IMS Retrofit Mystery

On my way to doing the IMS retrofit on my 2003 996 C4S for precautionary/preventative reasons, I initially drained and strained the oil, dissected the filter and removed the sump cover to investigate for any signs of trouble. The only thing I found was these 4 small pieces in the sump. Any ideas of where they may have originated?

looks like some sort of sealant, nothing to worry about.

I disagree. that looks like hard plastic to me. My guess is that its part of the chain guide

I WAG sealant also

Looks like bits of Vairocam chain pads to me. I believe that this is quite normal over time. Your oil filter did the job and caught the little plastic bits.

I believe is it critical to seal the pan correctly when you put it back together. This may help. http://http://youtu.be/W3XNbwzM57g

Quotes source post: 11136948

Although I've not been inside the M96 engine, from my recollection of many 2.4L, 2.7L and 3.0L air cooled engines, these had chain ramps which were sort of a red brick color, and these pieces are sort of trandslucent, almost what I'd expect a piece of dried shellac or varnish to look like. And while I haven't checked any of these to see if they have any elastic property, I'd expect dried sealant to still have some elasticity. These were in the sump, not in the filter (i.e., never got sucked up into the intake). But they were in the "windage" compartment. No telling if any old filter changes previous to my ownership may have caught lieces in the filter.

Here's a photo of a new and a worn pad, courtesy of google images. The worn pad is similar in color and appearance to the particles found in the filter. I'm not saying that this is definitely what you found, but it's a possibility. I know that Macster has had some good posts in the past about these pads, their wear with time/mileage, etc.

Looks like dried up flange sealant to me. The pads come off in chunks, the OP's picture show very thin parts.

IF they are hard/brittle they are likely from the chain guide pads. These are made of hard composite plastic. I've seen caramel and dark caramel almost black in color. The white in another picture I've never seen. The stuff was in the sump so likely they were from the engine's initial start. Almost every engine (and I would say every engine) sheds a goodly amount of trash at first engine start and to a lesser degree every engine start and run session afterwards. The larger pieces end up in the sump and stay there forever unless the sump is dropped. The smaller pieces get sucked up by the oil pump intake and ground to bits in the pump gears and then caught in the filter and remain in the oil filter housing until the oil is changed. If the bits are soft, pliable, can be dented with a fingernail they are probably some sealant of some kind though I do not recognize the color. The engine sheds sealant flash over time but this is generally lighter in weight and most likely gets ingested by the oil pump intake and ground up. So my WAG is you'll find them hard and thus they are from one of the composite plastic chain guide pads.

Strangely they look trumpet shaped. I've never seen the variocam or tensioner parts, but what bits on them are trumpet shaped? Agreed that if it's sealant it should be able to dent with a fingernail or screw driver (elastomeric). 2003 Carrera 4S Speed Yellow / 1955 356 Continental 1500 Rust Red

Some flange sealants, not silicone/RTV, dry to a hard clear coat/paint like finish. I've scrapped a lot of this off my heads when I pulled them. Those pics look like dried flange "paste".

And quite brittle: that thin, crescent-shaped piece easily snapped when I picked it up between my fingers.