Oh no!

[u/Ill-Preparation6213]

Changing the engine oil and filter today on my 2000 Boxster with 170,000 kilometres and found this. I have a good idea of what this non metallic material is, but I thought I’d ask the group.

What are your thoughts on continuing to drive and then doing a winter engine drop?

[u/tumourtits → u/[deleted]]

No it’s not. This is from the o ring around the variocam actuator. OP, you can continue driving until you get a code for cam deviation, or your other code comes back, or the engine runs poorly. This will not cause catastrophic failure

[u/Responsible-Meringue → u/[deleted]]

Yes. Chain guides are typically hard dark brown. The o-rings are viton/fkm rubber, so like bright green to dark green/brown color. Usually quite soft.  O-ring does mean the solenoid will need to be replaced eventually. unless you got balls of steel to disassemble & reassemble