Magnets on oil filters

[Patman]

What do you guys think of these things:

http://www.filtermag.com/

I think they are a huge scam, that the bigger particles will be stopped by the filter anyways,
and besides, the oil is flowing too fast for this magnet to catch anything anyways.

 

[Dominic]

I'm not sure about the quality of that particular one (It looks pretty good!), but according to The Engine Oil Bible, http://www.thebeartrap.com/bt800.htm is the one to have

I personally would use a magnetic plug long before one of those expensive oil filter magnets, they actually work well. The oil filter magnets would work if the magnets used were high enough strength (like that filtermag one since it uses neodymium) - but aren't most magnetic particles larger than 20 microns anyways?

According to the website the particles the filtermag grabs are quite large. Perhaps the magnetic field simply pulls these large particles through the media through the shell of the case, instead of actually stopping something so large

I quote "The size of the particles in Steve’s filter far surpassed theothers, the FilterMag captured particles 3/8 of an inch in length and 1/4 inch wide." http://www.filtermag.com/whatsnew.htm

I don't see how anything that large would be released in a properly lubricated engine - and if the engine did let go of something that huge the filter would surely stop it right?

One last thing - aren't the smallest particles silicon based anyways? No magnet will stop that

[ July 05, 2002, 05:19 AM: Message edited by: Dominic ]

 

[Dominic]

quote:

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FilterMag’s patented technology uses a magnetic flux amplifier to redirect the magnetic energy that is normally present on the far side of the magnet, toward the inside of the filter canister. The flux amplifier has to be of an exact thickness to produce the strongest magnetic field possible. Further, it has to be designed to allow FilterMag™ to adjust its circumference in order to compensate for manufacturing variances and provide the precise fit and alignment of the magnets to the filter canister required to focus the maximum magnetic energy within the oil flow. If any of these dimensions are not exact, the strength of the magnetic field is greatly reduced and therefore the units filtering effectiveness.

---

 

[Patman]

Hehe, don't you need plutonium (or 1.21 jigawatts!) to run that flux capacitor?

 

[VaderSS]

I believe in using the drain plug type magnet. Why? If there are magnetic particles(especially large one) in my oil, I want to know about it without having to disassemble the filter.

 

[Patman]

The drain plug magnets definitely work, because the small particles will float to the bottom of your oil pan when you shut off the engine and stick to this magnet. I have had a few cars with these drain plugs and at oil change time (especially when the car is new) you can see a thin grey film on the magnet where it has picked up small particles. I can't seem to find any aftermarket magnetic drain plugs up here anymore, I'll have to do a better search. I had one as standard equipment on my LS1 Firebird, which was nice!

 

[Chris]

I have the www.superplug.com on car and bike and it is of very high quality. All the Magnetic power is at the tip since the stainless bolt is non-magnetic; this allows the threads to stay clean. As far as the filter magnets I have been getting the same magnets out of dead computer hard drives for free. They will even attract to each other through your hand!

 

[MolaKule]

"FilterMag’s patented technology uses a magnetic flux amplifier to redirect the magnetic energy that is normally present on the far side of the magnet, toward the inside of the filter canister. The flux amplifier has to be of an exact thickness to produce the strongest magnetic field possible."

Any amlifier needs a power source. Where are they getting the power source? Pure, unscientific hype. Patman has them pegged!
Any magnet will only attract ferrous (iron), nickel, cobalt, and similar materials. Sand can only be trapped by filtering.

Mag. Drain plugs are the way to go if you want to trap metallic particles.

 

[Steve in Seattle]

lol... cute.

The "flux amplifier" is actually the curve.

Flux lines are perpendicular to the field strength boundries for a mangnetic field. Remember the iron filings on paper deal? well, the "flux" rating is simply how dense those lines are for a given cross section.

By making it "curved" instead of straight... they increase the "field density" or "magnetic flux" inside the curved area, and lessen it outside the curve.

Of course ANY curved magnetic field displays such a property.

I don't know where they got this "amplified" business from though. Increased? yep... amplified? lol... not likely, or even functionally correct.

[ July 06, 2002, 02:19 AM: Message edited by: Steve in Seattle ]

 

[Steve in Seattle]

I guess it wouldn't hurt any, but I'm with Mole and Pat... the oil's just going too fast, under too much pressure and turbulence to convince me it's gonna help.

As for pulling particles through the filter, I don't think that'll happen. the field would be strongest by the walls of the filter, which is where it is pumped in. IF the magnet works, it would keep the particles away from the filter element (and hense out of the flow through the filter and out the middle/top of the filter).

I just don't think it'll do it however. 40 to 60psi is A LOT of pressure... and considering V8 oil demands (compared to the volume in the filter), that's alot of turbulance.

Here's a few different designs to look over:
http://www.filtermag.com/ - solid 1/2 wrap around
http://www.thebeartrap.com/ - small solid chucks wrap around
http://www.llcg.com/magstrap/main.htm - solid field-opposed magnets

http://www.magnaforce.com/ - solid bottom (unidirectional field

)
http://www.synlube.com/magnets.htm - solid wrap around & just a plain magnet to stick on.

Of any of them, I'd wager the Super Magnaforce has the best chance since it's on the bottom of the filter, and theoretically, it could avoid more of the turbulance in the bottom of the filter, and perhaps pull any magnetic particls through the sludge that accumulates at the bottom of the filter to prevent turbulance from whipping it up and through the filter again. But that's only a wild guess. Plus it looks like it's the largest/strongest magnet of the ones listed.

If any of them were to work, I'd put my money on the Magnaforce... but then again, you don't see actually spending my money on these things anyway.

Just change your oil often during break-in and be done with it.

[ July 06, 2002, 02:18 AM: Message edited by: Steve in Seattle ]

 

[Chris]

I currently have one magnet on the side of the filter, about one inch from where in contacts the motor, and one on the end of the filter. These are the free computer magnets I spoke of and I will be cutting the filter open soon. If there is any interest I will post it here. I am intersted if one position is better than the other and if they attract anything. I figure if it can get something before it hits the element then it stays a bit cleaner and extends its life.

 

[jjbula]

Chris,

Definitely interested in your results but one question nags at me. Wouldn't the filter trap the same particles? Maybe someone should have the metal trappings analyzed to find out how small they are.

I like the magnetic oil plug as a way to find out if the engine is in need of repair.

 

[MolaKule]

Steve in Seattle,

You're forgetting the magnetic flux is going to be flowing IN the metal case, parallel to the surface of the case. The filter's metal case will actually be "shielding" the magnetic flux from attracting any metallics in the filter.

 

[MikeMLS]

Chris,
How easy was it getting the superplug and when did you get them? The website says secure ordering, but no lock comes up on my browser and I won't type in credit card info without it. I tried the toll free # but got a strange recording. (I'll try again this week)

The magnetic plugs I've used in the past have always had a grey film on them so I don't worry about the oil filter picking up the really small stuff, and on new cars have had larger pieces of metal on them, so they do work. (IMO) I'm having trouble finding one for my 2003 Vibe. The 1999 Chevy Malibu came with one from the factory.

BTW, I wouldn't use a magnetic plug if I was going to do an oil analysis on the oil, since the results would be skewed.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by MikeMLS:


BTW, I wouldn't use a magnetic plug if I was going to do an oil analysis on the oil, since the results would be skewed.

---

Why do you say this?

 

[Chris]

I got my superplug by calling; I orderded about 3 months ago. I think it is 1-877-mag-plug and took about a week. These are very impressive.

 

[MikeMLS]

Hi Patman,
In my (very humble) opinion, if I'm using a magnetic oil drain plug and it's holding some metals on it (and not suspended in the oil) when I drain the oil out and have it analyzed, those metals may have shown up in the analysis. Instead, they were held on the magnet when the oil was drained, so some metal numbers would be lower due to the magnet, not how good the oil is.

Think of it this way. Reducing wear is the ultimate goal. Mobil 1 in one car with regular drain plug, Valvoline Synpower in another with a magnetic drain plug. Looking at the oil analysis for both cars after 5k miles, I'd expect the Valvoline to have better (lower ferrous) metal numbers. But that wouldn't mean Valvoline was the better oil. The magnetic oil drain plug took out some of the metals (data) before the oil was analyzed. Could I be wrong? (curious)

 

[MikeMLS]

Thanks Chris, I'll try them again and try getting one

 

[Patman]

Mike, I'm not totally sure that it works that way. I think that there would still be enough particles in the oil to show the wear patterns, although I'd be interested in hearing Terry Dyson's opinion on this.

You've certainly raised a good point, now I'm very curious!

 

[Chris]

Just a thought, but I believed that removing the hard metals, those that the magnet could attract, would reduce the potential for the hard metals to damage or be caught in between softer metal therefore reducing wear on the soft metals.