Keep your engine oil super-clean
THERE are several things oil does in an engine besides lubricate, such as removing heat. It also cleans, thanks to detergents added to it. As oil flows around the passages and bearings, that detergent lifts dirt and carries it away in suspension. This is partly the reason oil discolours: it is simply doing its secondary job of cleaning.
That collected dirt doesn’t keep accumulating in suspension though. If it did, the increasing density of suspended crud in the oil could slowly turn it into an abrasive fluid. To prevent oil becoming abrasive, it is designed to deposit any dirt as sediment. That sediment forms anywhere, but the sump holding the largest volume of oil, is usually where it builds most noticeably, along with any lumps of debris and foreign bodies. When you realise
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