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I’ve been running a filter mag on a purolator filter with 5w30 in my 150k+ 5.3 with a 78/75 turbo. Filter and oil has been in the car 2 years lol (only warm weather fun car)... and maybe 500miles or so on the filter/oil/filter mag and I did a oil change today and was shocked to find how MUCH the filter mag caught inside of the filter. Now before you ask... I have a filter opener and it creates no metal.
Proof is in the pics. The filter media was pretty dirty on the outside and I’m not sure that the metal would have made it through the media but there was a crap ton of metal oil dust on the filter media edge and the outside casing where the mag was. I removed the mag from the filter, emptied the filter and left it without the MAG for like 3 hours before opening it up and this was still stuck to it.
Thing is, none of it is bearing material, because it's NOT magnetic. Cylinder wall material, however, IS.
Yup, not to worried about the metal... car is driven short trips for the most part and the oil doesnt reach operating temp at least 1/2 the time. This is only the 2nd oil change the engine has had since it was pulled from a wrecked 99 silverado. so I expect some of the metal as its cleaning itself out. You think its alot? I wouldnt say its that much... when I wiped it off with my fingers and put it on a rag... mostly oil.
They work quit well in my opinion to. I am a golf course technician and use them on several hydraulic filters. The amount off junk they pick up after a blown hyd component let's go is proof enough for me.(contaminated system)
Yep, I have used filter mags for over 10 yrs and all my filters look like that. 300K+ between the Camaro, Sierra and Nissan. Never had an engine wear problem in that time. If nothing else, the mag helps keep the filter paper from loading up. No downside that I know of.
Motors these days with proper maintenance go 300k or better without these filter magnets etc so I don't really see the point.
If current engines struggled to make it to 100k and these things made them go longer, then I would say "they work". But with no gimmicky products they're doing 300k, 400k and some even higher. I have a regular customer with a F150 with 440k miles and all he's done is maintain it regularly, no special magnets and such.
If you need something to collect excess metal you've got bigger issues
Motors these days with proper maintenance go 300k or better without these filter magnets etc so I don't really see the point.
If current engines struggled to make it to 100k and these things made them go longer, then I would say "they work". But with no gimmicky products they're doing 300k, 400k and some even higher. I have a regular customer with a F150 with 440k miles and all he's done is maintain it regularly, no special magnets and such.
If you need something to collect excess metal you've got bigger issues
It's not so much that you don't see the point... it's that you miss the point. Why put magnets in a transmission case or a differential case? Why put a magnet on the drain plug? Think about it.
It's not so much that you don't see the point... it's that you miss the point. Why put magnets in a transmission case or a differential case? Why put a magnet on the drain plug? Think about it.
Where did I say that no magnets at all are necessary?
I'll rephrase my original post a little for you. If engines, the way they come, are capable of over 300k miles and some even higher than 400k, with just routine maintenance, what are we really extending by adding an extra magnet?
In no way is it a bad thing to use the product, I just see it as not really necessary and not really extending the life of late model engines. If it were necessary people would be losing engines due to metal particles in their oil. But the filter and magnets that are already there catch them, and if you have so much metal in your filter that it would get clogged, this thing ain't gonna save you because there would be bigger problems.
Name me a time that you've seen someone lose an engine that this device would have saved them.
It's just like split fire spark plugs, they were created to solve a problem that didn't exist. But people get worried and will buy anything out of fear.
Also like G said, it's only gonna catch ferrous material.
Last edited by 00pooterSS; 08-14-2018 at 03:39 PM.
To clarify what I said before, which parts are we worried most about wearing prematurely?? BEARINGS! Which we know are non-ferrous, or non-iron-bearing. So a magnet would not solve bearing issues. Cylinder walls yeah. But then there are bigger issues...
Magnets are not intended to solve anything. They are intended to assist in filtration. That's it. By capturing ferrous materials before they reach the filter media, the filter works less. This is not a bad thing an can only help. That said, the majority of the particles captured by filter magnets is thrust wall iron de-lamination at the ring/wall interface. This material is known as CSP (abrasive slurry of ferrous micro-particles) and the particles are typically smaller than 10 microns. Filters do not capture CSP well. An AC Delco PF-46 filter (common to gen 4 F-Body cars and others) has a micron rating of 30 (nominal). This is pretty straight forward stuff. My initial comment above was mostly in response to the comment that said "Looks like you have an engine problem."... The photo of the filter posted by the OP does not indicate an engine problem whatsoever. My filters look identical and have for hundreds of thousands of miles.
Whatever will promote cleaner oil is worth it. While it only catches ferrous metal it still keeps it out of the oil/filter media. Metal particals can be smaller than 30 microns which would pass through a filter lets just say, the metal then has nothing stopping it going through the motor and making its way to the bearings, lifters, which could cause premature wear. Not saying the magnet will save a motor but it could and should promote cleaner oil and thus promote a healthier/longer motor life.
Im not going to enter a pissing match but I can't see a down side to using one. I mean people spend alot more money on stupid **** that does absolutely nothing. For 35 bucks what can it hurt to have a more efficient means of filtering junk out of your oil. Hell its cheaper than a good set of wiper blades for these cars. Or an oil change. Again just an opinion I've had a couple of old 5.3s run 300000 plus with out one.peace of mind maybe.
Im not going to enter a pissing match but I can't see a down side to using one. I mean people spend alot more money on stupid **** that does absolutely nothing. For 35 bucks what can it hurt to have a more efficient means of filtering junk out of your oil. Hell its cheaper than a good set of wiper blades for these cars. Or an oil change. Again just an opinion I've had a couple of old 5.3s run 300000 plus with out one.peace of mind maybe.
Agreed, but I quickly looked and looks like they are about $100, could be wrong
In an aluminum block LS, the iron parts are crank, rods, cylinder liners, valves, and rockers & trunnions. The thing is, if ANY of these parts are shedding powder, will the magnet catch it for visible evidence in time before something catastrophic happens? I mean, by the time you will see anything measurable on the magnetized can, something worse has likely happened. Just speculating here...
Wow I bought mine like one truck and two cars ago . And it just gets transferred from old ride to next bad investment . Inflation is a mothertrucker. I know I paid 35 or 40 bucks for mine filter mag p/n RA300.
08-12-2018, 08:46 PM
Filter MAG... works to say the least. 
