Dirt sands down the engine parts

It doesn't matter how much we want to care for our engines, if we allow dirt to enter by "cleaning" or using a high flow air filter, the dirt will sand away or wear down the surfaces in the engine.

In the first example we have two samples of a Ford tractor. The first sample had 59 ppm of dirt in the oil, causing 197 ppm of iron wear, 24 ppm of chrome, 14 ppm of lead from the bearings and 38 ppm of copper in 348 hours of operation. This is the equivalent wear of about 4000 hours of use with a good air filter.

For the second sample they had changed the air filter, but once again had "cleaned" it with the air hose, causing the ingress of 35 ppm of dirt, with a resultant 54 ppm of iron wear, 11 ppm of chrome, 13 ppm of lead and 12 ppm of copper in 350 hours of operation.

This tractor will never reach a normal life.