Some time ago there was some writings about magnetic oil plug for the Prius and I thought that's a good idea, since some engine and transmission come with these plugs as standard egwipment. I know theirs a site were you can buy these plugs, but their kind of expecsive when you include the shipping. I discovered that Lee Valley has a !/4" magnet for .90 cents that works great. I drilled a 1/4" hole, 3/16" deep into the center of the Prius oil plug fitted the magnet in the hole with a little epoxy and you have a perfect magnetic oil plug, for .90 cents.
I was very skeptical of any, even theoretical, advantage of a magnetic plug. It's an aluminum engine. Any particles big enough to be grabbed by the magnet should be grabbed by the filter, any smaller wouldn't cause significant wear and would go away with the next oil change. I even wrote to Car Talk and had my response published where they felt there was no benefit from a magnet. Now you've gone and gerry-rigged a magnet...I'd be FAR more worried that the magnet would come out due to the high temps and vibrations and cause damage to the ICE than could ever occur without the magnet.
do not know myself, i'll ask tonight. i swear he said there was one. maybe my brain is reaching capacity :lol: EDIT: the magnet he told me about was in the TRANSMISSION pan, not the oilpan. car knowledge is getting kicked out of the brain to make room for more science. sorry.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Dec 23 2005, 04:28 PM) [snapback]178207[/snapback]</div> See http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/wheels/247718_talk11.html for the article. +
