2003 C4S - Metal Particles in oil filter
 

All I can say is that whenever there is metal particles in the oil filter, that means there is some really deep, internal work to do on the engine..

Good Luck and hopefully it will not be too expensive to fix.

I would love to hear what the exact problem is.

-Alex

I posted on my experience with replacing the IMS with L&N parts. I did mine soley as a precaution. Seemed cheap compared to an engine. I would be concerned about the noise. Ive heard that is a symptom. My IMS bearing was fine when pulled. The new one is so much beefier I'm glad I did it

Big chances its IMS, stop using the car to prevent more damage and metal particules, and go for the LN upgrade!

you should change oil more often. 15k is pushing it. manual says 10k.

I change mine every 5-8k

The IMS is a sealed bearing and would not effect the oil.

I think I would have stopped the engine as soon as I heard "ball bearing type of chatter". Yikes.

What manual is this? My interval is 5k, but the oil service intervals from Porsche say every 15k.

If you are a member at Renntech, check out these links, if not, the Maintenance interval for oil changes are clarified in your Maintenance booklet with your OM.

Carrera/GT3 (996) Maintenance Schedules - Major Maintenance US (from MY04)

Carrera/GT3 (996) Maintenance Schedules - Minor Maintenance US (from MY04)

I have to agree about possible IMS. According to Jake Raby and other experts the seal on the IMS bearing fails and motor oil washes out the grease lubricants for the bearing. This causes premature wear and potential failure. Failure means engine death and $15-18k for remanufactured replacement. I would have a shop (or DIY) pull the transmission and check both RMS and IMS for leaks etc. Change the clutch and if there are no problems the you have your new clutch which will probably need to be done at 65000 miles anyway. If they do find issue I think Jake Raby and others have developed replacement bearing solutions that cost $4k if I'm not mistaken. Metal in oil is never a good sign, break in metals are gone by the 2nd oil change at the latest, at 40000 it's a sign of wear and or problems.
Good Luck and keep us posted.
Steve

Don't forget that an engine often produces metal particles which will go to the pan and then hopefully screened by the oil filter. If there is no metal in the pan, I would be surprised if the metal in the filter is a concern.

A failing IMS bearing will normally produce continuous noise which will vary with engine speed and load and get worse as the engine heats up. Before panicing and spending alot of time and money looking for something that may not exist, I would first check the exhaust system, heat shields, etc. The rattle could also be a bad valve, timing chain, a tool left on the top of the engine, etc. It could also be a broken spring on your flywheel.

Putting the car on a lift and running it to produce the noise may help you locate where the noise is coming from.

Ims
 

Thanks for the advice. Does $2500-3500 sound about right? I see you also had some additional LN stuff done. Do you recommend that as well when I get mine done.

Why would the noise go away after the car warms up if it was the IMS?

Just got car back from Powertech. They checked the rms, flywheel, clutch, chain tensioners, tensioner rails, and IMS bearing. All were in good condition. Replaced/upgraded the 3 tensioners and IMS bearing since they had it apart. Replaced the oil pan with a deep sump oil pan. Replaced plugs and ignition coils. Upgraded oil filter with a spin-on kit. Upgraded thermastat with a low temp T-stat 160. Upgraded air intake with a K&N system and modified software using upsolute-p. Car runs great. Still not sure where metal fragments are coming from? Any ideas where to look next or should I just consider this as normal engine wear and not be concerned?

I feel your pain... I went through a lot of stuff with my P-car as well.

Don't really know if this is relevant, but my car ended up having "lifters" issue. They did find some "very small" metal particles in the oil filter, but after swapping out 4 lifters and correcting the RMS, have no problems now.

danrx3,

how was the service at powertech?

i am having similar issues as well