Hi Folks,

It's snowing in canada so we start to look for things to do in the Garage

Been talking to the BMW folks recently and they tell me that when they remove their magnetic sump plugs the plugs are covered in fine furry iron particles. Has anyone changed their plugs to the magnetic type to remove these from the oil system? Where do you get them

How often do you folks drop the sump pan to clear out those two sludge trap holes on the bottom sump pan?

Regards

Brett

I was thinking about getting a Neodynium magnet and putting it at the centre of the oil filter cover (outside, of course). This, in theory, would collect fine magnetic particles on the inside of said cover, and you could wipe it down with a cloth, while keeping the safe and foolproof stock drain plug.
Then some doubts and laziness got the best of me.

Dissect an old hard drive and repurpose the the rare Earth magnet inside, and attach that to the filter cover.

By using a magnet, I bet your engine could last 100,000 miles, whereas if you don't use a magnet, I'd expect the engine could last 100,000 miles...

I'll leave it to the reader to guess which option I've selected...

I'd ask gsJack about 100,000 miles and beyond

I just drop the oil and put the plug back in that came with the bike.  Have never even changed the gasket on the drain plug.  Sump pan has never been off.  Bikes probably good for another 100k miles, it's me that's old and worn out.   

You can do an internet search and come up with both pros and cons on magnets, drain plug or other places.....I worked on a restored military T-6 airplane which the owner put big magnets on the oil filter.......(original plane didn't even have an oil filter, it was retro fitted with a "NASCAR" oil filter...big.)

I'd say the magnetic plug is OK but totally unnecessary....the oil filter is there to take out the bad crap........

Some say the build -up on the magnet can suddenly shake loose, and now you have a big crap in the engine all at once...

Others say that you are magnetizing the metal particles, so that when they break loose they get stuck in all the wrong places...


Also, when you see all the crap on the magnet, your mind will start to think the worst...

So let the filter do its job, change oil and filter at regular recommended intervals...go 100,000 miles

Cookie

Quote from: Rallyfan on November 23, 2014, 02:24:16 PM
Dissect an old hard drive and repurpose the the rare Earth magnet inside, and attach that to the filter cover.

By using a magnet, I bet your engine could last 100,000 miles, whereas if you don't use a magnet, I'd expect the engine could last 100,000 miles...

I'll leave it to the reader to guess which option I've selected...

Quote from: Rallyfan on November 23, 2014, 02:24:16 PMBy using a magnet, I bet your engine could last 100,000 miles, whereas if you don't use a magnet, I'd expect the engine could last 100,000 miles...

I saw what you did there 

Early this spring I accidentally cross threaded my sump plug into the oil pan and messed up the threads in the pan. I was in a hurry, got distracted, etc. Lesson learned. Instead of messing with my old one I bought a used pan of eBay to install.
My bike is an 89 with 40,000 + miles on it and I have to say I was surprised how clean and gunk free the pan was when I removed it.

Every time I start the bike I think how it runs far better than then it ought to with the amount of abuse it has received from me and previous owners. I got the bike well sorted a couple years ago after learning to tinker on it and now it is a tank.