Found plastic bits in my 987.1 CS oil filter!

Did anyone find plastic bits in the old oil filter? I do my own oil change on my 08 CS with 61K miles. Every time, I inspect the cut-open old oil filter paper and send the old oil to Blackstone for analysis. For the past five years, I've found nothing in the oil filter, no metal shaving, no plastic bits, nothing foreign! Blackstone oil analyses also showed everything within range every time. Not until this year! Attached is a picture of all the bits I found on the old oil filter paper. Those bits are not metal given that the magnet did not pick up any of those bits. The curious thing is that the micro bits disintegrate into a soot-like substance when I run my finger over them. And the bigger bits are just like hard plastic chunks. I guess the good news is that there is still no metal shaving. Does anyone have any theory on what might be broken? And better yet, what to do to fix this problem?

possible timing chain guides. Just a guess.

If the black bits break down when you rub them with your fingers my guess would be carbon deposits

Next time you do an oil change drop your sump cover. It's really easy and doesn't need new parts to reassemble. (you DO need an appropriate sealant) My suggestion is just peace of mind, which you sound like someone who makes the effort to know all is well. The purpose for dropping the sump is that the oil filter is only going to catch stuff small enough to get past the pickup screen. And if the only thing there is in your car is that tiny amount in the filter, I would not be concerned. However, if that's just what got past the screen and you have debris laying in the sump, you will know so much more than you do now. For the few minutes it takes to remove those sump plate screws, you will get to see either a beautiful and clean bottom, or you will see materials that better reveal what you see in the oil filter.

I am worried that this is a sign of a catastrophic engine coming. A bit of online research shows that the most likely source of the plastic bit is from the camshafts rail tensioner/guides. The big question is will a broken camshaft rail tensioner cause a catastrophic engine failure? In hindsight, the engine sounded different during the 5 miles drive to warm the engine to the operating temperature before the oil change. I am now curious if that strange sound is related to the plastic bit in the oil. Regardless, it's a great idea to drop the oil pan to see what else is lurking in the oil system.

The big question is will a broken camshaft rail tensioner cause a catastrophic engine failure? If it jumps timing as a result bad ju ju is a certainty. The upside is you can address this issue now regardless of it's source because knowledge is power.

It looks like this is a very early stage of one or more camshaft tensioners failing -- assuming that there are no large chunks of plastic in the oil pan. If those tensioners are replaced now, it can prevent further destruction to the camshaft rail guide. It's probably safe to drive it to the shop at this time. That's my current theory. Does anybody have another theory? And I agreed that a broken camshaft rail guide can completely brick the engine. It seems that the camshaft rail guide is another single point of catastrophic failure with this Porsche engine, besides the IMS !

The camshaft chain guides are a different color, usually white or reddish. That is probably from the guides on the IMS chain and my car does the same thing. I have a little chain rattle at start up and am contemplating changing the tensioners to help prevent further wear. Dropping the sump is a good idea along with checking cam deviation if you have a Durametric or other means to access. Anyone else have experience with this? My car is a 2.7 2008 with a 100k miles

Love hearing about the higher mileage 2.7's

I saw similar plastic bits in the oil filter of the 987.1 that I previously owned. Most bits were black though some were brown, leading me to the same conclusion that the cam chain guide is wearing. I sold the car with close to 90K miles (and full disclosure of the observation) and it is still running strong for the new owner.

What did Blackstone say this year????

It will probably take another week or two to hear back from Blackstone. I am anxious to know what Blackstone will say.

I had my oil tested regularly by Blackstone and shared my observations of plastic bits in the oil filter. This was their response from the last time I had it tested. "Are you still finding black plastic particles in the oil filter? We're hoping that subsided, since we're still not finding evidence of a developing issue in these results. Iron increased again -- we mentioned before the possibility of plastic from the timing chain guide and iron from the chain itself, but these very slow increases don't really suggest an issue in the works. In fact, this engine is still generating iron from steel wear at below the average rate (2.03 ppm/mile verses 2.16). The physical tests look good too, so the engine/oil seem in good condition from our view. Nice trends!"

Could be the Vario Cam timing shoe that rides on the chain. Check to see if you are throwing any codes related to cam timing.

2007 2.7 with 210k miles. I had black plastic for a while but it stopped. I used to bite them just to be clear what it was. Can’t recall at what mileage it stopped but my filters got cleaner as time went by. Maybe found plastic bits from 30k (when I got it) to 120k. Now I never see anything. 9k change intervals. 5W40 Castrol synthetic.

Thank you for this! As you can see, it's still a very amount of plastic bits found in the oil filter. So I think my case is similar to yours. Given that Blackstone thinks it's not an issue in the works, I am breathing a bit easier. The big test will be in the Spring when I take the car out of storage and drop the oil sump. I'll be praying for no big plastic bits (or metal shaving) in the oil sump.

Congrats on 210K miles on the 2.7! I'd be a happy camper if am lucky enough for mine to last past 100K miles. It's interesting that the problem just went away. In my case, it might be a case of lack of use; I can only manage to put on between 2K to 3K miles a year. So every oil change is only for 2K to 3K miles. This year was the very first year that I had a little problem when I took the car out after 6mos of winter storage; it misfired badly due to the stale gas and was OK with new, fresh gas. I probably didn't put enough Sta-Bil in the gas tank. In hindsight, I am wondering if those misfires could have caused the timing chain to slap on the chain guide/rail and resulted in those plastic bits in the oil.

I used a $700 OBDII scanner and found cam timing problem code. Unfortunately, the tool is not a tool specialized for Porsches, so I don't know if it is even capable of detecting the Porsche cam timing problems.

I may have missed it - how many miles on car and model year? I had a 2003 Boxster S with 67K miles and had a lot of dark green plastic bits in the oil filter. It threw some cam timing codes that I was able to clear and the problem never came back. I would try to clear the codes and see if they go away. I did some research and the Vario cam timing unit is a hydraulic (oil pressure) unit that varies the cam timing by pushing on the timing chain, causing relative phase movement between the cam shaft and crank. There are several wear points in this design: 1) the plastic shoes that contact the chain can wear or break apart, 2) there are plastic parts inside the hydraulic unit (said to be green) that can wear or break causing the unit to malfunction. The shoes are a maintenance item and should be changed after X miles, the hydraulic unit is not serviceable. If it fails you have to buy a new unit ($1300). I bought an entire used head just to get a good spare unit in anticipation of needing to replace it (never needed to, sold car, and still have spare if you need one). There are some good online writeups on "plastic in oil filter" that you should study. If you continually get cam timing codes after you clear them I would look further. If not taken care of, a small problem can turn into an expensive problem. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, the heads can be removed without dropping the engine but it is not a fun job. Best of luck.

Mine is a '08 Caymann S with 61K miles. Fortunately, no error code was shown from a complete diagnostic scan. I'll find those writeups on "plastic in oil filter". Wondering how often to replace those shoes / chain guide.