Oil Filter Inspection

Already a part of another post, but seems to have gotten buried....
I have a question for those doing frequent annuals. I ran a magnet across the filter element and found no metal. It was only after I tore out the element, laid it flat, and ran the magnet down each seam that I found metal. Does everyone do this? Is there a published method of inspecting an Oil Filter Element or recommended practice.?

I usually just hold the folds of the filter open one at a time and visually search for metal and debris. At 90 bucks an hour, I don't think most shops will do the scrutiny you have discussed.

A one-time oil sample will yield questionable results, or at least results that are hard to act on. Doesn't take long to pull a cylinder and look at the cam lobes. Accessory gears can also be the culprit, but a little harder to check.

If you really want to get excessive (which I do all the time--just ask my wife) you can inspect the filter using a little trick I learned from Dugosh aircraft back in my Mooney days. After the first visual inspection of the opened filter, they cut out the pleated filter element, accordian it, wrap it in paper towels to catch the oil, and squeeze it in a vise. This removes the dark oil, the paper element is now tan, and it is very easy to spot any type of metal imbedded in the filter when you stretch it back out. I cut the paper element into three sections and squeeze one at a time---if I find nothing in the first segment I ususally don't do the squeeze inspection of the other two.

YMMV.

Cheers,

db