it down to his nephew, and I bought it from him.

The car came with a few mods already:

-2008 Cayman wheels (which I think look great)

-LN Engineering oil filter spin-on adapter

-The suspension had been upgraded to Bilsteins at some point before I got it (confirmed during an inspection when I had the airbags serviced).

Since owning it, I’ve done the following:

-Installed clear headlights

-Continental head unit

-Rockwell slim subwoofer behind the passenger seat

-Replaced ignition coil packs with Rennline units

-New spark plugs

-Replaced O2 sensors (helped clear a misfire/O2 code initially, but the code has since returned)

-Swapped out an eBay exhaust (great at full throttle but droned too much in traffic) for a stock system

-Replaced a leaking coolant tank

-Routine maintenance: oil & air filter changes every 1–2k miles (I only drive it ~3 days a week)

Now for the concern:
I just did an oil change after about 2k miles. The oil looked pretty dirty—probably from the way I drive it. When I cut open the filter:

I noticed a few very small non-ferrous (aluminum?) bits near the paper

Found a decent amount of magnetic/ferrous material in the pleats using a magnet

I took a video of the pleats and saved the oil from the filter in a bottle.

A few questions:

Should I get the oil analyzed?

Is the oil from the filter enough for a sample, or should I send some of the drained oil as well?

Any recommended labs or services for oil or filter analysis?

Should I be concerned about the ferrous material, or am I just being paranoid?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and getting more involved with the community.

Thanks,