Anyone use magnets on their oil filter?

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Anyone use magnets on their oil filter, then take it apart to see if it did any metal catching? Seem like it might work, but hard to really know.
I found a really strong magnet from a old hard drive and stuck it to my filter at last oil change, figure it can't hurt.
 
Yep, on several vehicles now. And yes, they do work, as I've cut open several oil filters to check.

Go here: http://www.filtermag.com

Order two of them for full coverage. The pics on their site are a little misleading. They work on ferrous metals only, of course.

Your filter will flow freer and for longer, but the really small stuff will still circulate in your oil. Even if that's the only tangible benefit to them, I'll take it.
 
I guess I've gone a little magnet mad. I've torn apart a few old computer hard drives for the magnets. I have a couple in the transmission pan (in addition to the magnets that came from the factory) a couple on the outside of the oil filter and one hanging inside the power steering reservoir.

This is the magnet from the power steering reservoir with all the black metal shavings I was able to clean off of it. Its pretty amazing how much metal gets worn away in 7500 miles.
 -

Each $5 used hard drive comes with 2 niodium magnets like this one.
 
Wow, a lot more metal than I would have thought, but we really don't know the condition of the engines that these photos came from.
I never thought about the power steering pump but the next time I find a bad hard drive It's magnets are going to be on my power steering pump.
 
I've been putting a made-for-this-purpose magnet inside my oil filter for about 40k miles. Take it out after each change and wipe the debris on a paper towel. I've looked at the particles under a microscope and I could clearly see many shiny metal sphere-shaped particles. They are a little smaller than the width of a hair. The spot on the paper towel that I wipe the magnet with looks like the pic above with the naked eye. Just be careful of some magnets because they may breakdown in the presence of hot oil. I had a drain plug with a magnet inserted in it; when new the magnet had sharp edges and after one oil change it's edges were rounded!
 
"There is no negative side of it.'

Only a North and South.
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But, I was wondering if it wouldn't be more informative to know how much Iron your engine is throwing - rather than have the magnet grab it out of the oil. In my case, I don't care due to my high mileage vehicles, out of warranty, etc. But for those who are doing UOAs it's an important data point. And the rest of us lurkers are choosing oils on those UOAs.
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whats with those computer hard drive magnets. i have a few old 3 1/2 hard drives kicking around, but they dont have any large magnets in them.
are you guys pulling magnets out of hard drives from the 70's or something?
 
I guess not all rare earth magnets are the same. Sumarium magnets are intended for use above 180 C temperatures but are hard to find. I found the Real cheap.

http://www.kjmagnetics.com

Under the search on their site type in "oil". They have three choices under $2 each.
 
So deoxy4, which ones would you ordering?
Never knew there were so many types of magnets @
Good prices.

I wonder which type of magnet the Magna-guard above uses!
 
"whats with those computer hard drive magnets. i have a few old 3 1/2 hard drives kicking around, but they dont have any large magnets in them.
are you guys pulling magnets out of hard drives from the 70's or something? "

Nobody said they were large! They are small but very powerful. Be careful they can hurt you (pinch skin etc)
I bought some the size of about 3 quarters stacked..my ***! Got them at Northern Tool for some projects with magnetic motorcycle tank bags etc.
I don't use 'em on the filter....never find anything on my magnetic drain plugs so figure there is no use. And frankly I'd rather find it there so I SEE it, not inside a filter ;-)
 
The type that you put inside the filter does have the advantage of allowing you to remove the magnet and see any metal. You could do that with the wrap around outside type only if you cut the filter apart every time.
 
All Hard drives have them, but not all of them are very large. You can also bust open a cooling fan to obtain the magnet if you got a few laying around.
 
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