Please recommend a suction pump

[SpeedySpeedBoy]

Civic coupe vti 1999.

Can it be used to take outbtransmission oil aswell as engine oil? Can you recommend something that will do the job effectively for my car.

Thanks.

[donkmeister]

Pela are the go-to brand. They're used on boats a fair bit (can't really put a sump plug in the bottom of the hull!) and Pela ones are well-rated.

I've got a Pela 14 - the literature says you can use it for any automotive fluids apart from fuel, so should be fine for gear oil.

The jury is out on whether it's good to use a pump though - my main car is designed to have the oil service done from above so the sump is designed with a vacuum pump in mind - people who've tried removing the sump plug after find no more comes out. But, YMMV. I've got on well with it, haven't tried other pumps but TBH I can't imagine any do it better. It's definitely a bit slower than gravity though as the bore of the pipe is narrower than a drain hole.

Is there a particular reason you don't want to drain the transmission from below?

[A1VDY]

donkmeister said:

Is there a particular reason you don't want to drain the transmission from below?

Some gearboxes especially the supposed 'sealed for life' ones don't have a drain plug.

[SpeedySpeedBoy]

donkmeister said:

Is there a particular reason you don't want to drain the transmission from below?

If you could do it from above, who would ever want to get underneath the car?
Anyway I can’t be asked to go underneath plus I’m scared of getting under. I already had a wheel come off when driving plus, burnt by coolant, finger injured by fan, scissor jack fail etc I paranoid about getting under.

[d_a_n1979]

SpeedySpeedBoy said:

Civic coupe vti 1999.

Can it be used to take outbtransmission oil aswell as engine oil? Can you recommend something that will do the job effectively for my car.

Thanks.

Any decent pump will do the engine oil; Sealy, Pella, a 12v one etc

Re the gearbox oil; personally that needs to be done properly and drained from the sump; so invest in some decent axle stands and a good trolley jack; or find a local decent indy garage and they'll have it all done in an hour etc

FYI this is the pump I use to do the oil changes on my E39 530i and the wife's Racing Jazz:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sealey-TP696-5-5ltr-Manua...

This to hold the oil ready to take to the recycling centre:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sealey-DRP07-10ltr-Recycl...

Or you could look at a 12v pump etc:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extractor-Scavenge-Suctio...

[SpeedySpeedBoy]

d_a_n1979 said:

Re the gearbox oil; personally that needs to be done properly and drained from the sump; so invest in some decent axle stands and a good trolley jack; or find a local decent indy garage and they'll have it all done in an hour

Why can’t the gearbox be done with a pump, the principle is the same is it not?

Thanks.

[d_a_n1979]

It is, but as its at a lower point, its not the easiest to access and it's also much easier to drain more of the box fluid on the Civic via the plug than it'd be via the fill plug etc...

On the ramp/in the air and it's easy

[Chris32345]

SpeedySpeedBoy said:

Why can’t the gearbox be done with a pump, the principle is the same is it not?

Thanks.

On a lot of cars the filler is very hard to access from above plus you'd often struggle to get the suction hose to the bottom of a lot of boxese as you trying to go down through the gears and shafts
As opposed to down the disptick tube straight into the sump as on a engine