Anyone seen these? I have seen the magnets in a couple of performance catalogs and was wondering everyone's (those smarter than I, which seems to be everyone) opinion.

 

There are many impurities that get into your engine oil that are non-magnetic (i.e. dirt) That said, the magnets won't hurt anything and are not terribly expensive. Just remember that there is no substitute for changing the oil and filter.

 

Yes, I can't get used to the whole 15K thing... I change ours every 5K

 

If ya put them on your head, they make headaches go away too... Tech. they may have some merit but I'd just keep the oil changed regularly.

 

Headaches aren't the problem, its the voices

 

There are ferros parts in the engine. The crank, and some other parts are steel. But the pistons, and the bearings are of non ferrous materials and their wear fragments will not respond to a magnet.

They can't do any harm. My Chevy transmission has a factory magnet in the pan. Many vendors will sell you an engine pan magnet or oil drain plug.

J D

 

Just remember that the oil canister is aluminum.

 

They would just magnify the voices...ouch...

 

My "engineer's gut instinct" is that any particles (ferrous or not) small enough to pass through the filter media probably aren't going to contribute significantly to engine wear. In fact, I think the whole threat of general "engine wear" is pretty much overblown these days anyway. I've taken the heads off of several 100,000+ mile cars where I could still see the factory honing marks on the cylinder walls, and there was no "ring ridge" at all at the top of the cylinder. Whenever any car I've owned has started burning oil, it's always been a result of the valve guide seals shrinking/leaking with age, and not from wear of the metallic parts.

Between higher precision and tighter tolerances in the manufacturing processes and the advances in metallugy over the last 30 years, it's pretty much gotten to the point where the need for an engine rebuild is more likely to be the result of a catastophic failure (over-revving or overheating the engine) than a requirement from general engine wear.