Oil change with Topsider???

[Mike Feinstein]

Anyone use a Topsider or Liquivac type system to drain your oil tank? Seems it'd be alot easier than dealing with the 7 quart gusher that sprays oil all over the place when the drain plug comes out.

Thinking of getting one for the MB and the Minivan. . .wondering if anyone's taking the easy way out on their P-cars.




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Mike
94 C2 cab

[Planter91C2]

i don't think it would work on a 911, maybe on the minivan. but i'm skeptical, i think draining from the bottom plug is the only way to remove all impurities and metal shavings with the oil.

c'mon mike, its not that hard

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Daryl 964 Targa

[finadict]

you'd better have the hands of a proctologist to get the suction hose from the oil tank to the engine sump ...pat

[Mike Feinstein]

Didn't figure I could drain the block that way. . .just the tank. Getting lazier with age I guess. For now I'll keep dealing with the 7 quart gusher.

Best,


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Mike
94 C2 cab

[Obin Robinson]

i saw one at the Hershey swap meet, and i immediately ordered one when we got back home. i have used it for 3 oil changes (on Porsches and VW) this year, and i don't know how i ever got along without it. you just build up the pressure, and put the oil down the dipstick tube. it sucks all the oil out, and you do NOT have to get your hands dirty. no spots on the garage floor either. the ONLY mess you get is when taking the filter off. i found a way around that by just putting a plastic mbag around the filter, and then unscrewing it, and letting it drop into the plastic bag. i can now do an oil change without jacking my car up, and worrying about putting on a new crush washer. my friend uses one on his BMW and he has similar results.

one of the best purchases i've ever made. well worth the money. everyone that has seen it has gone out and bought one. the big selling point is "you don't have to get oil all over the place. it comes with a good 8 feet or so of hose... so you just trim the excess.

this is the one i use:

http://www.liquivac.com/

good luck!

obin

[Jim T]

I think its efficiency depends on the car.
Griots advertises in their catalog that they tried it out on a Toyota or something, and actually got MORE oil out of the car using the Topsider type device than they did from draining it the conventional way. But on other cars, I'd imagine the opposite would be true, depending on the config. of the oil pan and the placement of the drain.

It actually doesn't seem like it would be easier to me. Once you pump the oil out, I'd imagine that you would want to clean the pump, tubing, etc. up. That alone would take more time than draining the oil. And, on a 911, you're going to have to drain the sump the conventional way, anyways.

I think on a 911 a proper oil drain/storage pan is the way to go. Has a nice big opening, covered by a plastic screen (so the drain plug doesn't fall in!), you just screw the giant top off, and let the oil drain into it. Not messy at all, and very fast. Even a 911 is high enough off the ground so you don't need to jack the car up, either. $10 at Pep Boys, I bought 2 so I can drain the tank and the sump at the same time.

[Doug Zielke]

Can't see a problem with pumping out a 911 oil tank. When I had a boat with twin Cat 3208 diesels (10 ltrs each), pumping was the only way to empty the crankcases (short of throwing a rod).

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'81 SC Coupe (aka: "Blue Bomber")
Canada West Region PCA
The Blue Bomber's Website

[This message has been edited by Doug Zielke (edited 08-28-2001).]

[Obin Robinson]

Originally posted by Jim T:

It actually doesn't seem like it would be easier to me. Once you pump the oil out, I'd imagine that you would want to clean the pump, tubing, etc. up. That alone would take more time than draining the oil. And, on a 911, you're going to have to drain the sump the conventional way, anyways.

no, all you do is you leave the oil in the container and you bring it to a recycling center (or anyone that takes used oil). there is a little cap that goes over the inlet so that the oil doesn't leak out. you don't need to clean the tubing. all i do is a wrap the tubing up into a big loop and i put it in a plastic bag. if you are so adamant about cleaning the tubing.. you build up a bunch of pressure and then put the tip of the tubing in some sludge remover or parts cleaner.. then you let the pressure loose and the parts cleaner will go through all the tubing. the inside of the device stays surprisingly clean. they really did their homework on this one. when i drain the oil out, there isn't much more than a teaspoon left in the device. also, i DO get more oil out of the engine because the suction it creates really goes all the way through the crankcase and gets that little bit of goo that just doesn't want to "give it up to gravity".

all i know is that with this device i don't get my hands dirty and it takes me less than half the time it used to do an oil change. i also don't have to get my clothes all covered with crap. all i ever end up using is one rag or two paper towels (to clean the oil cap, but that's not totally necessary

obin

[Clark Griswald]

Am I the only one who cleans the 2 drain plug magnets?

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Nope. I do too.

[Obin Robinson]

am i the only one that doesn't have dirty magnets when he does clean the drain plugs out? (usually before storage)

Mobil1 does wonders for your car. so do the filters.

obin

[orbmedia]

Haven't they been vacuuming oil out of engines for years in Europe? I think since the mid-80's. Can any European types on the list confirm this? A German buddy told me they vacuum the oil out of 911's over there.

[Mike Feinstein]

I know that they do for Mercedes. . .I first heard of it on an MB BBS. Apparently most Euro MB dealerships and service shops have been sucking oil for years. . .many in the states are now doing it also. MB actually recommends using the dip-stick tube as the siphon tube since it literally touches the bottom of the oil pan. Just fit your liquivac hose over the tube, pump the plunger and gulp gulp gulp.


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Mike
94 C2 cab

[Superman]

I put a five gallon bucket under the tank when I pull the plug. Plenty of room and no mess.

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'83 SC

[Roland Kunz]

Hello

@Clark Griswald

Two magnetic drainplugs ?

@orbmedia

In fact the Mercedes engines where designed to that. But the mercedes mechanics I know still work old fashioned as they have to lift the car on the service anyhow.

I never tried to vacuum a 911 sumpsystem out. I only used it to correct overfills.

As far I know the engine it can´t work as you have no way to reach the engine sump via the oiltank. Some oil will run back trough the S hose but not the complete sump. So all the water and dirt will stay in there.

At least I would recomend to open the sump screw and catch the rest in a oilpan. I guess it is still more than 1 liter.

Seems like we also have turkey mechanics in europe.

If I needed to vac oil I drove the next gas station as I didn´t know one repair facility with a vac around. The mercedes dealer had one but they never used it. They said they will use it on emergencys or on non mercedes cars with strange plugs and the first time sdeing it in action was on a Chrysler as no Chrysler dealer had a drain plug on stock for emergencys.

They had a other unit strictly for gear oil only and used it regulary as newer mercedes tranys have no drainplug nor a dipstick.

Grüsse

[Obin Robinson]

Mike:

an interesting way to test to see if it would work would be to snake a piece of tubing down the dipstick tube and then see if you can see that piece of tubing from the drain plug area. the tubing they supply with the Liquivac is long enough to suck the oil from very large big block engines... all the way down to tiny 1 litre engines. i know that in every case, i got just as much oil and sludge out of the system with the Liquivac as i would have by draining, if not more.

one tip that my friend Kirk and i used to do is pour some "cheapo" oil down through a crankcase after all the oil was drained out. that way we could tell how muh gunk was sticking to the engine and not draining out. in every case to date we could see the oil getting stained with old oil residue. so even drining your engine isn't getting all that gunk out.

before i disassembled my 924 engine i drained all the oil out with the Liquivac. i'll be dead honest with you and say that after i thoroughly drained the block, i didn't have nearly the mess of oil on the ground as we did when Kirk and I worked on engines a while ago. after thoroughly sucking the oil out of the 924 engine using the liquivac, there was hardly any oil to wash off of the block once it was removed.

because i like to check how things are going, every three oil hanges i check the drain plug to see if there's any metal shavings. i don't get them now that i use Mobil 1 oil and the Mobil 1 filter. rather than having 5 quarts of hot goopy sludge drip all over your arm, i have only a capful or so that is left and it is easily contained in a small bucket. if you take your car to a "jiffy lube" then they are just draining it for a minute. then pouring new oil in.

as i've noted, the Liquivac works on my 924, the 944, my 16V Scirocco, my mercedes, my friend's Hondas, BMWs, Buicks, and other VWs. in every case the Liquivac extracted just as much, if not more oil than a simple draining because the tube reaches the bottom of the oil pan. i have a friend with a 356 that likes it because he can get that last little bit of oil out without making a big mess. when you use the liquivac you leave the filter and the cap on so the only place for oil to go is OUT of the engine. the suction created is pretty powerful.

so give it a shot, just snake a tube down the oil dipstick tube and check to see if you can see it from the drain plug area. worst case you can still use it for gear oil changes, or oil changes on your MB and minivan.

good luck!

obin