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YOUR RESEARCHWhat in in my oil filter?
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Install already
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There are photos in that post of the original distorted orange o rings and one green o ring I installed already.
Leading evidence: 'Install already' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Check cam chain' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
I changed the oil last spring but I didn't cut apart the filter.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
This is the second time I changed the oil since I bought it last January.
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Replace tubes the o rings were not installed correctly
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When I replaced my tubes the O rings were not installed correctly from the factory and were not all the way in the groove and partially cut.
Clean drain pan and examine the oil and filter element
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Suggestion
If you want do a oil/filter servicet then drive the car a bit then remove the filter housing and carefully pour its contents into a CLEAN drain pan and examine the oil and filter element for bits of material.
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Suggestion
So when the engine is warmed up prior to an oil change (as it should be) then sits some of this oil gets squeezed out and some things (a camchain tensioner), one or more zero-lash valve lifters bleed down a bit, and the engine is a bit noisier upon the next start.
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Rennlist: 1 discussions
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I changed the oil today in my '01 996. I thought I would cut apart the oil filter and this is what I found. They are small green non metallic pieces. The car has 75,500 miles. This is the second time I changed the oil since I bought it last January. I changed the oil last spring but I didn't cut apart the filter. I put about 5,000 miles on it last year and had it parked since December.
They are semi hard pieces that I can cut with a knife. The color seems similar to the O-ring type debris that is shown in Alicia's thread
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...her-items.html
but nobody seemed to identify where this came from.
Pac996, what is the cam hole plug? Is this part of the tensioner, the guide, or something else?
Cam hole plugs that go at the ends that look like plastic freeze plugs. What's a freeze plug? Don't ask
I'm not sure of the o-ring colors for oil lines but if the engine or lines have been messed with lately I would highly suspect them being degraded. Maybe check to see the colors of o-rings on the dip stick, oil fill port cap, and if the o-ring at the dip stick chanel is leaking. There must be an o-ring where the oil fill tube goes into the engine also.
Just things to mess with. Not a solution
I don't know if this would cause it, but the spark plug tubes on the older motors use green O ring gaskets. When I replaced my tubes the O rings were not installed correctly from the factory and were not all the way in the groove and partially cut.
The spark plug tube O rings are exposed to the inside space of the cam covers. Not the combustion chamber itself. When I replaced my tubes and O rings, I could see inside the engine between the cam covers and heads. Presumably the oil discharged in that area drains back to the sump somehow. Scavenger pump? It would probably chew up anything returning back.
Yes, I agree there is no way an O ring could make it through a combustion chamber. You would be finding it it the cat instead.
Yes, stupid design. Newer 996 engine designs abandoned the plastic tube / O ring configuration. But I noted that my O rings were twisted and cut when originally installed in the motor. The O rings newest design is green. The old ones were orange.
Here is a link to my tube and O ring change out.
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...a-1999-c2.html
There are photos in that post of the original distorted orange o rings and one green o ring I installed already. I assumed the new color was green, since the old was orange. But who really knows Porsches color coding. Maybe back to orange. Maybe no coding. All I know is my old ones were orange, and the new ones were green.
I helped my father change his oil yesterday - and we found o-ring bits in the oil filter. Definitely rubber... definitely green.
We had pulled the filter apart in the fall (about 4k miles ago) and there was nothing then.
There are absolutely no oil leaks under the engine.
Any idea which o-rings tend to fall apart? This engine recently had the chain guides replaced... could an o-ring been left in there?
did you magnify those green bits using a microscope or something
I hope we can find where those green things are coming from, so far this is the third occurrence on the forum but nobody posted an answer. I am curious
BTW, Van, can you confirm the year of your father's car ? because it seem the later models don't have those spark plug tubes ... I think.
I just wonder how in the hell those green o-rings can get sucked into the oil system without creating a massive oil leak that the owner would see pretty quickly.
did you see any oil leak on the engine ? or oil leak consumption / exhaust fume ?
If the green o-ring is at the bottom of the tube, and if it is damaged I would assume the oil would leak into the cylinder and then create a smoky exhaust fume.
Those tiny bits may be nothing more than normal shedding of material that occurs as an engine ages, is used, and which can pick up again after the engine is 'opened up' and worked on as I note this engine was recently.
If you want do a oil/filter servicet then drive the car a bit then remove the filter housing and carefully pour its contents into a CLEAN drain pan and examine the oil and filter element for bits of material.
If more are present, bigger, and consist of anything other than what you found the first time, then you can worry.
Sincerely,
Macster.
02 Boxsters do have removable sparkplug tubes & O-rings. Cam chain tensioner wear pads have 1 small O-ring per bank also. If these get loose in the head they can get chewed up by any number of parts & join the oil flow to the sump or filter.
The spark plug tubes should be "easy" to remove to check
I wonder, how easy is it to remove the cam covers and make a visual inspection to check the cam chain
tensioners wear pads ? I think you need those pain in the *** cam tools to keep the cams in place, right ?
If the material is chain tensioner o-ring material the leak may not be that severe and it is internal. Worst case is the tensioner has insufficient oil pressure and does not maintain proper tension of its cam chain.
A noisy cam chain may result and over time the guide material (composite plastic) can start to show up in the oil. The tensioner piston/cylinder may experience abrasive wear as the chain can work this piston back and forth in its cylinder where it could not do this before because of the higher oil pressure. Thus find metal bits may show up too in the housing oil and filter element.
Sincerely,
Macster.
Macster, that is an interesting thought.
Van, may be you can post a clip of your engine sound around the tensioner area, may be the sound could be helpful to diagnose the problem.
Check this thread there are some really good picture of the area concerned as far as chain pads
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...y-project.html
Phil and Macster, thanks for excellent ideas. We did notice a short puff of oil smoke, and some loud valve train noise for a moment, on the first start after we put the oil in... I didn't initially think they were related, but perhaps they were if it was either: a) the fill tube o-ring, or b) the chain tensioner o-ring.
I looked closely for oil leaks - and didn't find any. It hasn't been consuming oil either.
Either way, we'll keep close tabs on it, although my father is getting ready to leave the country for a few months... so we'll have to do more diagnostics when he returns.
A brief puff/cloud of oil smoke upon start up is nothing to worry about as long as it is brief, and there are not other symptoms/signs of engine trouble.
Now I do not count a bit of valve train noise as a legitimate symptom in this case, unless you can tell me the noise was quite different, louder, had a different characteristic, etc., from the noise the engine has been making at other times.
In short, a brief cloud of oil smoke and some valve train noise is normal. The oil change had nothing do with this. Quite a bit (several quarts) of oil remains in the engine (in its bearings/lifters/oil pump/oil passages/cooler) even when the engine drain plug is removed.
What can happen is the oil being drained is hot. The oil has been in service a while and has collected quite a bit of water and unburned gasoline. This makes the oil more fluid, less viscous. So when the engine is warmed up prior to an oil change (as it should be) then sits some of this oil gets squeezed out and some things (a camchain tensioner), one or more zero-lash valve lifters bleed down a bit, and the engine is a bit noisier upon the next start.
What you should notice is subsequent starts will find the engine a bit quieter. At least this is my experience after an oil change. The fresh oil quiets the engine upon startup.
Sincerely,
Macster.
