oil filter exam

[jaykay]

I pulled apart my oil filter (34K km) and found a lot of black clumps which appear to be carbon particles. Initially I was concerned as I thought them to be black plastic but they crumbled and broke up with pressure from an exacto knife. Could this be me loosening up the garage queen it may have been with the previous owner? I also found a few orange specs which don't appear to be metallic along with quite a bit of fine metallic particles in one sector of the element.

The mag plug was clean.

With nothing to go by I would think indications are that the engine is healthy.

Anyone else done this yet?

[Steve Tinker]

The orange specs could be from your chain tensioner guides but the non magnetic particles could be ???.
If it were me, to be 100% sure, I would now remove the sump and check to see what other debris is floating around.......
Your filter is the first line of defence - if in doubt, dig further.

[jmatta]

I agree with pulling the sump plate...I plan to do this at my next oil change. Jake Raby suggests materials could be lurking in the bottom that don't make their way to either the filter or the drain plug (I have the LN magnetic plug, as well).

[altonjone]

One weekend I went to every auto parts store in my area and bought every brand of oil filter I could find. I picked up at the beginning of the filter Ford 5.0L V8. The reason is that it is a popular filter is large enough to reveal any fake miniature internal components, and fits most 2.2L and 2.5L engines. Design-wise it is fully compatible with our systems, and oil is an excellent replacement for the pathetic filter that was designed for our motors. I managed to find 20 different filters including several brands.