Was checking the plugs and coils and scoped the cylinders and came across these bits.

Anyone got a idea what is going on?

I think those are just bits of carbon so not a major concern. 

But that 'line' is very intriguing.  Possibly the metal ring from a valve stem seal?

Ok, carbon deposits makes sense. Was thinking maybe bits of plastic coming off the intake swirls flaps.

But metal ring from a valve stem seal?... that's a worry.

Car has only 61k miles and has oil/filter change evey 6k miles. Never been driven hard either. No smoke on cold/hot start or driving and no oil top ups needed between the 6k oil/filter service interval.

How do I go about testing your metal valve stem seal idea, compression test the cylinders?

Think you’d struggle to diagnose that further without a big strip down unless you can get a hint of oil getting into that particular cylinder?

Compression test may give lower reading if somethings stopping the valve sealing but valve stem seal issue on its own wouldn’t show up otherwise. 

Hint of oil?  How do you mean?

Do you mean oil getting up past the rings, would I be seeing smoke out the tailpipe?

I Can't see how a bit of the Valve Stem Oil Seal could get there, it would need to get into the Manifold first. 

If the Valve Stem Oil Seals are not working properly then you will see a lot of blue smoke just after the Overrun. 

39 minutes ago, ride_comfort_is_my_object said:

Hint of oil?  How do you mean?

Do you mean oil getting up past the rings, would I be seeing smoke out the tailpipe?

You’d have oil leaking from the rocker area through the valve guide into into the cylinder. That’s the purpose of the stem seal to prevent that. 
 

But as suggested above it’d be a challenge I think for the metal ring off the seal to work its way into the cylinder through the valve guide without some extra mechanical mayhem visible

Ok, thanks to all....from feedback above more or better info would help.

In a day or two, I'll do another scope to try and get a better image.  Might even drop a magnet in the cylinder to see if I can get to it that way.

In any case I will return here to update,,, but it will be a few days.

Yes, you're right, I was thinking about the bottom of the seal getting pulled down as the valve opened, but there probably isn't a big enough gap around the valve stem for that.

Which engine is it?  Guess it's 1.8 or 2.0 Duratec with the mention of swirl flaps?  For some reason I saw an engine fault thread and automatically assumed 1.0 EcoBoost!

Ford focus, MK2, AODB15, 2.0L, 107kw, Duratec HE, Automatic 

UPDATE...

It's gone, like magic ...abracadabra.  This afternoon, coils and sparks out again and in with the scope and nothing.  Is it remotely possible that some of you guys broke into the motor last night and fixed it?

Jokes aside... could it have been a slice of carbon?  The length and slight bend in the images made me think it was metallic like a screw thread.

Thanks to all for your inputs.

Going to open another topic on the piston heads carbon buildup / injector pattern to get opinions, please way in on it.