Oil Filter Magnets

[Elwenil]

EDIT: Er, sorry for the hijack, I didn't originally intend this post to be this long, lol...

As far as the rust and magnet bit, 100% rust shouldn't stick to a magnet.

Well, there went this idea:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91403

A few issues with oil filter magnets. One major issue is that probably over half the garbage floating around in your oil is non-metallic, or is babbit, copper, or aluminum bearing material, and therefore won't stick to a magnet. Not that magnets don't collect a lot of garbage as anyone who has torn down an automatic trans with one in it can attest.

I personally don't like most of the oil filter style magnets because they fit over the end of the filter. I can't tell what the one in you link looks like because I'm at work and all the images are blocked, lol. Anyway in the end of most oil filters are the backflow and pressure relief valves. For those who don't know, the first is designed to hold oil in the upper parts of the engine after shutoff so that the valvetrain doesn't have to wait for the oil system to pressurize for it to get oil up there. The second valve is made to let oil bypass the filter element in the event it becomes clogged for some reason. The thinking is that dirty oil is better than no oil at all, and I have to sort of agree.

The issue with the filter magnet is that it collects and holds all this junk in the end of the filter where most of the working parts are for these valves. Most are just flapper valves or a spring loaded element that allows the pressure to build and compress the spring allowing oil to go around the end of the element. If all of this crap is collected in the end of the filter housing, I doubt it will work if needed.

A better idea to me, would be a strong magnet attached to the outside of the oil pan, away from the pickup. This would collect the metal bits and keep them out of suspension in the oil and hold it away from everything. Naturally the only way to clean it out would be to drop the pan, but it should be anything you would have to do very often. I don't like the oil pan plug ones anymore, either. Ever since I had to take a piece of wire and poke out a clog at the drain from all the garbage collecting on the plug to get the oil to drain out smoothly.

Anyway, that's my two cents on dirty oil and magnets.

 

[Prankster]

Oil Magnet

Magnetic Drain Plugs were once all the rave.
I guess it is a JC. Whitney thing.

My idea is to magnetize the Dip-Stick; this way I will be able to remove the magnetic debris with every viewing, and it is nice to do a viewing with every whim.

It's the same with automatic transmissions.

I doubt a magnetic dip-stick will do much to keep the oil real clean, it's just a window to the inside.

 

[SMOKEWAGON66]

After rebuilding my transmission, i noticed that no matter what i used to clean the inside of the gearbox, there was still metal flake stuck in the rough surface of the cast iron. Since my input shaft bearing let go, there was a lot of metal in there so i decided that a magnet would be a good idea. So what i did, was place a fairly strong magnet inside the transmission down in the sump area away from any gears to collect and keep any metal still floating around in there. I did check to make sure the magnet would not move around with vibration etc. or have any possibility of coming into contact with any gears and am confident that this will not become an issue anytime in the near future as i probably wont be putting all that many miles on it so...didnt think to take pics of the magnet i used...which is pretty darn strong.