I used to think those magnetic oil drain plugs were just a gimmick, but after pulling one from a customer's truck that had been in for 60,000 miles, the amount of fine metal shavings stuck to it changed my mind.

Has anyone else seen a real-world example where one of these actually caught something before it caused damage?

2 comments

2 Comments

Wow, that's a great story from @thea_carter. I read a forum post a while back about a guy with a high-mileage diesel. His magnetic plug caught a surprising amount of fine, gritty metal that normal draining would have missed. It made him check the oil cooler, which was the source and starting to fail.

thea_carter12h ago

My buddy's old Subaru started making a weird noise. We pulled the magnetic plug and it was COVERED in glitter. Turned out a bearing was starting to go. That little magnet gave him the heads up weeks before anything totally let go. He got it fixed for a few hundred instead of a whole new engine. They're cheap insurance for sure.