I know that it is best to use the drain plug, but there are times I hate crawling on the floor or sometimes it rains or in the winter it is very cold.
I saw at sears an air operated oil extractor that has a ridgid dipstick tube. It can also remove transmission fluid without taking off the pan.
Would the life of a vehicle be shortened by using this method? By the way the item I looked at was made by Mity-Vac and held 8.8 liters. You use it with your air compressor.
I can't imagine getting all of the oil out using this method, and what about the oil in the oil filter and oil filter itself? Isn't the investment in your vehicle worth doing it right?
Transmission fluid? Same as above.
Lane
My opinion? I wouldn't do it. When properly done, an engine should have the oil drained while hot, removing the drain plug, which should be the lowest point in the pan. That way large particles of "dirt" are flushed from the pan, making for a cleaner engine. On the other hand, if you're unable to crawl under the vehicle to do it that way, it's far better than not changing the oil. Most importantly, make sure you change the filter each time so it doesn't pack off and start bypassing.
Harold
Sometimes I hate owning vehicles. Fact is, vehicles require maintenance, and that maintenance must be performed properly. Sucking the used oil out through the dipstick tube does not count as "properly"; the heavy sludge and gunk gets left in the pan. And what of the oil filter? Odds are good you'll still have to crawl around to access that.
*THAT* is a useful function for such a tool, but only because it's messy to remove the trans pan when it is full of fluid, and most of them do not have drain plugs. It is not a substitute for removing the pan to complete the drain job, change the filter and adjust the bands.DS
|I know that it is best to use the drain plug, but there are times I |hate crawling on the floor or sometimes it rains or in the winter it |is very cold. | |I saw at sears an air operated oil extractor that has a ridgid |dipstick tube. It can also remove transmission fluid without taking |off the pan. | |Would the life of a vehicle be shortened by using this method? By the |way the item I looked at was made by Mity-Vac and held 8.8 liters. You |use it with your air compressor.
that would be simple enough to make yourself. You'd need a vacuum source - HF, $9.95 on sale Steel tubing to fit down the dipstick hole, long enough to reach the bottom. Reservoir at least 6 quarts in size, vacuum-tight and strong enough not to collapse from the vacuum. You would need to add two tubes through the top. One would extend almost to the bottom of the container, the other just needs to go thorugh the lid. Tubing to connect all the above.
Stick the tube in the dipstick tube, attach flex hose between that and the longer reservoir tube, then connect the shorter reservoir tube to the vacuum pump. Apply vacuum until all the oil is out.
Then I'd pull the drain plug and see how much is left. Rex in Fort Worth
The other replies offer sensible reasons for not doing your oil change that way.
For automatic transmissions, it's best to drain the torque converter at fluid changes. A service shop here would drill the converter housing to drain it, then screw a tapping plug in it. That type of service is worth paying for.
WB ..............
| |Naw, you'd still have to change the filter. There used to be "quick change" |places that used the dip-stick method.
That method is the standard in the marine industry. Mobile oil suckers go along the docks and change your oil. Kinda hard to get to that drain plug on a marine engine. Rex in Fort Worth
Yet *another* persona, Bill?
Using this method on the trans before pulling off the pan would make the pan removal a lot easier and less messy....
I recently did that in my Audi A4...I have the hand vacuum from Griot's Garage. I used the dipstick tube to get the oil and out and when I was done, I pulled the drain plug; a few drops came out of the drain plug.
An article on the subject from Ray & Tom (via their website) suggests that either method gets approximately 95% of the old oil out of the pan.
YMMV.
--- Curtis Newton snipped-for-privacy@remove-this.akaMail.com
Until a) they drill through the friction material on the lockup clutch or b) the stupid tapping plug flies out at 6500 RPM, makes a hole the size of your fist in the bellhousing, and takes the front half of your right foot with it.
It was great back when all American automatics had drain plugs, but the truth is that if you let the transmission drain overnight when you change your fluid you'll get all but about 1.5 quarts out of the convertor. Since most automatics hold between 8-10 quarts, that means you're getting 80-90% of the fluid. Combined with regular changes, that's PLENTY of fluid exchange and no cause to go drilling holes and screwing plugs in a precision-balanced piece of machinery.
Shouldn't any large particles of "dirt" be trapped by the filter?
you not gonna get any metal parts in the oil that fell to the bottom.... at least when you take out the drain plug you have a chance to get out all the trash as it going to settle to the bottom..... mityvac makes some good products, but that is one that i would not want from any manufacturer.....
Remove an oil pan from an engine that's had three or four of these dipstick tube oil "changes" sometime, then ask your question again...if you still have to.
As noted by another poster, marine engines routinely have the oil removed via the dipstick. Another poster found that the dipstick method was just as good as draining. And some models of Benz (and perhaps other makes) have no drain plug. You need to review your conclusions.
Chas Hurst
Better yet do what I did on my Yanmar diesel in my boat. I drilled and tapped a pipe fitting in the pan then ran a hydraulic line up the side of the engine with a plug in the end. To change oil I could drop the line below the engine in the bilge with a coffee can or suck the oil out from above using that hydraluic line Randy.
Accessible from where? Under the car is not accesible.
You missed the part about Benz without drain plugs. Or more likely ignored it.
How do you know that?
Larger particles that won't pass the screen are what I had in mind. You often find things in a pan when dismantling an engine, things that won't get as far as the filter. Needless to say, if the don't get picked up, they're likely to not be a problem anyway, but if you can flush them, that's not a bad thing, either.
Harold
I'm not necessarily advocating the dipstick method. I was just thinking that the filter should stop the large bits from reaching the sensitive areas of the engine, unless the oil pump comes before the filter. This of course assumes that the filter is changed before it gets clogged or falls apart. Someone who doesn't want to crawl under the car to drain a bolt likely won't want to change the filter either.
True. I remember dropping the pan in of a GM Hydra-Matic, and it does make one heck of a mess. There's supposed to be a magnet attached to the inside of the pan. Having the pan off gives the opportunity to clean the magnet.
I like the Honda automatic transmission method. My '89 Integra (4-sp auto) had a 5.7 quart capacity, but would drain out 2.5 quarts. What I liked about it was:
Of course the tranny wasn't very smooth and tended to hunt for a gear, but that was before more sophisticated electronic controls were available. I hear the current Honda auto trannies have electronic controls and have gotten much smoother, yet have the same ease of maintenance.
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