Magnet Madness

[SPICER]

I have always been fascinated by magnets and have seen the good they do on an oil pan plug, so naturally the filter mag idea sounded cool. I wanted one for my oil and fuel filter but I almost choked when I saw the price. It's JUST magnets! Here in Milwaukee we have a real cool store called American Science and Surplus. I remembered that they carry a huge varity of magnets so I popped in to take a look. The magnets I chose were 2"x5/8"x1/8" approx. These are crazy powerful "rare earth" magnets with a chrome-colored coating. They cost $1.95 each, so I paid $40 for 20. These are so strong they are frustrating to work with. I am not convinced they will make a difference, but I figured if they prove worthless I will atleast have a really neat toy!

So I put 10 each on my filters(oil and fuel)just a few days ago and used a wrap of duct tape to keep them in place. I doubt they could fall off but I wanted to keep them in place and keep them from seeking each other out. Today it was time to change my fuel filter(10k interval)so I pulled the magnets off and put them on the new fuel filter before I installed it. After the install she fired right up but now I have a WATER IN FUEL warning on the message center! I was a bit baffled so I checked the drain and no water in my filter. I wondered if the magnets may be the culprit so I put one of the magnets up to a spare water drain and sensor that I had and sure enough I could use the magnet to hold the float up against gravity. So, I took the magnets off and magically the WIF warning went away. So I put the magnets back on and it was fine. I think that I may have been holding the filter and drain assembly upside down while I put the magnets on the filter can and the magnetic field was strong enough to hold the float up.(The float has a magnet or small piece of metal in it). When I removed the magnets the float fell back down and seems to stay down after re-introducing the magnets. CURIOUS!!! SPICER tongue.gif

[jbplock]

Spicer,
Very Interesting... :cool: In a recent thread (http://forum.thedieselpage.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=007046#000012) Flyboy pointed out that "the sensor is just a magnetic reed switch that is activated by the magnet in the float".
I've also been thinking about tinkering with some surplus rare earth Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB) (http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl) magnets. I plan to put a few inside my OilGuard ByPass filter the next time I change the element. Magnets could also be placed inside the OEM fuel filter (though the WIF Sensor opening) but, depending on how they are placed (as you observed) they may interfere with the WIF sensor.

Here is another potential option

[SPICER]

jbplock, If you ask me, These magnets are so strong there is no need to put them inside the filter. They have a magnetic range of atleast a couple of inches even when on the outside of a filter can. SPICER

[Kennedy]

There's a little more to it than strong magnets. George could elaborate, but the Filtermag has a force director wrap that keeps odd occurences from happening. Dunno if I'd like uncontrolled magnets in the vicinity of sensitive electronics. :eek:


PS, the Filtermag says NOT to use on aircraft.


On edit: Try as I might, I could not sense and significant magnetic pull from the back side of these units...

[ 11-06-2003, 07:56 AM: Message edited by: kennedy ]

[maDmax990]

Hey everyone-

JK, about the "stray field"...

All anyone would need to do to stop the magnetic field from straying would be to put a piece of high permeability material (steel is the most common example) on the open faces of the magnets. It would look like a magnet sandwich.

That way, instead of the field expanding into free space, the field is shunted through the added shield.

Magnets like NdFeB apparently really mess with airplane avionics, so they don't take chances. I can imagine a box of those rolling around in a cargo bay would be pretty crazy...like some scene from Airplane!

As for the magnets interfering with DMax electronics, I think it's anyone's guess.

Have fun, Mat

[SPICER]

I have one of those super powerful magnetic drain plugs from AVLube. I have done 2 oil changes since I started using it and I use Delvac1. Both times the plug came out as clean as it was when I put it in. I take this as a good sign, but then I wonder how much potential for ferrous metal contamination in the Duramax is there? Anyone using this plug get any accumulation? I know that on my gas engines in the past using the factory magnetic drain plug(much weaker)I was getting a noticeable accumulation of ferrous debris. SPICER

[ZFMax]

Same story here. I've run the AVlube magnetic plug for a couple of oil changes now and it keeps coming out clean.

[56Nomad]

Spicer,

Do you see your magnets at their website?

http://www.sciplus.com/searchCat.cfm?scategory=MAG&terms=magnets

I'm looking for a good source for some
strong magnets

[mdrag]

56Nomad,

Check out FORCEFIELD (http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=list&category=Magnets_and_Magnetism%3BPermanent_Magnets %3BNeodymium). It looks like they have a selection of rare earth magnets. I've never used this vendor so I can't comment on their service.

[SPICER]

56Nomad, No I don't see it here but close. Mine was not in their catalog either, but it was in their store in Milwaukee. If you want the exact same as mine, check my description at the beginning of this thread and then call the Milwaukee store. If they have trouble finding them, tell them to look at the display case from the outside, then look all the way on the right side for the magnet bin resting inside of the other magnet container. They had quite a few and when I asked to see several magnets they never showed me these. When I pointed them out, they were hidden under another bin of magnets and unknown or forgotten by the employee. I think they are the perfect size for a filter application. Hope this helps...SPICER