Might the use of magnets affect oil analysis results?

Shel_B

Site Donor 2023
Joined
Aug 7, 2020
Messages
5,166
I was reading a thread about the use of drain plug and oil canister magnets, and my thoughts gravitated towards oil analysis results.

If one is using strong magnets that pull iron from the oil, might that skew the Fe ppm in an oil analysis, showing less iron in the oil as more is collected by the magnets?
 
I would say theoretically yes because the magnets catch super smal particles that the oil filter can't. Less iron paricles in the oil should result in a lower Fe level in a UOA. By how much? ... Who knows. Might be a good garage test for someone to do.
 
I've always thought this was an interesting affect of filter magnets and drain plug magnets. If they are catching a lot of metal on an unhealthy engine you may view a UOA and think all is well.
 
It might affect it for very tiny particles. Here are a few posts by edhackett who describes how ICP measures particles, and how it does not. The bottom line is that ICP is not designed for nor is it intended for decomposing metallic particles:



 
Many medical lab tests require the patient to fast before the sample is drawn. If the patient has had a meal beforehand it will skew the results and make the test unreliable at best. I like the magnet idea but any oil analysis done with one is going to show false readings on some of the ferrous compounds

1647527511961.png
 
Back
Top