Magnet on Oil Filter?

Yes yes yes .I have had them on my past 3 cars .Never a problem ,always stay on .I had a supercharged s2000 and 06 miata .Now on my Prius .One thing i think they should be put on upon the first days of ownership during
breakin to be most effective .What they do is keep the particles out of the filter and on the sides of it which lets the filter flow without particles traped in the paper part .

 

Many cars already have a magnet in the oil pan. Whether you need another in the filter, I do not know. If you did, everybody would have them. Toyotas without them still run 200,000+ miles.

 

Interesting… but does a magnet placed on a oil pan or filter yield as much benefit on an aluminum engine vehicle as it does on a steel engine vehicle (where this concept comes from)?

I wonder... if the Prius cylinders or rings made of steel and is that what the magnet is for (to collect those loose particles)?

 

Actually the magnet polarized to oil molecules, so they are all lined up in the same direction when they contact the metal surface and reduce friction. :flypig:

 

Interesting theory Doc, I suspect that oil molecules are not polar though.

Even if they were I’m not sure that there would be a benefit to orienting the oil molecules in a single point in the system, only to be re-disoriented when leaving the magnet’s field of influence.

I suppose if there are any steel (or ferrous) components in the ICE that as they wore they could be collected by the magnet which is a good thing though.

 

Just about all successful engines run steel rings on steel cylinders. The alternative is too expensive (hard coated aluminum), and not needed in an engine that produces so little power. The hard coating technology is used in very high output engines because it reduces the thermal resistance which keeps the rings and pistons at a more manageable temperature, and therefore round . Examples include the rotary Mazda, racing motorcycles (2 stroke especially), and even the GM Vega 4 cylinder (but it was not a "successful" design). Coatings used included "hard chromium", ceramic, and in GMs case, they brought the silicone in the aluminum to the surface to run the rings on. Our engine has steel inserts for the cylinders.

The Prius engine doesn't have a magnet in the oil pan (they are usually on the drain plug). I'll bet you can purchase one if you get the diameter and thread count for the drain plug. I hear there is one on the HSD drain plug though. Drain plug magnets are the best solution because you can then see if they are doing anything.

 

And you should be able to remove anything the magnets collect easily by unscrewing the drain plug. I'm not sure how you would remove the collected metal if the magnet was not part of the drain plug. Collecting the metal contaminants should only be part one of a two-stage process. Part two should be getting them out once collected. I would hate for a mass of metal particles to break loose and hit the engine all at once.