Oil Filter Fragments

[santambrogio]

I cut open the oil filter on the 2000 Boxster, I did all maintenence on the car since 2004 and without cutting the oil filte and r consistently found yellow / amber sealant bits.

When the filter was cut open I found many very small bits of amber sealant 1/64" at most and many back hard palstic bits, likely from the chain tensioners. The amount of both types of residue is far from enough to clog the filter. This is on a one year oil change on less than 5,000 miles, Mobil 1 10w-40 High Milage, the car has 94,000 miles.

Not good, for many years both the bimmer motorcycle and car, both with plastic covered chain tensioners, never showed this problem. The good part is that there were no metal fragments on the filter.

[R Clark Stewart]

I just got a 2002 42k and inspected the filter finding little amber pieces too. I believe it's simply wear off the chain guides. Without finding anything bigger than a grain of sand, I figure nbd,

I scanned my media w/a good magnet, only finding the tinyest metallic bits, maybe only 2-3 in the whole filter, that looked well-used.

Inspecting the media is the best way to tell if there is a serious IMS issue, aside from an oil analysis with a PQI.

Mobil 1 High Miles is a fantastic product. However, changing oil more often with dino oil does have merit.