I'm not sure if it will really make much difference, but I put some small, powerful neodymium magnets on my drain plugs. I'm changing fluids (oil, differential, and tranny) in a couple weeks and I just got them so I said what the heck. In case anyone is interested, here are some links for these cheap yet powerful magnets:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.c...tnumber=329-040
or
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/cate...G-72&type=store

 

Send a few samples to www.blackstone-labs.com .....they have quite a bit of S2000 data on all systems. It would be interesting to see what your magnets are picking up. If you email them they will send you test kits and mailers to send in oil samples. Ask Ryan Stark (CEO)how to handle the material on the plugs and request a hard particle count on that sample. Tell him Utah sent you and you'ld like to be considered for the S2Ki discount.

Utah

 

how did you put them on ?

 

They are very stong magnets so they hold to the metal bolts quite well. I put them on yesterday afternoon; I drove the car into work today so I'll check them tonight and post back.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by STL
[B]They are very stong magnets so they hold to the metal bolts quite well.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 9906
[B]

STL,

 

I see what you are asking now! I attached them to the bolt heads on the outside. I would be a little paranoid about putting them inside. I don't know if they will really help, but they can attact metal from several inches away (based on my experimentation) so I suspect that even being on the outside they might help a little. At any rate they shouldn't hurt anything!

Even after a couple drives to/from work (about 30 miles roundtrip) all the magnets are still in place.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bbsilver
[B]

They would pick more stuff up inside the oil pan.

 

Well,
AL, a non-ferrous metal, will not hold a magnet. However, the drain plug is steel and will hold a magnet. I suppose the magnets may impart some polarity to the drain plug, just from proximity, and metal shavings may be attracted to it, otherwise I'm not certain I understand the point of the exercise. Please let us know what you find on the drain plug when you change your oil. If nothing, then any suspended metal not caught by the oil filter will simply flow out when the oil is changed as gernby writes above.

 

I am thinking that the strong magnets impose some polarity on the drain plug, but I think that they might also be strong enough to just attract particles to the proximity of the drain plug (and keep them there) so that when I take the drain plug off most all metal particles would easily come out. Maybe they won't have any effect, but these things really are strong. If you haven't ever played with a neodymium magnet then you might not understand how much stronger than can be compared to typical magnets.