Engine oil syphoning - Yay or nay?

[hoganscrogan]

dutchgray said:

B'stard Child said:

I was a nay for years till I bought one just to change the oil on a car with a heavy steel bash plate that take two people to remove and replace - 3000 mile oil changes that I do were becoming a PITA.

I freaking love it and just for fun on most of my cars I've even undone the drain plug after an extraction change to see how much is left and it's at most half an egg cup worth

I'll not go back to changing oil the old way........

The solution there is to hole saw a nice big hole in the bash plate so you don't have to take it off to get at the sump plug.

Or use an oil pump!

[Robert Elise]

i run a few cars, two of which go on track. They get serviced on schedule, and so hopefully get a proper change then with new filter. I also use a syphon to change the oil mid-term or after a few track days. Once you've done it once it's easy, clean and quite quick. £35 or so for an oil refresh with full ester synthetic from Opie.
Feels right.

[The_Burg]

Isn't this one of the reasons Smart Cars engines die after mid 55k miles? No sump plug so all the crap just builds up.
Seems a lazy and daft way to do it, can you really be sure the pipe gets to the bottom of the sump?
As an analogy, juice drinks the ones with the straw attached. Despite wiggling the straw around and moving the carton you never quite get to the last bit. Fine for a 25p juice carton but a several £k car?

[Robert Elise]

i'm not advocating syphoning as a replacement to proper oil service, just as mid-term refresher. Regular oil changes keep additives replenished and take out the crap that was in suspension. With computer saying "keep going for 15k" i'm happy doing a quick syphon at 7.5.
I think the little Smart engine had other problems btw.

[S0 What]

You dont have a choice on a LOT of new cars nowdays, i used to get away with using a diesel hand primer to suck it out but i've been forced to buy one as 1 in 5 car i get in niow have no drain plug at all, mostly mercs IME.

[mybrainhurts]

The_Burg said:

Isn't this one of the reasons Smart Cars engines die after mid 55k miles? No sump plug so all the crap just builds up.
Seems a lazy and daft way to do it, can you really be sure the pipe gets to the bottom of the sump?
As an analogy, juice drinks the ones with the straw attached. Despite wiggling the straw around and moving the carton you never quite get to the last bit. Fine for a 25p juice carton but a several £k car?

When this came up before, someone used a suction device then raised the car on a lift and removed the drain plug. Nothing more came out.

The one I use clearly shows how much oil comes out. If you've checked the dipstick first, you should know how much is in there.

I always measure the dipstick alongside the suction tube to make sure I'm shoving enough tube down the hole.

[Hasbeen]

With a lot of high performance V8 powered sky racing & pleasure boats, you'd have to pull the engine out to drain the sump.

Some I know have done a few thousand hours using this system to change the oil.

[AW111]

?
Maybe I'm lucky, but I can drain the oil and remove the filter from both the van and the mr2 without jacking them up. Much easier with the van than suctioning, cos engine is between/under the seats, so no bonnet as such.

Park car (oil is nice and warm).
Slide catch tray under.
Remove sump plug.

It would take less than 5 minutes, but I usually do something else while the oil is draining.

[DuraAce]

What's all this "crap" in the oil that people are finding?

I reckon I've drained 100+ sumps and only oil ever comes out. If its full of crap then either your engine is falling apart or it's done 50k since oil was changed.

Change oil regularly and you'll have no issues using extractors.

[BigBen]

Basil Brush said:

slaveunit said:

If i found out that a garage was doing that to my car I'd never go back.

Unless you had one of the cars that doesn't have a drain plug..

Or you ran out of convenient garages to go to.

[Pesty]

mybrainhurts said:

I use one of these, as I sometimes need to change the oil every two months. Half a dozen pumps with the handle and it sucks out five to six litres. The body is calibrated, so you can see how much has come out. Perfectly clean for storage, you just need to wrap the tube ends in a Tesco bag or something so it doesn't drip.

No good for me both my cars take 10 litres. I prefer using the plug anyway but was wondering if that could be used to suck throug new brake fluid from the nipple

[Major Fallout]

I have been using them on marine engines for over 20 years now.

If everyone was getting an egg cup full of swarf every 10k out of your engine, it would only last 30k before your bearings were gone. It would also very quickly bung up your oil pump pick up.

[AdeTuono]

Pesty said:

mybrainhurts said:

I use one of these, as I sometimes need to change the oil every two months. Half a dozen pumps with the handle and it sucks out five to six litres. The body is calibrated, so you can see how much has come out. Perfectly clean for storage, you just need to wrap the tube ends in a Tesco bag or something so it doesn't drip.

No good for me both my cars take 10 litres. I prefer using the plug anyway but was wondering if that could be used to suck throug new brake fluid from the nipple

My F350 took around 16 litres, but you can still use the extractor. Just release the vacuum when it's full (there's a relief valve on the top of the pump), empty the old oil into the same container you would have used without a pump, and repeat. Probably do an oil change in half the time it normally takes.

All this bks about 'proper' oil changes is just that. These pumps are routinely used in marine applications, and increasingly in newer cars.

[Pesty]

Where do you stick the end of the tube?

[sawman]

Pesty said:

Where do you stick the end of the tube?

down the dipstick tube - measure the tube against dipstick so that you know where the bottom of the sump is

[williredale]

I do my 6 month services with a Pela pump and the garage does the sump bolt way for the 12 month services.

[B'stard Child]

dutchgray said:

B'stard Child said:

I was a nay for years till I bought one just to change the oil on a car with a heavy steel bash plate that take two people to remove and replace - 3000 mile oil changes that I do were becoming a PITA.

I freaking love it and just for fun on most of my cars I've even undone the drain plug after an extraction change to see how much is left and it's at most half an egg cup worth

I'll not go back to changing oil the old way........

The solution there is to hole saw a nice big hole in the bash plate so you don't have to take it off to get at the sump plug.

And then the lowest area of the sump no longer has any protection - and you might as well take the bash plate of permenantly......

Another thread on them

Clicky for a complete mind change by me

Edited by B'stard Child on Saturday 3rd August 08:52

[New POD]

soda said:

Nothing wrong with using an oil extractor, used in a fair few dealers.

IIRC some cars now don't have a sump plug at all.

Smart car.

Check out yaughting suppliers. Marine engines are quite difficult to get to the sump plug and all would use a vacuum pump.

[Dog Star]

DuraAce said:

What's all this "crap" in the oil that people are finding?

I reckon I've drained 100+ sumps and only oil ever comes out. If its full of crap then either your engine is falling apart or it's done 50k since oil was changed.

Change oil regularly and you'll have no issues using extractors.

My thoughts exactly; if there is dwarf in your sump then your engine has had it anyway.

[jamesson]

I have an A3 on the long life service interval which means it sees the garage periodically but I do my own interim oil changes using a Pela vacuum pump and it works brilliantly. It sucks out the old oil in no time at all and the dipstick always registers zero afterwards, suggesting it's getting all of it.

Been doing this for a few years now and never had any problems. Much cleaner and easier than the traditional route to my mind.