Magnetic sump plug on an alloy engine?
 

Useful or a waste of time???

I'd say useful; the bits inside the engine will be steel so if any debris gets worn off it could stick to the sump plug.

ive got one and have used them on other cars in the past,worth the relativly cheap cost... if there is any debri stuck to the magnet its not being passed around the engine for one thing

i use them to.

Will try and post pic's on the next oil change. see if it's doing anything.

G.

Very worthwhile on the gearbox. Try it and you may be surprised how much it picks up. On the engine it could pick up foreign objects but it will obviously be no use for bearing wear etc and a large part of the engine is aluminium construction.

As Harveys says, an alloy engine doesn't mean everything is alloy...ALL the important moving bits barring pistons are made of steel (crank, cams, oil pump gears, valves, cylinder liners etc. ;) ). Although the use of a full flow filter "should" keep the nasties away from the bearings.

Certainly works on the gearbox. It's quite usual to find a metallic sludge on the magnet

I agree Ali and that is why I use one attached to my oil filter and another on the sump plug but like I said it could pick up foreign objects. It would be most beneficial after a rebuild I would guess but if the engine magnet starts to pick up metal in normal service, it is time to start worrying and get a plan together for repair or replacement.

Where can you get a gearbox magnet..?

There used to be a company called 'Magflo' or something that made magnetic sandwich plates that sat between the filter and the engine. Have used them on industrial hydraulics to great effect.... seemed like one of those "too simple to be any good" ideas, but boy did they pull out some debris! ;)

remember you at one time could get a strap that clamped around the oil filter with i think 6 or so very strong magnets attached..... promotional blurb showed a cut open filer after being usedwith this strap,and there were 6 very pronounced darker areas where metalic debri had attached themselves to the magnetised areas and stopped being circuated back through the oil

Try,... the bottom of your gearbox.....

Well at least the original one on my my00 is magnetic anyways..... i would suspect they all are on gearboxes for the very reason that they may keep debris in one place not floating around the gearbox.....

Cheers for the feedback guys.

Yes Harvey its for a new motor as I'm building one just now. Seen them on ebay ofr £8 so I guess it can't do any harm, unless the magnet breaks off.:)

VERY strong little magneys are available from Maplins for very little money. As a Scotsman, that is how I have three:) One on gearbox plug, one on sump plug and one on oil fillter body.
They are small and so strong there is no fear of them falling off.

Crack open an old hard drive..the magnets in them are probably as stong as you'll ever find....I currently have a few hard drive magnets stuck on the sump of the autobox on my Landy. The old internal magnet was like a fluffy catapillar when I last took the sump off :eek:

Subaru has magnets in the sump plug as standard on the gearbox and rear diff anyway :)

^^^^^

Well you learn something new every day..!:)

Cheers..;)