<VV> Magnet for Oil Filter

[Lonny Clark]

The magnets are still helpful on an alloy engine, because most of the "wear"
items in an alloy engine are still steel - like the barrel liners (or bore
liners in your beemer), rings, crankshaft, lifters, rocker arms, pushrods,
etc. All of the Yamaha motorcycles that I've owned (1977 is the earliest
model, 2003 is the newest) have a magnet on the oil drain plug. All of these
engines are aluminum, half of them air-cooled. From my experience, OEM
manufacturers do not waste money on extras that do not help in some way.

Yes, you can use any old magnet, just get one that's fairly strong so that
the shavings aren't moved by pressure once they've been trapped. Also, you
want to put the magnet either on the drain plug or on the oil filter so that
the trapped metal gets thrown out at every oil change. If you have a racecar
where the engine is torn down often, you can put a bunch of them on the
oilpan. Every piece of metal that is not trapped, either by these magnets or
the oil filter, will eventually embed itself in a softer metal like your
main bearings or rod bearings, where they will accellerate wear. These are
mostly particles that are too small for the oil filter to catch, another
reason to stick with a good brand of oil filter. They would embed in the
aluminum oil passages if there were enough pressure forcing the particle
into the metal, but the pressure at the bearing is the higher so it is more
likely to lodge there.

Lonny

On Sat, Sep 20, 2008 at 9:46 AM, <davep at quik.com> wrote:

> >
> > Wouldn't any old magnet work? Is a magnet even helpful?
>     Can't say fer sure.
>    However, my BMW /5 (Picture 33% of Corvair engine)
>    came with magnetic drain plugs in engine and tranny.
>    (aftermarket, i think....)
>    250,000 mi later: still runs.
>
>    Less help in n alloy engine ('vair/BMW) still can be
>    a useful diagnostic indicator: if 'normal metal lint'
>    turns up as 'ball of shavings'...
>
>    best
>     dwp
>
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