Probably a very expensive oil change.... engine rebuild? - Page 1 - Porsche General - PistonHeads UK

No, this is not a whinge about the cost of Mobil 1, but the resulting discussion with the garage on finding metal contamination in the old oil. The car in question is a 2011 Cayman 2.9 Gen2. As such, the engine should be relatively bulletproof (at least compared to 9x6 engines). So much so, that the garage has not seen this issue before and currently suggests another oil change in 1000miles to see if it happens again or indeed gets worse. Has anyone else had a similar issue with their 987.2 boxster or cayman - or indeed 997.2? Any pointers would be useful before I start having nightmares about engine rebuilds.

That's impressive by the garage. Is it standard procedure to review old oil for problems? I'm a bit out of the loop, but that's a new one on me! Sorry, to hear your woes though.

What metals were found in the oil analysis? It may give an idea of where the wear is.

Funky Squirrel said: What metals were found in the oil analysis? It may give an idea of where the wear is. I was just about to ask about a magnetic sump plug...then I thought about it.

Millers offer an oil analysis service OP - this might be a more accurate understanding on the condition of the engine without taking it out and stripping it down (unless of course it is starting to sound like “a bag of spanners”). There’s more discussed on 911uk in respect of the Millers oil analysis service.

How long have you owned the car? What's the mileage/service history? They reported "metal". Where did they find it? Presumably came out of the sump and was sparkling in their pan. In those circumstances I'd want to open up the oil filter and have a look inside. Presumably someone clever enough would know exactly which bits of engine are made out of which types of metal and could detect the differences on analysis. But I'm not sure where that would take you. Either the engine's OK or it's not and will need some serious work. There's an old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I agree the sensible way forward seems to be to take things easy for 1,000 miles or so and then have another look. Just a thought - I wonder if inspecting the spark plugs might give any clues about whether one cylinder is behaving differently from the rest?

Thanks for all the replies. It is great to know that support is out there. I have owned the car from new and serviced it every 2 years with an additional annual oil change. The car is currently on 53k miles never used on track but a regular visitor to 6k Revs once warm. Yes, the glitter was in the drain pan but no they did not rip open the oil filter. I'll call them tomorrow to see if they can identify my filter and inspect it. When I get the next oil change, I'll request a miller's analysis. Edited by gsewell on Tuesday 9th August 22:03

I would give Hartech a ring, they're usually happy to talk. You might need to ring a few times and chase them to speak to the right person, but you'll get there. They may not be able to give you a definitive answer, but more likely that anyone else to have useful insight based on this limited information. That said, they'd probably need to see the quantity / character of the shavings / debris and whether it's ferrous or not etc to really comment. My hunch is that unless there's a crap load of shavings or there are other symptoms, like say increasing oil use or noisiness of some kind, it may be 'normal'.

Glittering bits of metal in the oil doesn't sound to me like a normal thing to just wait and see. I would be doing more investigation of it were me talking to some experts like Hartech. Metal bits in oil haven't worked out well for me on a few occasions.

Finding half a piston ring in the oil didn't work out well for me. I used Millers oil service when I had the 996, they can tell what the metal is and the likely engine part / bearing made of the same metal. It is only £30 and would be my first step.