DIY Magnetic Oil Filtering

[jc986]

jb92563 is right, even if anything mounded up and broke off, it wouldn't be like a blood clot going to your heart because it would get trapped in the oil filter - that's what the oil filter is for, to stop crap from getting into the engine in the first place.
And anyway if you had THAT much garbage building up in your oil, you'd already be in trouble.

[eicheldp]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

Another consideration would be to get rid of your OEM oil bypass, which tends to stick open and allow crud of all sizes to circulate indiscriminately.

JFP,
Could you illustrate where the bypass is located and is it possible for a DYI'er to easily remove?

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by eicheldp

JFP,
Could you illustrate where the bypass is located and is it possible for a DYI'er to easily remove?

The OEM bypass valve is in the bottom of the plastic filter housing. It is not easy to remove as it is plastic and unusually breaks in the process of removal. Porsche also does not sell it separately to my knowledge, preferring to make you by the entire housing.

[san rensho]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

The OEM bypass valve is in the bottom of the plastic filter housing. It is not easy to remove as it is plastic and unusually breaks in the process of removal. Porsche also does not sell it separately to my knowledge, preferring to make you by the entire housing.

How do you check the operation of the bypass valve?

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by san rensho

How do you check the operation of the bypass valve?

You shine a bright light down and look to see if it is seated (closed) or open (by pass). Use of a small shop mirror wand is helpful.

[mikesz]

How do you attache the magents to the oil filter housing? Once they are attached do the magents interfer with removal of the housing? Can you still attach the wrench to remove the housing?

[jb92563]

I'm going to silicone and zip tie the magnets to the mid section of the filter with one magnet per flute, so about 14.
I will see how that works and if not so secure I will make some ABS plastic magnet holders with my 3D printer to help hold them in place.

Since the magnets are well clear of the end, using a filter socket is no problem.

The 14 High temp magnets I chose are 2" x 1/2" x 1/8" so they are low profile and don't interfere with anything. ~$45 shipped.

They are super strong and while unpacking them I got 2 stuck to each other and it takes quite a bit of force to pry them apart. They are packed with 1/8" plastic strips between them to help keep them from sticking to each other.

(Regular Neodyium magnets are much cheaper but permanently loose their magnetism at about 175F, the High temp variety are much more expensive but good to about 320F which hopefully they will not reach being outside in the airflow.)

I'm waiting on my oil and filter element to be delivered any day now so I can commence the oil change and attach the magnets. Perhaps this weekend.

I'll take pictures and document what I find on the oil plug magnet and filter paper as a base line and then we will see at the next oil change how things worked out.


Does anyone know if I can take off the oil filter with the engine full of oil without the whole engines oil draining out?
I'd like to check the filter/magnets before the next oil change if I can do it without loosing too much oil in the process.

[Davev]

Originally Posted by jb92563

Does anyone know if I can take off the oil filter with the engine full of oil without the whole engines oil draining out?

Yes- that is correct.

[steved0x]

You will lose around 1/2 - 3/4 a quart of oil when you drop the filter. I have used that method to lower the oil when I accidentally overfilled it one time.

[jc986]

Originally Posted by jb92563

I'm going to silicone and zip tie the magnets to the mid section of the filter with one magnet per flute, so about 14.
I will see how that works and if not so secure I will make some ABS plastic magnet holders with my 3D printer to help hold them in place.

Since the magnets are well clear of the end, using a filter socket is no problem.

The 14 High temp magnets I chose are 2" x 1/2" x 1/8" so they are low profile and don't interfere with anything. ~$45 shipped.

They are super strong and while unpacking them I got 2 stuck to each other and it takes quite a bit of force to pry them apart. They are packed with 1/8" plastic strips between them to help keep them from sticking to each other.

(Regular Neodyium magnets are much cheaper but permanently loose their magnetism at about 175F, the High temp variety are much more expensive but good to about 320F which hopefully they will not reach being outside in the airflow.)

I'm waiting on my oil and filter element to be delivered any day now so I can commence the oil change and attach the magnets. Perhaps this weekend.

I'll take pictures and document what I find on the oil plug magnet and filter paper as a base line and then we will see at the next oil change how things worked out.


Does anyone know if I can take off the oil filter with the engine full of oil without the whole engines oil draining out?
I'd like to check the filter/magnets before the next oil change if I can do it without loosing too much oil in the process.

You have a 3D printer?? Make me something! hahaha
seriously, I need some parts for my convertible top... actually I'm making it myself, I do molding and casting for fun and am in the process of making a mold of one of the push rod ends because the other side broke, and they're $75 brand new (they don't sell the little plastic end piece separately) and I can't see paying 75 bucks for a piece of plastic the size of my finger.

[jb92563]

Originally Posted by jc986

You have a 3D printer?? Make me something! hahaha
seriously, I need some parts for my convertible top... actually I'm making it myself, I do molding and casting for fun and am in the process of making a mold of one of the push rod ends because the other side broke, and they're $75 brand new (they don't sell the little plastic end piece separately) and I can't see paying 75 bucks for a piece of plastic the size of my finger.

If you make the digital model of the piece you need and send me the .stl format file, I can print it for you in black ABS or natural PLA plastic.
You might want to check here first to see if the model for that piece is already available. http://www.thingiverse.com/search/page:1?q=porsche&sa=

There are a multitude of 3D design softwares out there that are open source.

I have been using "FreeCAD" and Sketchup 8 (Because it has the free STL converter)

Building the model is the most time consuming part.

There are also service companies out there that will make 3D prints of your models in more exotic materials like Stainless Steel, Nylon, Silver, Clay etc.

[jb92563]

Update.

Did my oil change and installed the mag filter. The good news is that the magnetic oil drain plug did not catch anything at all since the last oil change and the filter paper had nothing metallic in it either.

It may be a few oil changes at this rate before I pick up anything...but that's good so...

I decided on 7 magnets instead of 14, one on every other flat because trying to put these on each flat was like herding cats, they are very strong and just kept on sticking to its neighbor. That however cuts the price in half so perhaps a $20 mod now.

I used wire to keep them in place while setting them up


This shows the oil socket, no interference at all.


All the magnets in place


The wire was not secure enough on its own and the zip tie might loosen with the heat so I opted for a stainless steel pipe clamp. The protruding screw doe not interfere with install of the oil filter as there is adequate clearance.


Here it is in place on the engine.

Looks a little oily down below but thats only the results of my oil change as a bit of oil got splashed around when I fumbled the oil filter while removing it. Its normally bone dry.

[Davev]

Did you consider using hi temp epoxy to secure the magnets? Or possibly silicone?

[eicheldp]

JB,

What size pipe clamp did you purchase or did you have to combine two of them?

[jb92563]

I think a 3.5" diameter pipe clamp would work perfectly but I only had a couple smaller 2" clamps on hand so I used the 2 smaller ones together.

Once I had these in place with the clamp they were so secure I decided no epoxy or silicone is needed.

A Simple solution that is reversible without much fuss is the final result.

Now we will have to see what accumulates. Hopefully nothing for the sake of the health of my engine which at this point appears perfect at ~71,000 miles.

[jb92563]

An Update.

So I changed the oil this weekend after nearly a year, with perhaps 7000 miles put on it and I wanted to take a careful look at how the magnetic oil filter worked.

First thing to note is that the pipe clamp held all the magnets in place perfectly.

The wire ties were useless and either fell off or became loose so I removed them.

Upon draining the oil filter I found a grey sludge that was positioned over each magnet and you could see areas where the sludge chained together to form very fine strands that stood up on end perhaps 1/32" tall.

I found a similar sludge on the magnetic oil plug.

You could pick up the sludge on your finger after wiping it off the magnet and it had no discernible particles, just a greasy sludge feel when rubbing it between your fingers.

The oil filter itself had no magnetic metal particles, just a few tiny bits of black plastic and 1 tiny shaving particle of aluminum.

Interesting thing to note is that the magnets being on the outside of the filter housing means that the oil has already gone through the filter element.
So that magnetic sludge is passing through the filter element before adhering to the magnets.

I figure this is an excellent inexpensive way to reduce engine wear as these magnetic very fine particles will certainly make their way throughout the engine and bearings increasing the rates of wear if not removed.

I'd say this is a great success and although I can't quantify the benefit, I know for certain the magnets have removed far more fine particles that the magnetic oil plug by a factor of 40 due to the size and number of magnets and the amount of magnetic sludge collected from them.

It will be interesting to see if the amount of magnetic sludge collected is reduced at the next oil change, or if that represents the normal wear rate of the internal engine parts.

I'll post the pictures next.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by jb92563

Interesting thing to note is that the magnets being on the outside of the filter housing means that the oil has already gone through the filter element.
So that magnetic sludge is passing through the filter element before adhering to the magnets.

Actually, the oil filters from the outside to the inside on the OEM filter, so the housing sees the oil before the filter does.

[jb92563]

Oh, I must have turned the fliter paper the other way around inadvertently when I was cutting it off the tube to inspect it.

That actually works out better anyway so the magnets can also catch the bigger magnetic bits.

Thanks for the correction.



Pics of the magnetic metallic sludge deposits removed from engine after about 7000 miles.
See the magnet oulines surrounded by magnetic sludge




Some magenetic sludge areas standing on end


Each of the seven strong Neodium magnets has captured magnetic metal sludge.
That is going to save wear on crank bearings, piston rod bearings, Piston rings, cylinder sleve, oil pump, IMS bearing, Oil seals etc


1) Aluminum particle 2) Plastic particle from filter element


We will see if the amount is reduced on the next oil change.

I think it would be interesting for someone who gets their oil analyzed by a lab, to see what change in the lab results there would be after removing the magnetic sludge particles from their oil.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by jb92563

Oh, I must have turned the fliter paper the other way around inadvertently when I was cutting it off the tube to inspect it.

That actually works out better anyway so the magnets can also catch the bigger magnetic bits.

Thanks for the correction.



Pics of the magnetic metallic sludge deposits removed from engine after about 7000 miles.
See the magnet oulines surrounded by magnetic sludge




Some magenetic sludge areas standing on end


Each of the seven strong Neodium magnets has captured magnetic metal sludge.
That is going to save wear on crank bearings, piston rod bearings, Piston rings, cylinder sleve, oil pump, IMS bearing, Oil seals etc


1) Aluminum particle 2) Plastic particle from filter element


We will see if the amount is reduced on the next oil change.

I think it would be interesting for someone who gets their oil analyzed by a lab, to see what change in the lab results there would be after removing the magnetic sludge particles from their oil.

You should see gradual diminishing of the ferrous grit with your next change, but there will always be some running around as it is a normal process of operations for all engines, and is what the magnets are for.

[jb92563]

I don't really understand why all expensive engines would NOT have magnetic oil filtering as its cheap to install, easy to maintain and can only improve the internal situation in the engine, increasing its longevity and allowing monitoring of any developments.

I suppose it could be that engines lasting too long would effect the companies bottom line, or that the benefit has never been measured, or found to be insignificant in effecting the engines health.

Considering how anal German engineers can be, it seems like a deliberate omission.

What engineer or customer would be ok with hard ferrous grit circulating through their engine?

I'd be curious to know what Jake Raby or the other engine gurus think about it.
Perhaps they know the answers to the above questions.

JFP, I think your one of the gurus, what is your opinion on this?