I’m considering a Gold Plug.
I got my pair of Filter Magnets installed today.
- Thread starter Carlostrece
- Start date
I went with Votex. Has good things said about them in this forum, and more importantly, US Made in Wisconsin. Our daughter lives there and my wife will know it came from there (currently, the Amsoil does, too).
If you know how oil filters work, it's obvious that there is no way they catch all the ferrous particles below 20u. This is also mentioned in many write-ups (like the Machinery Lubrication article) about magnets in filtration - magnets are used in conjunction to capture what a filter can't.
A magnetic drain plug proves that because it's located in the sump before the oil gets pumped through the oil filter. So that means a lot of that ferrous debris is passing through the oil filter, because if the filter was catching it all then a magnetic drain plug in the sump wouldn't catch much of anything. My magnetic drain plug photo in post 40 shows how much was captured in 4K miles. I was also running an OG Fram Ultra which is still pretty high efficient below 20u, so it probably also caught a good share of the ferrous debris below 20u. If I would have ran a less efficient oil filter, I'd predict that the magnetic drain plug would have captured even more ferrous material that I saw.
Here's a Gold Plug magnetic drain plug out of my XSR900 motorcycle with only a 2,000 mile run from 3,000 to 5,000 miles on the odometer. The layer of ferrous material captured is about 4-5 mm thick (some wiped clean to show the layer). If the oil filter could catch all of this stuff (which is clearly doesn't), the magnetic drain plug would have hardly anything on it instead of looking like this. I feel better knowing all that crud on the drain plug wasn't being circulated through the engine over the whole OCI. This is why I don't need some study beside the same conclusion in every wear study that says cleaner oil results in less wear to decide to use a magnet in the oil of not.
Here's something else I found on the Gold Plug on a previous oil change.
Here's something else I found on the Gold Plug on a previous oil change.
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Why not order up some N52 bar magnets for $7.99 from Amazon like I showed earlier, slap them all on the oil filter (if it's a spin-on) on that new van that's still breaking in and see what they catch for yourself.
I am!
Be careful getting those magnets close to each other, they can slam together and shatter, they are very strong ... lots of reviews on Amazon mention this. They need to be slid off of each other carefully. Wear safety glasses when handling to be safe just in case.
Here's a supplemental photo to post 164 above (edit time ran out), showing the amount of ferrous material on the drain plug before cleaning it all off. This was the 2nd oil change (first oil run with the Gold Plug) with a 2,400 mile run (from 600 to 3,000 miles on the odometer). The metal sliver was found in this run. Hard to say where that came from.
It's an excellent hypothesis.
Well aware thanks
Carlostrece
$100 Site Donor 2025
Same here! I put my Gold Plug in a drawer until next OCI. I have an OCI automated time based reminder in my phone scheduler. You inspired me to add a note in my scheduler that tells me where I put my Gold Plug and reminds me to install it at next oil change.
In the meanwhile, my Filtermag are already on my oil filter.
Carlostrece
$100 Site Donor 2025
That is a very impressive looking magnetic drain plug. It looks better than my Gold Plug because yours has a built-in rubber or plastic gasket, which means no need to replace crush washers. I like that!
Also, yours has a much longer magnet than my Gold Plug. So more surface area.
I'm impressed!
It’s the OE drain plug. I just bought the magnet and stuck it on there. The oil pan is cast aluminum so it works well.
Carlostrece
$100 Site Donor 2025
Each time the filter is replaced, the captured metal is removed with the old filter.
In the past, I put powerful neodyneum Filtermag transmission pan magnets (flat bars with powerful magetism focused in one direction) on the bottom exterior of my engine and trans pans of my Jeep. Also one on bottom exterior of Jeep front and rear diffs. The magnets stayed put for a while, but eventually disappeared from the oil pans and diffs. Not sure why. Probably jarred loose by g-force shocks when hitting bumps, potholes, washboard roads. Maybe knocked off by brush. Whatever happened, they eventually all went missing. When they went missing, any captured metal particles were released back into the oil.
I also tried putting a bipolar flat bar magnet (not focused in 1 direction) inside my rear diff housing on the bottom inteterior of housing. That magnet jarred lose (probably from hitting bumps, potholes, and/or washboard roads). The magnet went through the diff gears and got ground into magnetic particles and splinters stuck to the gears.
So I'm reluctant to put magnets on outside or inside of engine oil pan or transmission pan, but I am confident to put Filtermag on oil filter.
Magnets on the filter are going to be able to catch the ferrous debris quicker than a magnetic drain plug. The magnetic drain plug I run in the Tacoma sticks up quite a ways into the sump, and it probably has a decent reaching magnetic field because it's pretty strong, so over the OCI it seems to catch quite a bit, especially seen during the break-in period which took a lot of miles to complete on the Tacoma based on the level of debris decrease as OCIs increased.
I got those N52 magnets off of Amazon I mentioned earlier in this thread, and will put 3 of them (120 deg apart) in conjunction with the magnetic drain plug at the next OCI which is real soon. I'd put all 6 on the filter, but I'm going to use the other 3 on my car which also has a magnetic drain plug. Three at 120 deg apart should still work OK. I know they will also catch some stuff before it can be caught by the drain plug. I know because I've put a couple of pretty small relatively strong magnets on the filter before to see, and they were also catching some stuff. But these 60 mm x 10 mm x 3mm thick N52 magnets off Amazon are super strong and should get some added debris too, but a bit faster than the drain plug could.
Excellent example of primary and secondary bennie of a useful diagnostic tool.
Carlostrece
$100 Site Donor 2025
In my past experience with my Jeep, Filtermag for oil filter stays put on the oil filter and never falls off no matter how many bumpy roads you drive on. I think that's partly because the Filtermag for oil filter is curved and wraps around the oil filter in a semi circle, and also because the magnets are strong.Each time the filter is replaced, the captured metal is removed with the old filter.
In the past, I put powerful neodyneum Filtermag transmission pan magnets (flat bars with powerful magetism focused in one direction) on the bottom exterior of my engine and trans pans of my Jeep. Also one on bottom exterior of Jeep front and rear diffs. The magnets stayed put for a while, but eventually disappeared from the oil pans and diffs. Not sure why. Probably jarred loose by g-force shocks when hitting bumps, potholes, washboard roads. Maybe knocked off by brush. Whatever happened, they eventually all went missing. When they went missing, any captured metal particles were released back into the oil.
I also tried putting a bipolar flat bar magnet (not focused in 1 direction) inside my rear diff housing on the bottom inteterior of housing. That magnet jarred lose (probably from hitting bumps, potholes, and/or washboard roads). The magnet went through the diff gears and got ground into magnetic particles and splinters stuck to the gears.
So I'm reluctant to put magnets on outside or inside of engine oil pan or transmission pan, but I am confident to put Filtermag on oil filter.
Carlostrece
$100 Site Donor 2025
Do the N52 magnets from Amazon pull in 2 or more directions, or are they focused to only pull in one direction? Filtermag oil filter magnets are designed to pull only in 1 direction (toward oil filter) which I prefer for several reasons. I also like that Filtermag are curved to wrap around oil filter.
They will stick on the can regardless of what side is against the can. I didn't try to see if they attract and oppose each other based on orientation with each other because they are too strong to be messing with around each other.
