Dirt In The Engine

flatlander · November 2, 2005

Oh, That sinking feeling!!! Found 2 of the 4 screws holding the air filter housing together had not been tightened on the last oil change and allowed dirt to suck in unfiltered. Damned! Normally change oil myself but went to a GM Quick Change and they flat forgot to tighten 2 of the screws. You can see where the dirt leaked around the filter gasket of my 2003 Chevy. The question is, how much damage did it do.

I washed out the plastic housing from the air cleaner to the throttle body, cleaned out the throttle body, cleaned out the air filter housing and put in a new filter. Changed the oil & oil filter and will change it again today. Am also going to do an oil analysis. The oil pressure is the same as before and the engine did not use an unusual amount of oil although it was down about 1/4th of an inch on the dipstick. Wish I had thought to do the oil analysis on the first oil change after discovering the leak.

I'm in a predicament as the dealership is not offering any help. I saved the old air filter, took pictures, and will have the oil analysis results but this had to do some damage to my engine.

12-29-05 Update: Just got the second results from the oil analysis at 2530 miles after discovering the air intake leak and they are saying normal levels but to continue oil analysis. The Iron level was 12ppm, Copper 12ppm, Silicon 2ppm, Aluminum 2ppm, Ferrous Debris 20ppm. It looks like I may have dodged the bullet. I could definately see where the dust was sucking around the air filter element and so there was some dirt inhalation. Think that it did not do the engine any good but that there was no major damage. Have a total of 53115 miles on the engine now. The first oil analysis showed higher levels of sodium & boron but normal levels of all other elements.

asilverblazer · November 2, 2005

Well it is definately not good, although I doubt anything was really damaged. How long was it like that? Even if for a full oil change cycle (ie: 3,000 miles +/-) I really don't think it would be that serious. What you have done sounds like the best, and I think the place that did it, should refund the money or complementary oil change, detail or whatever...

Machine · November 2, 2005

Not good. Don't freak until you see the analysis. I bet you're OK.

facn8me · November 3, 2005

I'd like to see a pic of how much dirt. Sounds like buckets worth. Good luck with it.

jhm · November 3, 2005

I think you are going a little over the top on this. Unless you drive mostly on dusty dirt roads, I can't see this causing a problem like you seem to think it did. You cleaned everything up, just don't let them touch the air cleaner anymore. I keep a piece of tape with the mileage when it was replaced on mine, so there is no reason for anyone to touch it.

Ape0r · November 3, 2005

I think you are going a little over the top on this. Unless you drive mostly on dusty dirt roads, I can't see this causing a problem like you seem to think it did. You cleaned everything up, just don't let them touch the air cleaner anymore. I keep a piece of tape with the mileage when it was replaced on mine, so there is no reason for anyone to touch it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'd tend to agree, don't sound like it'll be anything at all.

This past summer I worked as an assistant at a local Chevy dealer, this one day we got a car that had been driven into a lake or something. Wouldn't start. Mechanic at first thought it was the starter. Then we looked into the throttle body. Engine was COMPLETELY flooded.

We took out the spark plugs and just kept turnin' it over, pumping all the water that had worked its way above the pistons out. After a while we put 'em back in and guess what? It started. Changed the oil a couple times and it seemed to run just fine.

I'll never forget the mud that flowed out when I popped open the drain plug for the first time. Looked more like chocolate milk than anything else. Sure didn't smell like motor oil anymore.

So no, I don't think a little dirt will hurt a thing

slaterx2 · November 3, 2005

I am sympathetic to your case, but I doubt there will be any detectable damage.. These guys I found on another forum, however....:

Hey guys, please help with my mods gone wrong... Hey guys, I've got a 98 1.8T. I've had a k04 and chip for a while and wanted to get more performance. I was recommended to port and polish the intake and exhaust. We found out they used abrasive material to do it like gritty sand. So I got with my friend that tunes Hondas and we decided to try it ourselves. We got a bag of sandblasting sand and hooked up into the intake and started the car. We had to hold the gas so it would run. He wanted to let the engine suck in the sand through the intake so it would port it out and then push it out the ehxaust so it would port the exhaust manifold. I was worried that it might cause problems but he figured it'd be OK as long as we didn't make boost and it get sucked in the turbo. After running the car and letting it suck in sand we got about half way through a 25 lb bag. The check engine light was on and the engine was bucking and kicking and sounding really weird. We stopped and hooked the car back up normal and took off the sand supply. We tried to start it again and it was really hard. Once started it couldn't idle and kept making weird noises. We took it out and drove it and it started to make scraping and knocking noises. Help! Can anyone tell me what to do! My buddy only does Hondas so he doesn't know much about Audis.

facn8me · November 4, 2005

Surely someone just made that up Can someone actually be as dumb as the audi guy.

Unfortunatly it probably is real

flatlander · November 4, 2005

Got the oil analysis back today and the results are good. Analysis showed 2 parts per million of Silicon, and 3ppm for aluminum. This is after roughly 60 miles on an oil & filter change. Wish I had thought to have the orginal oil analyzed. They suggested that I continue to monitor the oil for a wear trend and I am going to do it. Certainly do not feel that changing the oil and then changing it again some 60 miles later was overkill as oil is much cheaper than a new engine. Had taken the plastic air off to wash out the dust, also cleaned the throttle body. I make my living in the dirt, farming, so really was worried about the dust leak. After looking back at the maintenance records it looks like the leak had been ocurring for about 2000 miles.