Originally Posted By: Jim Allen
Two engineers (Eleftherakis and Khalil, aka E&K) who have done a great deal of testing on filtration for the OEs as it relates to automatic transmissions. You can buy some of their white papers on the SAE website. They have done oil analysis and testing on thousands of transmissions since the '80s have some interesting statistics.
-On average, 75 percent of the lifetime contaminants generated by an automatic transmission come within the first 5,000 miles of operation. That's from break-in, normal wear and the built in contamination from manufacturing (or RE-manufacturing, as the case may be).
-In the mix of contaminants, some 51 percent is ferrous. The particles range in size from 5 to 80 microns, about 82 percent of them larger than 5 microns. Because the MF has a magnet, it will be more effective than it's 35u absolute rating and reportedly it will catch some 99 percent of the ferrous stuff (of all sizes), which is the most harmful material as, a) it can be attracted to the electromagnetic valves in an electronic trans, and b) it readily damages aluminum.
I think I calculated a while back according to E&K's data, the average automatic generates about 0.043 mg/mile of contaminants of all types but that number is calculated from an average of total contaminants generated in 70K miles and it would likely not be linear (being heavier at first then tapering off). You also have to reduce that number by the actual amount of material the filter media can catch (you wouldn't count the magnet), so you reduce that 0.043 by about 60% to 0.025 mg/mile.
I don't have the actual filter capacity of the MF (e.g. how much contamination in MG it can hold before the bypass opens) but I came up with a ballpark by comparing the filter media size with another whose capacity I know. From that, I estimate (and I will endeavor to find the actual capacity of the MF) it's capacity is 2.7 grams, or 2700 mg. Divide that by 0.025 and you get a calculate interval of
108,000 miles (2700/0.025=108,000). Even using the full 0.043 mg/mile it's a 62,000 mile interval. Bear in mind these are rough calculations.
There is little to worry about in running the MF to the recommended limit (or even a bit longer). If it does plug up, the bypass opens. The magnet will still be catching that 51 percent of the ferrous stuff so it's still filtering some.
I don't think you'd have to worry about warranty issue just by having a Magnefine installed but if a guy did a lousy job of installing it and a leak ensued, you'd be on the hook for that obviously.
Good observations Jim. But the Magnefine's media is just one piece of the pie. There is also the magnet in the Magnefine, the magnet in the pan and the felt filter in the transmission (if there is one).
As I said, I ran the Magnefine in my Jeep for 40K plus and the media only had a few dots of something in it.
In my Camry, with around 200K, the Magnefine did not do anything to reduce the somewhat elevated level of Al. I did a used oil analysis before and after installing a Magnefine (with several thousand miles in between).
