Best way to change oil without flooding garage floor?

How about buy a bag of kitty litter, pour it out on your floor uder the drain pan and around the area that will get splashed. That should help with clean up anyway. Not sure what vehicle your driving but my Explorer (97) drains straight down and there really is nothing that hits the ground anywhere other than going into the drain pan. Searcher

I will probably be flamed for suggesting this, but for what it's worth: FRAM (of the very dubious oil filter fame) sells drain valves that replace the standard oil plug. Hand-threading a special cap with a protrusion opens the valve and drains the oil through a short hose attached to it (you can replace it with a longer one, if needed). No mess, no torquing, even no tools needed. A screw-on cap over the valve protects it from road debris and avoids sudden loss of oil should it suddenly fail. Don't know about long term reliability, but they have worked for me on a couple vehicles for two or three years now without problems. Been a great help for the Grand Marquis, with its side-facing drain plug. Of course, if you decide to install one of those, you still need to remove the plug and create a mess one last time...

No flame here. I've used a similar valve from

Ok, I'll do it........

THEY LEAK ALL THE TIME !!!!!

:-))))

Been using the Fran drain plug thing for 4 years and no problem. wth

"Searcher1" wrote in news:lFfaf.1363$zU2.1245@trnddc07:

I have a huge bag of oil dry, but I'm trying to avoid throwing it and the oil it picks up into the landfill

I have a '97 XLT with the 4.0 SOHC, and when I pulled the plug yesterday, well, I haven't seen an arc like that since I was toilet training the oldest boy. It shot about 14" over and deflected off the frame, completely overspraying the 18" drain pan I thought I had strategically placed. I tipped the pan and got most of it, but I generally don't get a drop on the floor when I change oil in the other 5 vehicles.

Another way is to loosen the plug and then slowly move it away from the hole in the pan. If your careful and the plug isn't too hot you can control how fast the oil comes out and where it goes.

Up your shirt sleeve, mostly... Well, technically it's down your sleeve 'cos your arm's aimed upwards at the time...

Simon H

I,m talking about the ones jiffy lube installs

at least , I think its Jiffy lube