Exit32
Elite Explorer
- Joined
- December 15, 2014
- Messages
- 393
- Reaction score
- 144
- City, State
- Boston, Mass.
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2022 Aviator Reserve
My 2018 Explorer Platinum with 3.5 Ecoboost was approaching the thousand-mile mark, and I decided to replace the factory-fill motor oil with Mobil 1 5w30 Extended Performance and swap-in a new Motorcraft FL-500S oil filter to take the place of the factory filter. Everything looked good during the procedure; however, the original oil appeared very dark while it was draining. With only 997 miles on the oil, I expected something like a light-amber color. I suspect the blackish tint was a result of the engine's assembly lube dissolved in the oil.
As I usually do, I decided to take a look inside the factory oil filter. I wanted to see if there were any pieces of gasket material or flakes of metal trapped by the filter -- this is not uncommon with a brand-new engine. I have an oil-filter cutter that cleanly removes the end of the oil filter, and it was easy to open the original filter. Inside, I couldn't find any evidence of trapped engine break-in particles whatsoever. The filter media was very clean, and there was no residue in the bottom of the filter can. While I'm sure I could have driven 10,000 miles before the first oil-and-filter change without doing harm to the engine, I now have peace of mind knowing that (undetectable) break-in debris has been removed -- and the black oil has been replaced.
I don't want to clutter this forum with more than one boring photo, so if you want to see additional details of the oil-filter dissection, take a look at this online photo album:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/9964408@N07/3502T5
As I usually do, I decided to take a look inside the factory oil filter. I wanted to see if there were any pieces of gasket material or flakes of metal trapped by the filter -- this is not uncommon with a brand-new engine. I have an oil-filter cutter that cleanly removes the end of the oil filter, and it was easy to open the original filter. Inside, I couldn't find any evidence of trapped engine break-in particles whatsoever. The filter media was very clean, and there was no residue in the bottom of the filter can. While I'm sure I could have driven 10,000 miles before the first oil-and-filter change without doing harm to the engine, I now have peace of mind knowing that (undetectable) break-in debris has been removed -- and the black oil has been replaced.
I don't want to clutter this forum with more than one boring photo, so if you want to see additional details of the oil-filter dissection, take a look at this online photo album:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/9964408@N07/3502T5