debris in drained oil, how bad is this? (pics)

[John_Dude]

I have a 2000 ford escort zx2 (2.0l DOHC). Purchased at 100k miles, currently at 151k. I've changed the oil every 6 months/5k miles whichever comes first. I've used the motorcraft FL400S filter for every oil change until I noticed this debris, then I switched to bosch, then the last oil change I went to a wix XP. These pics are from the last oil change, and the amount of debris is probably half as much as before. My car does not burn/consume oil at all, I never have to top it up in 5k miles.

How bad does this debris look? I've never seen this amount of debris on my other vehicles.

I switched to mobil 0w40 this last change in hopes it will provide better wear protection than the specified 5w30.

 

[gallydif]

First of all

I'ma go out on a limb here. Your engine had/has carbon in it. Pieces of carbon are coming off now with the oil cleaning your engine.

 

[Kool1]

Those specks looks concerning to me. I would send out a sample of oil to be analyzed.

 

[CT8]

Are the particles metal or carbon like? Can you take off the valve cover and inspect the engine cleanliness?

 

[901Memphis]

Doesn't look too bad to me. Try switching to a higher efficiency filter like a tough guard or Ultra.

I have had debris in my drains before and after 0w40 it was less than 5w30

 

[hemitom]

well if its not metal or plastic i wouldn't be overly concerned. most likely carbon loosening in the engine ??

 

[John_Dude]

There are some shiny specs, maybe 25% sparkly. I've had the valve cover off recently, the top end is very very clean. One other thing is that I ran a spectre oiled cotton gauze air filter for the last 2.5 years, switched to a regular paper filter recently. I looked at the spectre air filter carefully and I'm pretty sure these particles are small enough to fit through the pores in the filter. I hope I didn't contaminate my crankcase with this [censored] air filter.

 

[RooflessVW]

Well, swirl a magnet around there and see what you get.

If they're not magnetic, I would suspect bearing material.

 

[Donald]

Not a fan of alternate air filters like you used. Get a UOA. NAPA sells the kits for $16.00.

At 151k in an 17 yr old Escort what would you do if the engine was on its way out?

I would not run thicker oil than in the owners manual.

If the air filter did let in dirt, most will be out in 2 oil changes but the dirt could have caused engine wear.

But it is what it is.

 

[BrocLuno]

A small Ford engine at 151,000 will be quite happy on 0W-40. I routinely run Ford engines over 150K on 15W-40 HDEO to keep them quiet.

I suspect that the "particle" are sludge or semi hard carbon coming off "historic" surfaces. Those are to big to pass through an oil pump pick-up screen, so they have never been filtered. The type or brand of filter has little to do with stuff that can't get to a filter ...

Since it's running well, I'd just keep doing what you're doing. Unless a magnet will move that stuff around? If it will, you have engine issues coming quickly ...

 

[demarpaint]

If you're sure the pan was clean before you started, then I wouldn't be happy if I saw that in my drain pan. My drain pan does collect junk over the months between oil changes, which is why I mentioned that. It looks like it could be carbon. I'd get a UOA, and a stock air filter. There's nothing you can do about what happened in the past. Going forward I'd change to a better air filter and a better oil filter.

 

[DoubleWasp]

This engine is begging for a UOA.

Why play a bunch of guessing games when you can have a professional laboratory tell you exactly what is in there for the price of a pizza?

Good call on the M1 0/40. I'd stay with that oil no matter what.

 

[crazyoildude]

If those specs were bearing material that engine would be rapping.. Could they be from a dirty drain pan or dirt on the outside of the engine? Could this have been from dirt buildup on the oil filter and dirt falling into the drain pan when you put the wrench on it?

 

[Ducked]

Best guess, detached bits of sheet varnish.They look a bit light coloured and shiny for carbon, but that might be an artefact of the picture,with oil sheen etc.

As has been said, you need a magnet on there. Its possible for sludge/coke particles to be weakly magnetic if there's ferrous metal bound-in, (I've seen this once on my car which was putting a lot of fine ferrous metal in the oil.) but they shouldn't be strongly magnetic. My car also had varnish flakes, gasket fragments, and bits of RTV in the sump.

You might get additional clues by dispersing some of the particles in solvents and then putting a magnet on them. Use a magnifying glass. Get a feel for the density by how fast they settle

I'd say the main avoidable risk would be blocking the oil pickup strainer if theres a lot of this stuff in there. Do you have an oil pressure guage? How difficult is it to remove the sump?

A UOA might give additional clues/reassurance, but as an informative current thread indicates, it will tell you nothing about the makeup and origin of big lumps.

 

[Lubener]

You sure it isn't debris that was on the bottom of your drain pan in the first place? Cut open your oil filter for a look and tell us what you find.

 

[Doog]

Go get a few jugs of supertech 5w20 and the cheapest oil filters money can buy and 1 gallon of MMO. Do 4 OCIs of 2500 miles with 1/2 quart of mmo in each. Then switch back to your regular oil & filter.

 

[Ducked]

You can get additional info (on some cars) by putting a magnetic pick up wand down the dipstick tube, with the engine off and the oil at least partly cooled (since I don't know the temperature stability of these magnets).

This has the advantage (over looking at drained oil and magnetic drain plugs) that you can do it frequently.

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted By: Lubener
You sure it isn't debris that was on the bottom of your drain pan in the first place? Cut open your oil filter for a look and tell us what you find.


+1 on cutting open the filter.

 

[John_Dude]

I'll cut open this filter at the next change, old one is gone. I just ordered a blackstone UOA also. Drain pain was very clean beforehand.

It may be dirt from the oil running down from the oil filter, it's mounted sideways on the back of the block. The oil drips down and over a crossmember, but I think usually that all goes into the dirt because of how the oil collection pan is positioned. I'll pay closer attention to that next time. I did a lot of oil changes before that didn't have this debris so I think it's unlikely.

 

[Ohle_Manezzini]

Dirt can fall from suspension parts and frame. Smash the specs and see if it dissolves (carbon or sand) or not (metal).