Changing oil through dipstick tube vs. using the drain plug

From under the car.

Only in those rare but noteworthy cases where some mystic force field prevents you getting under the car with a wrench.

Yes, I ignored it.

A drain plug under a car is not accessible. Nothing mystical or rare about at all.

Do you think, Chas, that if you say it fifty or a hundred more times it will suddenly become true?

Give it a try and let us know how it works out for you.

DS

So is the suction hose hooked to the dipstick tube or is it small enough to be inserted through the tube down into the pan? Bob

I wouldn't OWN an automatic with no filter. Talk about pre-planned obsolesence (failure). Sheesh.

Only for someone too stupid to reach under and unscrew it!

So is the radiator cap "not accessible" because its under a latched hood? I have this strange feeling like I'm in a 'Hitchhiker's Guide' book where something doesn't exist if nobody looks directly at it.

The dipstick tube doesn't go near the bottom of the pan, If anyone is just sticking a hose on the dipstick tube itself, all they're going to do is suck air.

Just sucking on the dipstick tube will do no good. You need another tube to go down inside it all the way to the bottom of the oil pan, or as close as you can get.

That brings up an interesting question. How many dipstick tubes align with the bottom of the oil pan? The dipstick itself only needs to read the top oil level plus or minus a quart or so.

Lane

I would guess none at all. There's no reason for the dipstick tube to even extend past its threads in the engine block.

Exactly.... I was going to let someone dig a hole for themselves before I brought that little point up. I don't think a hose shoved down the dipstick tube is very likely to find its way to the lowest part of the pan either. I'd say at best it's a half assed way of changing the oil. Bob

Threads? How many dipstick tubes have you ever examined?

As for length there's a very good reason for the dipstick tube to be extended well down the dipstick: windage. How long do you think an unsupported flexible dipstick would last?

Tom

I'm too big to reach under the car. A little twerp would have no problem.

Amazing. Apparently, Mr Hurst here is not only stupid, he's also so ignorant as never to have heard of a floor jack.

No one mentioned a floor jack. The original asshole says just reach under the car. You need a course in reading comprehension. Besides that, I have a lift to do oil changes. I have a floor jack too, actually 2. But I shouldn't need a jack if the drain plug is accessible.

I bought the mightyVac unit:

I use it for doing differentials and transfer cases, but when I get a used engine. It's nice to know I won't be getting it implanted on my forehead pulling the plug before I install it.

MightyVac gives you a plastic tube that fits in the dipstick tube, and will go to the bottom of the oil pan, in fact, if you go too far. It will not vacum oil!

It works well, because I see it pull sludge from the pan bottom, that pulling a plug doesn't get, and also, draining the broken engine, you usually get a clogged line from metal pieces.

Pulling the plug puts that garbage in your drain barrel, so I put an automatic transmission adapter on the funnel. That gets the large pieces out when I pull the plug.

But, as a seasoned vetran, 35 years. I say that vacuming the oil isn't a bad idea, because the pan isn't flat and pulling the plug leaves residual oil in there too.

Refinish King

You spoke too soon!

The dipstick is always positioned in the sump area of the pan.

Refinish King

LOL

Thanks for clearing that one up!

Refinish King

I wouldn't m> >

The one I got from Griot's Garage goes down to the bottom of the pan.....you can actually feel it hit the bottom of the pan.

-- Curtis Newton snipped-for-privacy@remove-this.akaMail.com