Sand in the crankcase

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About a month ago I changed the oil in my Peugeot 207 and since I had all the tools out I decided to change the oil in the mower also. (The mower is a B&S 650)

I collect all the used oil in an oil extractor that I made. Yesterday I decided to transfer the used oil to another container to take it to the recycler center. I poured the oil in a new jug and when I looked inside the old jug, in which the used oil remained undisturbed for over a month, I saw very little pieces of what I thought it could be sludge. I added a small amount of paint thinner and poured it in a piece of white paper, after the thinner evaporated what was left was undoubtedly sand or dirt. The biggest grains were about 1 or 2 mm in diameter and if I press on them they crumble into a very fine dust, some photos below.

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When I changed the oil, first I suctioned the oil out of the Peugeot, first trough the dipstick then out of the oil filter assembly, since it was the first time I was changing the oil in that car, I didn't knew if the suction method would get all the oil out, so I removed the oil plug and about half a liter came out into a clean pan, then I suctioned the oil out of the pan. After that I suctioned the oil out of the mower through the fill hole and it went into the same jug.

So what could be the origin of this sand????

I really doubt it comes from the Peugeot since the filter should had caught all the debris and I didn't saw any sand in the filter housing or the filter itself. (Although I wasn't looking for). And the only reason I can think of is sabotage from the dealer that last serviced the car.

So the sand must have been inside the mower but, How it got there? Yesterday I did a quick inspection and the dipstick and dipstick tube seals are OK. Are there any other ways into the crankcase???, Maybe one day I was careless and somehow dirt got inside the engine, if that is the case then my OCD really has let me down!!!

Is there anyone out there that had the same experience of sand or dirt inside a mower??
And what should I do now??? Change the oil again in the mower or let it run another 6 months???
 
I'll take the other tack and blame the Pugeot. When you say it "crumbles." That makes me think it's gritty carbonized deposits like I've sometimes seen in engines with a very hot spot in the crankcase, like the underside of a v8 intake manifold with an exhaust crossover or EGR passages.
 
I thought about what 440Magnum said, and I think that if these things are made from carbon then they should burn like when you clean a 2 stroke spark arrestor with a propane torch, right???

I will try to burn some of those particles to see what happens and come back with the results.
 
That would be a good filter to cut open and do a complete inspection of the pleats. If nothing else it will put your mind at ease on your Peugeot.
 
I tried to burn some of those particles on a gas stove but they turn out to be non-combustible, they just glow red.

I don't have the filter anymore, just these pics that I posted earlier. I don't want to worry too much about this, but probably I will change the oil in the mower to search for sand and if there is none just be on the lookout the next time the Peugeot is due. It all depends on how well I can sleep at night and if I can control the impulse to change the oil. Do you think changing the oil can become an addiction???
 
Originally Posted By: Darwin1138
I thought about what 440Magnum said, and I think that if these things are made from carbon then they should burn like when you clean a 2 stroke spark arrestor with a propane torch, right???

I will try to burn some of those particles to see what happens and come back with the results.


Kinda depends. If they're oil that has "coked" from exposure to hot metal, they may already be more ash than true carbon. If that's the case, they'd probably just sit there under more heat.

Its probably cost-prohibitive to positively identify them. But I'd open the next filter on the Pugeot for sure.
 
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