Am I the only one who can make a mess changing oil?

I like my Fumoto, but the oil-filter is under my vehicle and mounts tilted about 45 degrees so that is hard to do without making a mess. I tried an oil-udder, but with a 45 degree tilt an oil-udder is useless and just one more thing that has to get cleaned up when you're done. The next time I loosen the filter a very slight amount just to make sure it wasn't stuck and then punched a hole in the bottom most section of it with a 1/8 inch straight blade screwdriver and let that drain for quite a while. I was surprised how much did not drain out when I actually remove the filter and it still made a mess. The next time I'm going to punch the hole in the bottom most section after loosening and also try to punch a hole in an upper side area if I can get to it to let air in so it drains better.

As far as draining the pan goes I just connect the hose to the Fumoto and run the other end of the hose into a empty large cat litter plastic container jug that's laying on its side with a brick keeping the opening high and that combined with the fact that the car is sitting on a hill in the first place with the back of the vehicles oil-pan where the drain plug is towards the bottom of the hill works very well. After I get it all connected up I flipped the lever on the Fumoto and go do something else for about a half hour and let it completely drain.

Now if my draining the filter works, I will have clean changes.

I will find out in about one month when the next change is due.
 
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Drop filter in drain pan, drop tool or whatever in drain pan, spill oil on rocker cover of car that d/n have enough space for a funnel, and my favorite memory is either getting distracted and backing off the ramps with the oil drain pan still under the car or the time (Dark Ages) I backed over an old foil cardboard quart can of Castrol GTX 20w-50.... Not bad for 40 years of doing this stuff.
 
In my youth, I was draining the oil in a large tractor that held 6 gallons of engine oil. I had a 5 gallon bucket. I forgot the crankcase held 6 gallons. The plug was already pulled and the 5 gallon bucket was almost full, by the time I realized I needed another bucket. I could either try to put the drain plug back in or get out from under the tractor quickly and get another bucket. I had little desire to try to put a 1" drain plug back in and I had almost no time before the bucket was full. In my haste to get out from underneath the tractor, I kicked the bucket and slid it over far enough that no oil was hitting the bucket, of course about a gallon from in the bucket ended up on me. You know about the cow and the flat rock right? I never got the empty bucket, no use, but I did have about 2.5 gallons of very black used diesel oil to clean up from all over the shop floor and myself. Guess how many times I did that again?
 
wwillson said:
In my youth, I was draining the oil in a large tractor that held 6 gallons of engine oil. I had a 5 gallon bucket. I forgot the crankcase held 6 gallons. The plug was already pulled and the 5 gallon bucket was almost full, by the time I realized I needed another bucket. I could either try to put the drain plug back in or get out from under the tractor quickly and get another bucket. I had little desire to try to put a 1" drain plug back in and I had almost no time before the bucket was full. In my haste to get out from underneath the tractor, I kicked the bucket and slid it over far enough that no oil was hitting the bucket, of course about a gallon from in the bucket ended up on me. You know about the cow and the flat rock right? I never got the empty bucket, no use, but I did have about 2.5 gallons of very black used diesel oil to clean up from all over the shop floor and myself. Guess how many times I did that again?
Click to expand...
Guess how many people are asking, Cow and a flat rock?????..........LOL
 
Mess is assume. No mess is abnormal.

I usually make a mess when pouring the old oil back into the used jug. LOL!!!
 
Last time I changed the oil in the Tundra I was spinning the Fram XG8 off. It was oily, of course, it spun past the last thread, I wasn't really paying attention, it slipped past my fingers and dropped into the oil drain pan. Splashed a ton of oil onto me, mainly my hair and face.
 
My last oil change was a complete disaster, wind blew oil from landing in the pan to hitting me in the face. adjusting for this made the last part spill on the driveway, dropped the full oil filter on my head spilling it, then I ran over the catch can. At least it was synthetic, dosen't seem to stain concrete in the sun after a proper clean-up.
 
NiwradND said:
Guess how many people are asking, Cow and a flat rock?????..........LOL
Click to expand...
That's funny! Dont care who you are. Its funny. I grew up in a small small town but in no way could it be considered country.
When I started my working life, I was lucky enough that on every job I was with a mix of "city slickers" and "country boys!"
Let me tell you, I learned a lot from both groups. Cow and flat rock one of many sayings they had. :)
 
First oil change I taught youngest son to do.... did not watch him close enough. The old filter "o ring" type gasket stayed on the car.
So he installed new filter without seeing old one. Finished up doing a fine job. When he cranked it up. POW! Woooosh! oil shot in 4 directions across garage about 12" above floor. It looked as if we purposely painted a black line all the way round garage. Of course by
the time he stopped engine most of the other oil was all over the floor under the car. The mess that makes you can be sure you wont ever make that mistake again if you do once. :oops:
 
I use old newspaper, have some sawdust at hand, paper towels, and I also have several PSL beam cutoffs, and my wide, shallow drain pan then can be set atop one of these and even wind, in essence won't blow dribbles off-course. Luckily all but one vehicle's oil filter is NOT plumb, with connex on top. Strangely, my Camry has a filter thats axis is at about 30° off level, facing down... but it never p*sses-out oil??? ADBV's can't ALL be bum, can they be?
 
too many mini disasters to count over a lifetime of dealing with all kinds of oil in residential and commercial applications.

It's a mess.

The mityvac skips most of the drain drama, but the potential for a mess exists every time you handle the stuff.
 
few years back.. at my buddy's old house, changing his oil behind the house, on the concrete floor of an old garage that no longer exists...
crack the drain plug, place the drain pan, things start flowing, and i get out from under the car, go grab a drink, etc...
come back out... 4.5 qts of oil all over the concrete pad.. not sure if i didn't have the pan positioned right, or if there was maybe a gust of wind?
but i captured approx 0 qts..

at least it was NextGen Valvoline...so it had been,at least partially, recycled at least once already...
I used up all their kitty litter soaking that up...not sure if i ever bought them more now that I think of it...
 
Use a large pan, and/ or at least a big enough piece of cardboard, just to make sure.
Now try changing the oil or oil filter on some lawn mowers with absolutely no accommodation for where the oil goes...
 
walterjay said:
So today I did two oil changes. The first one I wasn't paying attention and when the oil slowed down trickling out it missed the pan and got about a pint all over the floor.
When I went to empty the evacuator into an empty oil jug the funnel slipped off spilling a goodly amount of oil all over the place.
Is it just me? Do others have these issues?
At least I know the oil change was done right.
Click to expand...
It happens to the best of us...I once dropped a 1/2 drive ratchet in a pan of used oil (slipped out of my hands and fell into the pan that should have been moved completely out of the way). Oil came of that ratchet for nearly 2 years.

It could be worse...you should try changing the transmission fluid when there is no drain plug (looking at your GM, Ford, Chrysler...) for the trans fluid...really tests your coordination and patience.
 
After making a few messes, I went and purchased a few 18x26 aluminum sheet pans to use on top of the piece of cardboard I lay down. I bought a few more pans when I rebuilt the trans in the Safari.

trans removal 052.jpg
 
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