What is caked on this air filter?

[RedWolf4000]

Hey everyone. I pulled my fathers stock OEM air filter from his 04 ford ranger 4.0L for the first time, as it has around 25k miles on it, and took a look at his air filter. First off, it was FILTHY beyond anything i have ever removed from any airbox of my vehicle. The filter paper was dirty with a black grease type of dirt, somthing i have never really seen before. What I also noticed, that this dirt was on the Clean side of the seal, as if it had seaped through. The stock air box is no great shakes either as it slides into place, then snaps on 1 side, very loose and not really very air tight like a clamp or screw airbox, even though i didnt find any dirt on the clean side of the box.

Does anyone know what this black grease type dirt is that has totally cloged this filter? My father complains that the truck got pretty sluggish quite quickly, and after looking at this filter i feel it probablly had somthing to do with it.

He takes a few trips down to jersey every month, in industrial areas, maybe this is the cause??

 

[Greaser]

Blow-by is not an issue with this new an engine.I'm not that familiar with the Ranger set-up...may-be he ran over some spilled oil on the street and it got into the intake on the stock box...how close is the intake to the wheel well?May-be something splashed up and in...messing up the filter

.Clean everything up and secure everything as tight as possible and go from there...checking every month or so.

 

[RedWolf4000]

Good idea, i will have to take a look every so often. As far as where the intake source is from, i didnt even think to look.

 

[T-Keith]

This is a common ocurance on some intakes, especially Fords. It depends on your area, weather, and as Greaser said, where the airbox gets it's air from.

-T