996 C2 3.6 - Remains of a oilchange

Hello, this is my first post but I've been reading this forum for quite some time. On my 2002 996 C2 with an exchange engine 3.6 from 2005, ca. 108Tkm/67Kmls on new engine I've done a motor oil change last week and found the remains of a rubber seal and two carvings of steel in the oil filter. (Screwdriver for measure) There where no other ferocious or non ferocious parts in the oil or filter (filter cut up). I have no idea where these things might come from. The seals on the oilfilterhousing where intact. The last motor oil change before has been rd. 13Tkm/8Kmls before. There no remains were found in the filter or oil and the oil has been send to a lab and came back without any evidence of wear. I own the car since a year, rd. 18Tkm/11Kmls. I track it quite often at the N�rburging which is just an hour drive away. Do You have an idea what that could be? Hopefully no IMS seal!

Has the oil pan been dropped recently? Maybe installation of an X51 baffle or something?

Hello, thanks for Your response. No the oilpan hasn't yet been dropped. It's still the original oilpan. Since there was no sign of wear on the first oilchange I didn'd drop the oilpan. I been thinking about changing the oilpan / installing an oil safe system. Until now I'm running on street-tires (Pilrelli Pzero) and don't get over 1,2G on the track, therefore I haven't yet installed another oilpan.

It's probably worth dropping the oil pan to gather more information. One of the engine internalists will have to jump in to help figure out what is going on.

Tracking a car can stir up stuff that has been in the engine since the day it was built. The seal material is likely just pieces of the sealant Porsche uses to seal the engine at various locations, like the camshaft covers and the oil sump plate to name a couple. The sealant gets squeezed out and the bit that extends out from between the mating surfaces eventually comes loose from the violence of the oil and time and age. The stuff can go through a scavenge pump and then through the high pressure pump where it gets chewed up and ends up in the filter housing. Is the metal piece perhaps a strand of a wire brush? Regardless I don't see anything there to be really worried about. If you found sparklies in the filter housing oil, in the filter, or seal bits in another color (blue/green), then I'd be worried. Absent any scary noises or other engine (mis)behavior keep an engine on the oil and an ear on the engine. Tracking -- at the 'ring no less -- is pretty harsh usage. My advice is you show up at the track with fresh oil and filter in the engine. When you come in let the engine idle a good while to shed the engine heat load.

Do you have a magnetic oil drain plug? If not it might be time for one. I would have expected the large wire piece to be more beaten up if it had taken a trip through one or two oil pumps. The lab results look only at microscopic metal and won't tell you about larger pieces.

I pretty much agree totally with Macster. At least the stuff ended up in your filter. I would plan on dropping your oil sump plate soon and checking around for other debris. And get a spin on oil filter adapter and a magnetic drain plug. Best in the business http://lnengineering.com/

Has this car had anything done to the IMS Bearing? I see something in one of the pics... That said, something doesn't add up.. for anything to get into the oil filter it must first pass through the oil pump. Why didn't the pump chew the pieces to bits that were found in the filter? How did the bigger pieces make it through the oil pick up screen located in the oil sump?

No, there has nothing been exchanged Ort worked on the IMS. The steel carvings Ort pieces have no sharp edges. My guessing would be that they are from a spring or a hard wire or a very clean shear of a

thread. (Sorry, got on the wrong phone button.)