996 1999 3.4 Oil Filter Cutoff Inspection

Hi all, recently I have changed the oil in my 996 from 1999 with 77k miles on it. The new oil which has been used is Motul 5W40 I decided to cut the Oil filter to see what is inside and Im not sure if this is the normal finding. So what I have found: - oil plug: hairy metallic debris (photo attached) - oil filter: very low amount of shiny silver flakes. Dark brown plastic material with higher amount than silver one. And Black Rubber/silicone ? with the lowest amount IMS has been replaced by LN Engineering kit in July 2018 with 65k miles. Than oil has been changed at 72k miles and was a time for me to change it now at 77k miles. I have used an engine flush from Liqui Moly Is there anything to worried about ? Thank you in advance! Hubert

That magnetic plug has a ton more debris than I would see on mine. My use case was different as my engine typically saw track use and oil changed every 4 or 5 hours of use but the amount of debris on your plug would certainly have me concerned. Hopefully someone with a more similar use case to you can confirm if that amount of debris is normal.

If you saved any of the oil have it tested to see what's in it and where it can potentially be coming from.

Yes I saved the filter and oil and Im going to send it to the lab. Also I would like to drive few hundred miles and change the oil again, because maybe we could see the old remains of IMS... just guessing

When I see these threads pop up, especially for folks with .1 cars the dark plasticky bits tend to often point at worn chain tensioners and what you're seeing is bits of plastic. Checking cam deviations is a good next step. I think it's normal to see a very thin coating of debris caught by the magnetic plug but looking at the second photo, that's something to be concerned about. Do you know what the previous oil drain intervals were? You've also mentioned the use of an engine flush product. They can do a great job cleaning the engine of old built up sludge and carbon if the car saw long drain intervals earlier in its life. My shop uses them periodically on cars and only recommends stuff from BG (BG109 EPR). It's different in that it encapsulates all the junk it dissolves instead of diluting it with the oil. That's the big difference. Like GC996 said, oil analysis would be a good next step although not sure if it would skew the results somehow with the use of the engine flush product. Do a shorter drain interval, maybe 1k miles max and check plug and filter again. Maybe the engine flush dislodged and cleaned some stuff out which is what you're seeing.

Alot of 996.1 owners that will pipe in to give you some ideas. You will need about 1000 miles before the next oil test. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. It's a 23 year old engine with plenty of available solutions and more on the way. Bet there isn't a Ferrari owner out there that that doesn't wish they had this type of engine durability.

Personally I don�t see much to worry about here, the amount of stuff on the plug is fairly normal imo. Just change it more often next 1-2 changes.

I don�t want to come off as alarmist BUT, I�ve owned my 99 for almost 8 years and have accrued 40k miles in that time. I religiously change the oil and filter every 6 months and I have never had that amount of debris on my magnetic drain plug.

I don't know if there is any debris left for the Laboratory Analysis to pick up, it looks like all of it is on the magnetic drain plug.... That said I would send the sample to Oilvue for analysis . They do a PQI test that can see the total ferrous debris big or small that the other labs can not see. It would be very interesting to see the PQI on that oil sample...Hell if you don't want to ,send me the sample and I will have it tested ( I have a spare kit) just to see what the results show...

Can also confirm that amount of debris on the drain plug is, well, astronomical . I have the same one. Kidding (maybe not), but your filter looks fine to me.

Thank you all of the advises, the car has been prepared for a winter time and will be used occasionally. Based on the ideas above I would like to send oil sample to analysis, but I need to figure it out which oil bottle is from porsche ( that day I have changed oil in Porsche, my gf Mitsu, and my fathers Escape). In the same time Im curios because I have used two bottles of LM engine flush and that might be the case here that all of the deposits/carbon cooking moved out and that is the outcome what we can see on the plug. Anyway, I drove 300 miles after oil change, oil level is the same, oil pressure on 5th gear/ 3k rpm is indicating as 5 bar. Previously I think it was around 4,5-4,7. So seems to be better. I will try to drive at least 800miles and do an oil change again.