Look what I found in the oil pan... any ideas?
 

I am doing maintenance (cam tensioner chain pads, RMS etc.) on the spare engine that was in my 2000 Boxster 5-speed for the last couple of years.
I dropped the oil pan and found these pieces of plastic.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1718399482.jpg

I can't figure out where they come from and I don't like not knowing. There are some very small pieces of the same material in the oil filter, along with chips from the tensioner pads and some bits of sealant. The engine was running fine. The plastic looks like it could be a piece of the oil pan baffle in terms of colour and thickness, but the baffle looks pristine. I don't see anything broken in the bottom of the engine and there is nothing in the area of the camshafts that could be a source. It is not the tensioner chain pads. I did not drop the oil pan before installing the engine 3 years ago so I have no idea if this dates from before or after I bought it.
Thanks in advance...

Maybe a broken piece from the AOS or PVC?

Those look like chain pad fragments to me. If in the head everything looks fine, it's from a previous pad that was replaced.

Colour wise, the center one definitely looks like tensioner pad material, the rest are hard to tell. Do they all have a dark reddish colour? If so, then it's probably tensioner pad. The only other thing that is black and plastic is the oil pickup tube and the two swirl pots.

Chain ramps for the timing chains. Here's one with some chips. I've seen them much worse on a few other engines I've disassembled.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1718652853.jpg

I don't think anyone has figured it out so far. Here is another picture. It is less obvious in the photo but the piece of plastic is black, not the dark brown of the tensioner pads. Also it is too thin to have come from the pads. It also seems to be curved, as if it came from a piece of tubing.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1718816660.jpg

At least no one has come up with a suggestion that it is a piece of a critical part, so I am going to class it as one of the universe's unanswerable questions, and not worry about it.

The only black curved plastic that I can think of are the swirl pots. Have you taken them out and inspected them? Maybe there are internal pieces that have broken off.

Did you look at the CPS sensor? That also has a a black plastic case.

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