Should I feel lucky or unlucky?

I purchased my 02 C2 about 8 years ago with 34K miles on the clock. since the first day I got it, I had a very small oil leak from bank 2. it didn't bother me too much but I promised myself that one day I will fix it. I love working on my car as much as I love driving it. up until COVID it use to be my daily driver doing about 6000 miles a year. I religiously changed the oil every 3000 miles or every 6 months, and every year or two I performed a "winter project". I replaced almost every component in the brake system, installed Ohlins R&T coilovers, and did a bunch of other smaller projects when repairs were needed or just as preventive maintenance. over the past two years, I've been accumulating parts, and preparing myself for last year's "winter project". This one was seposed to be a "big one". the car just hit 60K and the clutch started making grinding noises. so last November I got it on the lift and dropped the engine. the plan was to replace the clutch (from the master cylinder to the flywheel) and replace AOS, RMS, oil cooler, injectors, LNE IMS solution, and a deep sump plate from FVD (needless to say that "while I'm in there" every related HW, gasket or O-ring was replaced as well). I didn't punch the numbers yet but we are looking at about 4-5K in parts and tools. Before starting the project I dropped the samp, and as expected the oil came out clean like in every oil change I performed since I own the car. not a spec of metal, not a spec of plastic, nothing. The last Cam deviation check at 58K miles shows -1.3 on bank 1 and 0.72 on bank 2. not very far from the readings back in 2015. boroscoping through the sump shows perfect cylinder walls without any sign of bore scoring. Ha. and obviously while the engine is out, I will keep the promise to myself and fix the cam cover oil leak. So last weekend, and after 4 months (I work long hours and also travel a lot) of many hours mostly cleaning the engine parts, I was ready to put the flywheel and clutch on, mate the transmission to the engine, hoping to get the engine back in the car this weekend. Last Friday night I was watching YouTube and came across this video. You Tube it immediately triggered my OCD and like any normal person I couldn’t sleep all night 😊. The next morning, I went to my garage. removed the cam cover for bank 2 (the silicone bid looked fine BTW) and resealed it. Did the same thing for bank one, and a minute before I was ready to put the cover back on, I gave the flange another last wipe with the lint-free paper towel. As I was crossing next to the timing chain, the paper towel got caught in the chain. Here is a picture of the chain after I removed the culprit with a pick.

OMG, Dude! You better go buy a Lottery ticket. Wow, that's a great 'accident catch' if I ever saw one......

Yep, you should feel lucky! Congrats on the condition of the car, especially the bores. Shows the importance of changing the oil. Good luck with the chain. I have 59k miles. You have me thinking about checking mine.

Not an accidental find at all, imo You do your due diligence and careful maintenance work. Part of that is keeping a keen eye out for anything unusual or obviously wrong. You sure it wasn't your eye that caught on that broke roller..? Anyhow good catch, as that broken roller and its pieces could have jammed things up maybe. Or the chain could have gone south at 7000rpm.... At least the engine is out and all covers are accessible. Looks like a chain job is next on your list. Hopefully when you check the gears out for any damage or burrs they'll be fine and all thats needed will be a little file work to remove any small roughness/burrs.

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I wish that was the case. I wouldn�t have spent all that time and money if I saw it in the beginning. in fact, I inspected the chains visually the first time I removed the covers. couldn�t check all of it as the cams an crank are locked. You worry about the IMS bearing and cylinder scorching didn�t even think the chain could be an issue at 60k. (BTW IMSB came out solid as a rock) I was definitely lucky that it ended up with the crack facing up the second time. after I found it I started looking at the other rollers. Only zooming in with the phone I could find another one with horizontal crack. I�m sure there are more.

Here are the fragments I broke off. could have been an issue if they went flying inside the engine. I'm hoping that�s the only one as the cam divination I mentioned in my first post doesn�t indicate significant stretch of the chain. now I need your help fixing it

Wow. Just wow. Attention to detail and listening to the little voice that tells you it can’t hurt to allay that nagging suspicion wins the day!

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You got it, let me know.

Lol. I just now realized you are across the street from me. might take you on that.

You should feel both lucky and unlucky...... Unlucky in the fact that your timing chain has failed at such an early mileage....( it should last 3-4 times as long) Lucky in the fact that you found it before IT found YOU.... When a piece of the roller cracks off what usually happens is it gets sucked up by the return pump ( scavenge pump) in the head.It's too hard and big to pass through so it locks up the pump. The one of two things happen.. 1. The snout of the return pump breaks off. a. this can cause oil pressure fluctuations at engines speeds of 3000k RPM and up b excessive smoking due to oil pooling in the head c. with only half as much oil returning to the sump, the bearings can overheat and spin a bearing.. 2. The snout of the return pump doesn't break, the timing chain does a. This causes the cam timing to be out of phase and result in piston to valve contact b . If this happens under high RPM the valve head can break off, pierce the piston and crack open the bore.. c .If this happens at idle speeds it's possible to just end up with just severe missfires on 3 cylinders I install magnets in the freeze plugs at the inlet of my return pumps for this reason to catch them...I think Jake uses screens on the inside while doing the rebuilds... ...Before you declare that putting screens on the inlets or magnets to catch the metal is the "end all solution"....it's not.....it just prolongs the inevitable in so that hopefully it will be discovered, there is still a ticking time bomb that just got triggered... Since you accidentally found this while not really looking for it, you have probably save your self thousands of $$ in collateral damage.....but you will still have to "split the cases" to replace the chains.. Good luck !!!

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@Porschetech3 I just did an oil change, did bore scope from the bottom, and also took cam deviation warm and hot. Before the sump cover went back on my Indy installed the 997 upgraded baffle. Engine is healthy, 97500, miles. My cam deviations are both in the low 5s. That's my question, my guy says those Numbers are within spec, no rush to change the chains, although it's on my list and will be done soon. my Indy says the engine is healthy but as it has so many miles, the chains have stretched and the pads are likely worn. l'm wondering why my guy says they're fine up to 6 deg? Should I be concerned? Thanks!

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Your Indy says that because that is the Porsche Spec, that is strong reason...That said I never fault anyone for taking better care or doing maintenance more often than recommended... Some people live by a code that "you can never love too much, or take too good of care of the things you think are important..

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Thank you! And OP sorry, I think I hijacked your thread, sincere apologies. Have a great weekend all.

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no problem at all. anyway I need yo open a new thread �splitting the case and replacing timing chains�. I hope Skip will chime on this one too as I will need all the help I can get