You may have heard of oil filter magnets. They’re high quality magnets you put into your disposable oil filter. The purpose of an oil filter magnet is to create a magnetic field within the oil filter. A good quality magnet will trap the tiny ferrous metal particles in the oil. That way, the metal particles won’t travel through the engine and wear the parts within.
Oil filter magnets sound great, but are they worth it? Let’s find out!
Reasons To Buy An Oil Filter Magnet
First, let’s talk about 2 reasons why you want a magnet in your oil filter:
1. An Oil Filter Magnet Can Help Catch Metal Particles
Sometimes tiny metal particles will end up in your motor oil. The filter media in your oil filter can’t catch these metal particles. They are too small. That means contaminated motor oil will continue to run through the engine. The metal particles will increase wear and tear on the components within the engine.
For motor oil to be effective, it needs to be smooth and slippery. When metal particles contaminate motor oil, the oil becomes abrasive. This is bad news for engine parts. It creates friction between the moving parts within the engine. As a result:
The wear and tear process is sped up
There may be a sandpaper effect, which means the metal shavings create more shavings
If you let abrasive oil run through the engine too long, your engine will wear out prematurely. An oil filter magnet helps prevent this.
2. An Oil Filter Magnet Helps Keep The Filter Media Unclogged
This is a great benefit if you’re using cheap disposable filters that clog up fast. Oil filters can catch some of the larger metal particles in the oil. It will cause the filters to clog up faster. What happens when your oil filter becomes clogged up well before the next oil change? Your engine gets dirty oil.
Oil filters have a bypass valve. When a filter is clogged enough that oil can no longer pass through the filter media, it’s rerouted through the bypass valve. When that happens, nothing is filtering the oil. All the oil that passes through the bypass valve is dirty, and it’s being pumped into the engine. As we all know, dirty oil is very bad for the engine, especially when it’s contaminated with metal shavings. The bypass valve exists because without it, the engine will get no oil at all. Dirty oil is better than no oil.
When metal shavings contaminate your motor oil, the oil filter will likely clog up fast. So with a magnet in your oil filter, you’ll have the peace of mind that your oil filter won’t get clogged up too early. The magnet will trap the metal particles in the oil instead of the filter media.
Read more: Are Oil Filter Magnets Worth It?