Magnetic Oil Drain Plug for Ferrari 308 Engine - Feasibility and Thoughts?

I don't know what a 308 drain plug looks like, but my '89 328 has an indent on the socket-side (exterior) of the engine oil drain plug that was just begging for a ¼" neodymium magnet. So I put one in. Exact fit. That magnetic is so strong, it's not coming out.

 

And what advantage will that provide?

 

Transmissions generate a lot of ferrous debris and have no filter, hence the magnet. Engines generate almost no ferrous debris and have wonderful filtration systems and have no need for a magnet. Manufacturers of every make of automobile in the world are pretty smart that way.

 

I think you have much bigger problems if a magnet catches metal particles or metallic sludge in the oil pan of an engine that runs an oil filter. It would be a major anomaly for this to occur in normal operation. Gearboxes and differentials are an entirely different story, as Rifledriver explained well.

 

Typically available noedimium supermagnets can't handle oil sump temperatures, they will embrittle and fragment, so defeats the purpose.

If you can get a samarian cobalt magnet that could handle the sump temp. They are available but more costly.

 

They also lose their magnetism when they get hot. I tried embedding them in a 3D print project with a soldering iron and they didn't work.

 

I've never seen over 210F oil temp, even driving hard on 100+F days. Nearly 8 months on, my neodymium magnetic bolt is still magnetic and hasn't disintegrated. You can see the magnet disc on the outside of the bolt in the attached pic.

When I change the oil next spring, I'll report back what I find. Hopefully, nothing.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Oops, I was thinking the magnet was on the inside of the bolt in the sump like the gearbox plug style when I glanced at this thread. But of course that would not work with the stock oil sump plug.

I Can't see why what you have done would cause any issue, if the magnet did fail it would just fall off with no harm done.

The higher temp tolerant cobalt magnets I noted are on Amazon, so they are readily available.