Oil Filter magnets?

[pbm]

I am contemplating purchasing some oil filter magnets because the premise of removing ferrous debris seems desirable. Has anybody ever cut open an oil filter which had a magnet attached to check the amount of iron captured?

 

[ViragoBry]

I prefer a magnetic drain plug.

 

[bepperb]

No. But I have this picture that came from a post on this site which shows something gets caught. Maybe would have gotten caught by the filter anyway?

 

[tomcat27]

the magnet cant hurt. hopefully the filter would catch it anyway - and I have used magnetic drains plugs in the past also.

 

[Kestas]

That dark stuff inside the filter adjacent to the magnet looks like extremely fine particles. The magnet can't hurt, but the filter catches most of the stuff.... at least the big stuff. Realistically, the oil film thickness on the engine components is thicker than the particles that are small enough to pass through the filter, and the particles are too small to do any damage to the wear components.

 

[ZZman]

Check the oil filter section. There are some posts there with pictures.

**And yes it does catch stuff. I have them on my 3 cars and have seen it myself.

 

[Leo]

I know this sounds a bit silly but I've always wondered if the 'stuff' caught on the magnets is actually engine wear? Would it be anything to do with the additive package in an oil?

 

[berniedd]

The magnets catch ferrous material only. Nonferrous stuff like aluminum are not affected by the magnetism and can't be caught by the magnet. Oil additives, to my knowledge, also aren't ferrous.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: berniedd
The magnets catch ferrous material only. Nonferrous stuff like aluminum are not affected by the magnetism and can't be caught by the magnet. Oil additives, to my knowledge, also aren't ferrous.
Unless you are using Mobil-1 with all the IRON in it.

(J/K)