So a long time ago, I read about putting a magnet on your oil filter or drain plug to catch any metallic particles. I had some old 160mb hard drives lying around and took them apart for the neodymium and used them through my last 4 vehicles.

Now since my last car was totaled and I wasnt there when my folks went to empty the car, nor was I allowed to take anything off of the vehicle anyways.

Has anyone else done this?

and is it effective? (Seems logical to me but then again I guess thats what the oil filter is for)

Should I spend my time take apart some old hard drives?

and what would be the most effective location to put them besides the filter or drain plug? Transmission or rear diff maybe?

any thoughts are welcome

might be effective if the magnet was inside the filter, not outside

even then would not collect much ferrous material
there's not much that wears that will stick to a magnet

I've always used magnetic drain plugs in all my vehicles to catch small metal filings in the oil. Pep Boys sells drain plugs with magnets in them but I couldn't find one small enough to fit the drain on my V6 so I bought some high power magnets and put one in a hole I drilled in the plug to make one.

never thought about drilling a to put the magnet inside the plug I'd just plop it on. I never lost that magnet tho it was probably a good 10 years I had it under a car.

I am also not sure about how much "filings" it might have caught over the years, it was basically a free mod for me since I have a bunch of old useless hard drives laying around.

In theory it should do wonders but I dont know of any way of verifying how legit it is. I did it anyways.

I was wondering about sticking one on the rear diff since that is not filtered or even the transmission. It might even do some better work there.

As mentioned, not sure there is much wearable ferrous material inside the engine. Nothing wrong with this theory especially if they are free. Can't hurt anything to stick a magnet on the outside of the filter.

My '04 rear diff drain plug already has a magnet and IIRC there are already magnets in the tranny pan that you clean during a full tranny service.

I run hard drive magnets (wrapped with electrical tape) on all my vehicles oil filters. I have carefully cut filters open and there will be a small amount of fine metal dust/powder where the magnet is attached.
I figure it can't hurt as less contaminats in my oil is always better.

I have never used magnets. I try not to second guess the wisdom of the Toyota Engineers. If I needed an inline magnet, I would already have one from the factory, right?

Napa Platinum Oil Filters are on sale right now.
I picked up several for less than $8 each. They are very high quality filters and money well spent IMHO. This filter would more efficiently protect the engine by trapping metal shavings than a magnet would in my opinion.

There is a lively and ongoing debate/conversation on BITOG regarding this subject and the consensus seems to be that a high quality oil filter is the best protection.

Magnets can't hurt though.

I don't see any added value in it.

I trust engineers, what i dont trust is management. its big business so if someone can save the company millions on a decision it will most likely get done. then again you dont know what it going through their minds.

Like the front map lights. maybe some toyota engineer was annoyed by having that much light when he got it the t4r. cursing in japanese everytime he got in the car about how bright that was and that it should not turn on like that.

but i digress, the filter is most definitely the key in keeping any fine particulate not the magnet.

but i guess ill rip apart that 300mb hard i got. I remember saving up my allowance/birthday/christmas money to get that and a cdrom. it was like $400 or something ridiculous like that.

N45 Dia 1/2" x 1/16" Disc, Package of 10 Rare Earth Neodymium Magnets - Amazon.com

I too have ripped apart a HD, and it's a pain in the butt. Most of us would agree that our time is worth the few dollars to buy the magnets outright.

I'm a magnet nut. Those you can buy these days can be downright dangerous they are so powerful. A couple of quarter size ones will pinch you good if you are not careful with 'em. The smaller ones require pliers to unstick them from a flat metal surface. Lots of uses around the house, garage, and car.

I did a bunch of reading on this a while ago. It's legitimate that a very powerful magnet will catch any ferrous material that gets too close, obviously.

The opinion I developed is that it can't hurt. Whether it helps a whole ton one can debate for a long time... but no one can refute the fact that putting a magnet on your filter isn't going to hurt anything at all.

I would estimate that piston ring material and cylinder wall wear is going to be the most captured wearing surfaces. The wearing sides of main bearings are usually non-ferrous with a steel backing plate for rigidity... usually.

I'd like to acquire a "Filter-Mag", as that they're easy to remove and won't crush fingers as easily.

You can wrap your filter with a small piece of cloth after installing it, and then put a couple of these magnets on to hold it in place. It's much easier to remove by sliding the fabric off.