Mud got past air filter. How badly did I screw up
- Thread starter freewayman
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I've heard they use it in drilling mud too to lubricate bits. But I'm not sure it's entirely bentonite clay either. But it could be because it had to be fine enough to bypass the air filter somehow which I'm still at a loss for.
The area I was in was a former bentonite mine so not sure if the dirt was backfill waste or actually bentonite.
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It's dried now, but it's very fine when I felt it. It caked up thinly in the intake tube if that makes sense.
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Thank you man. I hope so too. The guy who winched me out said she's a Ford bud she'll be fine. He was right about the transmission/diffs/transfer case so I'm hoping we are right about the engine too. This has not been a good week, truck aside, for me and I'm about at my wits end to say the least. Hoping for good news tomorrow, fingers crossed!
Bore scope time just for a look. Clay hmmm like doing a clay bar on the paint job ? Maybe a good shine then. 
Gee if the filter said its okay then?
Gee if the filter said its okay then?
Move over Valvoline Restore and Protect, the next bitoger trend will be bentonite frankenblends.
Well there are Bentonite based greases out there.
Shortly after I bought my first real car (a used '65 Comet with a 289 V8) I noticed the gasket below the air filter housing wasn't placed right and there was a small amount of dust on top of the carburetor. I placed it properly of course and carried on. The engine was never abused during my ownership and I actually took pretty good care of it.
The engine was fine for quite a while but began to use oil and became an oil burner by 80,000 miles. In those days, normal engine life was maybe 100,000 miles. So did inhaled dust do in my engine? Or did it suffer a "normal" but somewhat early failure? Or had the speedometer been turned back and it actually made pretty good miles?
I'll never know of course. Some people say the Ford 289 V8 was a great engine, and other people are not very complementary. For whatever reason mine needed a rebuild by 80,000 miles.
The engine was fine for quite a while but began to use oil and became an oil burner by 80,000 miles. In those days, normal engine life was maybe 100,000 miles. So did inhaled dust do in my engine? Or did it suffer a "normal" but somewhat early failure? Or had the speedometer been turned back and it actually made pretty good miles?
I'll never know of course. Some people say the Ford 289 V8 was a great engine, and other people are not very complementary. For whatever reason mine needed a rebuild by 80,000 miles.
Clay is defined as less than 4 microns so I guess lots of finer clay dust would go right through a dry air filter, and so lots would be carried through by a water soaked air filter too? With dry dust though, it doesn't tend to settle out, as its being pulled through continuously, but water sticks to the sides of the intake and shows the amount of dust that its carrying through as it dries.
So I'd guess the engine didn't suffer too much, from one session like that, but probably its not a good thing to repeat often if you want to get the regular engine life out of your truck.
So I'd guess the engine didn't suffer too much, from one session like that, but probably its not a good thing to repeat often if you want to get the regular engine life out of your truck.
Did you open the intake tubing right at the throttle body to see if it made it that far?
Change the oil, no reason to pay for an UOA. What’s done is done.
I agree on inspecting all the way to the throttle body. The dirt may have not made it all the way.
I agree on inspecting all the way to the throttle body. The dirt may have not made it all the way.
Don't these trucks have an air-to-air cooler on the intake side? I would positively ensure this is clean and dry, but if water/mud did get through the intake, that would be the next stop before the heads. I would also expect a lot of that to settle into the bottom of the cooler instead of pushed through. One of the tricks to the first generation of these was to drill a small hole in the cooler to let the condensate drain out.
So it looks horrible, but likely not as bad as it looks. The turbos probably didn't love it though.
So it looks horrible, but likely not as bad as it looks. The turbos probably didn't love it though.
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I would rather see picks of the truck playing in the mud. Getting a little dirty water down the intake is just part of playing in the mud. It happens to everyone when they first start. Eventually you learn to get a snorkel or relocate the air intake to a dryer location. The truck is fine. Ive had the intake so far under water that the silt clogged the filter and never had any problems on my old V10 ford.
Any updates? Yes the intercooler is kind of a filter. So it is less likely the engine itself ingested much. But that intercooler should be washed out, along with the turbos.
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A little bit made it that far.
So far no issues. It's been about 10000 miles since I got muddy.
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