Earth Magnet on TOP of the oil filter

PROZAC

New member
Have any of you heard of or installed an (rare?) earth magnet on the TOP of your oil filter (as described in this other toyota forum ).

I did purchase a magnetic oil drain plug (which I have yet to install) but I'm not afraid to take apart an old computer Hard Drive to get the magnet and put this on the TOP of the oil filter.

Anyone have any take on this?
 
Register to hide this ad
I've heard of people doing that to "trap" metal particles in their oil filter. I'm not sure how effective this is, but I'm sure it doesn't hurt in any way either.

Hey noticed you too are in Woodbridge. We're doing a get together of the NOVA people this weekend at Tysons corner. Check out the link in my sig - Sorry to get off topic...
 
sharp4runr said:
I've heard of people doing that to "trap" metal particles in their oil filter. I'm not sure how effective this is, but I'm sure it doesn't hurt in any way either.

Hey noticed you too are in Woodbridge. We're doing a get together of the NOVA people this weekend at Tysons corner. Check out the link in my sig - Sorry to get off topic...

I'm sure it can't hurt anything either. That guy on that forum (that I linked) said that he used a rare earth magnet out of a computer hard drive. So, I'd say it is circular in nature. I'm gonna break open an old hd to see what I find. BTW, fat chance of getting the dealership to place this on the filter before installing it. Maybe he will give in.

BTW, I bought my 4runner at Lustine. Heard anything bad about them?

I did read about the gathering at Tyson's Corner. Perhaps I will attend. I start another round chemo tomorrow, so its kind of up in the air. I'd like to attend and will do so if I am feeling up to it.

Thanks for looking out!
 
It is my belief that you will need a much stronger magnet, than the ones found in hard drives. Especially since it is going to be externally mounted. If you have ever dropped a tranny pan, you will find magnets inside the pan cover. They do a great job of attracting metal particles, but then again, the oil flows directly over the surface of the magnet.
 
Yup, Lustine is where I bought my truck too. When you go in to get service, talk to Tim Shanahan or Christie (forgot last name). I like them because they are responsive when you call in for a question and they seem to go the extra mile when servicing my truck.

The service department themselves I'm 50/50 on. For basic service (5k oil change) they did a good job getting me out of there without having to wait too long. But I had 2 warranty repairs done there and for each one I had to bring my truck back to get it repaired again.

1st time was getting the Sulfur TSB. I brought it in for 10K service, so they did the service and also checked the sulfur smell. They didn't have the parts so they wrapped up my truck and told me to bring it in on Wednesday because the parts would be in. Thats fine, I can't fault them for not having all TSB parts available. I bring it back on Wednesday morning and drop it off and they call me in the afternoon because it is done. I pick it up and everything is working until I get a mile or 2 out from the dealership. Then the VSC, VSC OFF, TRAC lights come on. I take it back that night, but at that point they were already closing and there is no one to take my truck back in. I called them the next day and drop my truck back off and they had to recalibrate some sensors which fixed the dummy lights.

2nd time was getting the sunroof looked at. I had some issues with the sunroof making a grinding noise when closing. Well I wanted them to look at it at the 15k service. I dropped it off and they said they added some grease and felt to make the noise go away. I picked it up that night and was in the parking lot opening/closing the sunroof to make sure it was working and it was. I started to drive off and I kept opening/closing to make sure. Well, again I get a couple of miles away and then the sunroof is stuck open. It sounds like the sunroof motor is working and then nothing, won't close or move and it is stuck WIDE open. Well, back to the dealership and again no more techs onsite. Christie was still there and she at least drove the truck in and was able to get the sunroof closed, but the motor didn't work. So she said she would let Tim know tomorrow morning and to bring my truck back in. Next morning I take it in and they had the truck all day again and said everything was good, except the motor was weak and slow to close the sunroof. So they ordered a replacement motor. They gave me my truck back and they said to bring it in when the motor arrived. Motor arrived, I brought it in and they installed it and finally I had a completely working sunroof.

So both times, I had warranty repairs done it took longer than it should have. I should have received the truck back the first time fixed, and never have to bring it back because it wasn't fixed correctly. I'm a believer of the 3 strikes rule so I'm going to give them one more chance. If they mess up again, Kay Jennings in Springfield may be doing service.

I know Lustine does the "Auto4Life" program, but that doesn't cover all components.

Sorry for the winded response, but hope it helped. Hope you make it to the meet and sorry to hear about the chemo....
 
A rare-earth magnent should work just fine. I have no idea where to obtain them commercially.

I have a few I got from a place I used to work. We built semiconductior manufacturing equipment (wafer processing and etching), and had some that broke in linear motors, so we got them. EXTREMELY strong little things! I think they would work just fine.

I think I'll pry one off my fridge and put it on my filter thinking about it...
 
greasefingers said:
It is my belief that you will need a much stronger magnet, than the ones found in hard drives. Especially since it is going to be externally mounted. If you have ever dropped a tranny pan, you will find magnets inside the pan cover. They do a great job of attracting metal particles, but then again, the oil flows directly over the surface of the magnet.
I would think that the magnet wouldn't be able to pull the metal fragments out of the oil flow in the filter -- that the magnet would need to be extremely strong to attract the tiny metal fragments and pull them out of the oil. So I don't see how this could help. But I agree with the others that it shouldn't hurt anything.
 
Gryphon said:
A rare-earth magnent should work just fine. I have no idea where to obtain them commercially.

I have a few I got from a place I used to work. We built semiconductior manufacturing equipment (wafer processing and etching), and had some that broke in linear motors, so we got them. EXTREMELY strong little things! I think they would work just fine.

I think I'll pry one off my fridge and put it on my filter thinking about it...

SPEAKER MAGNETS would probably work pretty well. You know, pry one off of an old blown woofer or midrange.

As magnetics "conduct" through ferrous (iron) metals... metal shavings should "stick" to the sides of the filter once thae magnet is applied.

If you want a commercial "store bought" magnet try a geological supply place. Or google a search on "hand magnets".
 
I would think that a magnet on the bottom of the oil pan (or, better, a magnetic drain bolt like you get w/ the tranny & diffs) would be sufficient.
 
I switched to Mobil 1 Synthetic and installed a magnetic drain plug this past weekend. I still like the idea of using a large magnet from a speaker for the filter.

BTW, I was contemplating using a TRD filter to replace the stock filter but in the v8 sport... (as another member posted), there isn't enough clearance.

Is there ANY filter company that produces a screen identical to the 90915-20004 media?! That we can have access to?
 
This company makes a magnet that slips inside a full-flow oil filter. They are putting the magnet where it needs to be to get the magnetic particles. We have been doing this on stationary gen-set engines for 30 years. We can't tell you how well it works because we don't have any engines without the magnets for comparison. The magnets do catch a lot of stuff and I would not want any of it to go back into the engine. And a placement like this is needed to let the magnet to its work. Oh, and, no, the magnet does not compromise oil flow, you were thinking that, were you not....

http://www.magna-guard.com/Home.html
 
The rare earth magnet would have to saturate the steel material to provide stray flux on the other side. Put your propsed magnet on a metal surface of the similar thickness of the filter can and check the other side with a metal object to see how much flux is penetrating. A rare earth magnet is certainly required for this, not a ceramic speaker magnet. A magnetic drain plug has a better chance of a benefit, if any magnet would.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
278,317
Messages
3,554,129
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Trending content

Back
Top