Mud got past air filter. How badly did I screw up

[walterjay]

I don't think that bentonite clay is very abrasive. I wouldn't worry too much. Also....years ago they used to use clay in gasoline to prevent knocking.

 

[freewayman]

I don't think that bentonite clay is very abrasive. I wouldn't worry too much. Also....years ago they used to use clay in gasoline to prevent knocking.

I've heard they use it in drilling mud too to lubricate bits. But I'm not sure it's entirely bentonite clay either. But it could be because it had to be fine enough to bypass the air filter somehow which I'm still at a loss for.

The area I was in was a former bentonite mine so not sure if the dirt was backfill waste or actually bentonite.

 

[walterjay]

Bentonite is indeed used in well drilling for lubrication purposes. Does this mud feel smooth or gritty between your fingers?

 

[freewayman]

Bentonite is indeed used in well drilling for lubrication purposes. Does this mud feel smooth or gritty between your fingers?

It's dried now, but it's very fine when I felt it. It caked up thinly in the intake tube if that makes sense.

 

[walterjay]

I think you will be ok.

 

[freewayman]

I think you will be ok.

Thank you man. I hope so too. The guy who winched me out said she's a Ford bud she'll be fine. He was right about the tranny/diffs/transfer case so I'm hoping we are right about the engine too. This has not been a good week, truck aside, for me and I'm about at my wits end to say the least. Hoping for good news tomorrow, fingers crossed!

 

[Exhaustgases]

Bore scope time just for a look. Clay hmmm like doing a clay bar on the paint job ? Maybe a good shine then.

Gee if the filter said its okay then?

 

[Pterostylis]

Bentonite is indeed used in well drilling for lubrication purposes. Does this mud feel smooth or gritty between your fingers?

Move over VRP, the next bitoger trend will be bentonite frankenblends.

 

[Opelman]

Well there are Bentonite based greases out there.

 

[ecotourist]

Shortly after I bought my first real car (a used '65 Comet with a 289 V8) I noticed the gasket below the air filter housing wasn't placed right and there was a small amount of dust on top of the carburetor. I placed it properly of course and carried on. The engine was never abused during my ownership and I actually took pretty good care of it.

The engine was fine for quite a while but began to use oil and became an oil burner by 80,000 miles. In those days, normal engine life was maybe 100,000 miles. So did inhaled dust do in my engine? Or did it suffer a "normal" but somewhat early failure? Or had the speedometer been turned back and it actually made pretty good miles?

I'll never know of course. Some people say the Ford 289 V8 was a great engine, and other people are not very complementary. For whatever reason mine needed a rebuild by 80,000 miles.

 

[IndyIan]

Clay is defined as less than 4 microns so I guess lots of finer clay dust would go right through a dry air filter, and so lots would be carried through by a water soaked air filter too? With dry dust though, it doesn't tend to settle out, as its being pulled through continuously, but water sticks to the sides of the intake and shows the amount of dust that its carrying through as it dries.
So I'd guess the engine didn't suffer too much, from one session like that, but probably its not a good thing to repeat often if you want to get the regular engine life out of your truck.