The time came for an oil change on the Grand Marquis, and I promised I would provide Liqui-Moly with a sample for analysis to see how a low SAPS oil performs with high sulfur gasoline.
I used a hand pump to fill two small containers before I dumped in the engine flush, and changed the oil. This particular sample (with MoS2) was taken after it was in service for 6,370 miles over the course of the past four months. After leaving my sample on the shelf, I noticed the bottom of the bottle I used was darker than usual. So I checked it out, only to find this:
I checked samples from my Montero, which has been sitting for months, and there is no sand in any of them.
Worth mentioning, 5,000 miles into this interval I repaired my warped air box. This is a common problem on Panther vehicles, where the center of the air filter box warps and gets wider. So I used two thread bars to 'squeeze' it back together, after reading about how forddiesel69 (also a member here) did this on his Crown Vic. The filter basically wasn't sitting properly, which must have resulted in quite a bit of unfiltered air passing through. Maybe this is why there is so much sand in this sample?
I replace my air filter at every oil change (6,250 miles) using a Motorcraft FA-1032 and always use a Motorcraft FL-820S oil filter. I just don't know what else I can do to keep this dreaded sand from getting into my engine! It makes me cringe thinking what must be going on inside my engine if this is the amount of sand that came out of a 200 ml sample.
Whilst I think it may well be a good idea to see what the oil turns out at the next interval, I don't want to be in for a surprise. Does anyone happen to have any ideas or suggestions as to what can be done to prevent this? Thanks!
I used a hand pump to fill two small containers before I dumped in the engine flush, and changed the oil. This particular sample (with MoS2) was taken after it was in service for 6,370 miles over the course of the past four months. After leaving my sample on the shelf, I noticed the bottom of the bottle I used was darker than usual. So I checked it out, only to find this:
I checked samples from my Montero, which has been sitting for months, and there is no sand in any of them.
Worth mentioning, 5,000 miles into this interval I repaired my warped air box. This is a common problem on Panther vehicles, where the center of the air filter box warps and gets wider. So I used two thread bars to 'squeeze' it back together, after reading about how forddiesel69 (also a member here) did this on his Crown Vic. The filter basically wasn't sitting properly, which must have resulted in quite a bit of unfiltered air passing through. Maybe this is why there is so much sand in this sample?
I replace my air filter at every oil change (6,250 miles) using a Motorcraft FA-1032 and always use a Motorcraft FL-820S oil filter. I just don't know what else I can do to keep this dreaded sand from getting into my engine! It makes me cringe thinking what must be going on inside my engine if this is the amount of sand that came out of a 200 ml sample.
Whilst I think it may well be a good idea to see what the oil turns out at the next interval, I don't want to be in for a surprise. Does anyone happen to have any ideas or suggestions as to what can be done to prevent this? Thanks!
