DIY Magnetic Oil Filtering

[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.