Magnetic oil drain plug

[Matt113]

I'm looking to buy a magnetic oil drain plug, but can't find the size in the technical manual, I assume it's metric. Any ideas?

[mnahon]

There was more than one lower oil pan (and drain plug) used on our cars, so I'd strongly recommend that you measure yours at the next oil change.

I recently went through this exercise for my own car and converged onto an M26 X 1.5 plug which I bought from:
http://www.powerslutracing.com/i-20015590-magnetic-drain-plug-thread-size-m26-x-1-50.html
They also have other sizes and their prices are reasonable.

I have the plug, but haven't yet installed it; waiting for my next oil change; so I'm not yet absolutely certain it will work.

[IXLR8]

Hi--

I made my own.

Clean the drain plug thoroughly.

Then superglue one of the small high-strength rare earth magnets to the center of the drain plug's inside flat surface. In addition to the superglue, the magnet's own force will help hold it in place.

Mine have been in place on all my old cars for a number of years.

The other Joe

[Matt113]

Thanks Meyer, and Other Joe. I think I'll do the DIY superglue method!

[Flyair]

Matt
have you fabricated your magnetic plug? How does it work?

[RonDwyer]

My method is a bit different from the plug, an old hot rodder showed me this one.  Take an old speaker magnet and stick it to the bottom of the oil pan.  They catch everything.  The strongest magnets you can buy are the rare earth neodymium types.  www.buntingmagnetics.com in Chicago has a variety of round styles that could be fitted to a drain plug without any machining.  It will hold itself in place.  Same goes for the transmission and the rear end.  I have a couple disc drive motor magnets that you can hurt yourself on if you catch some skin between them.  Ask me how I know that!     My wife makes me change the calendar on the refrigerator because it is too strong for her to pull off.  This style is not easy to check without pan removal.  But it works far better than the plug. 

[Benz Dr.]

Just a small note: the ZF 5 speeds come from the factory with a magnetic drain plug. While I always see a small amount of fillings on the plug, there is never very much.