magnetic drain plugs, what does it pick up?

[garlicbreadman]

ive been using magnetic drain plugs for a while now and i'm curious what part(s) of the engine the shavings/debris are come from?

On my last oil change, i used Maxlife Nexgen 5w30 and there was absolutely no shavings/black debris on my magnetic drain plug. I was really impressed and amazed because it can only mean one thing, Maxlife is protecting the part of the engine extremely well.

Ive had this drain plug for the past 4 years and there is always a small amount of shaving on there. Ive used castrol gtx/syntec, valvoline synpower(used most often), amsoil, mobile conventional, and a few others.

 

[UNC017]

Inside an engine, the only debris you'll find on a magnetic plug will come from a wearing ferrous-metal surface.

Obviously rings are iron and (most) cylinder walls are iron as well, so ring/cylinder wear particles can be trapped.

In flat-tappet engines wear particles from the lifter/cam interface will show up, but there's much less actual wear on tat surface in a roller cam engine unless there's a pretty serious failure.

In theory, wear from the forged steel or nodular iron crank could be trapped, but since the crank rides in super-soft (comparatively) babbit or aluminum bearings that wear faster than it does, you're not likely to see any crank metal there

Any gear- or chain-driven system can contribute (cam drive, either timing chain or timing gear, oil pump drive, the oil pump itself) can shed ferrous metal wear particles.

That's about it- the wrist pins might contribute a tiny amount, and various other small things. I rarely see anything on engine magnet drain plugs, even on my old V8s with a hundred times more ferrous-metal wear potential than a modern engine.

 

[4x4chevydude]

I dont ususally see stuff on mine but the pizza trucks i service with 300k plus on them have quite a few shavings...ive gotten it on trans drain plugs too...its not terrible if you have some but it defintely can come from many different components in there.

 

[InvalidUserID]

I've never seen big shavings or anything that looks like shavings. It's usually dark grit...whatever it is.

 

[LckydevL]

Originally Posted By: InvalidUserID
I've never seen big shavings or anything that looks like shavings. It's usually dark grit...whatever it is.



This is what I almost always see. Black dark murky snotty type substance. A little grit but not much.

 

[LeakySeals]

Wonder how a magnetic drain plug would affect a Mobil 1 used oil analysis.

 

[garlicbreadman]

Originally Posted By: InvalidUserID
I've never seen big shavings or anything that looks like shavings. It's usually dark grit...whatever it is.


that's how mine is. dark grit, its never anything thats feel-able

so the grit is likely from the piston rings and walls? are the cam shaft magnetizable?