Dipstick extractor tubing

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I'm going to be building my own shop vac powered oil extractor, primarily for my Mercedes.

I'll be going into a Home Depot and also near an OSH.

Can anybody recommend exactly what type of tubing I should buy?

Wondering about the best size as well as type that resists the oil temperature.

Thank you!
 
You want the white translucent tubing similar to what ice makers use. As large as your dipstick tube will allow.

I suggest you look at a MityVac. It will do all you need. It will show capacity which is important when doing extracts of ATF fluid.

I do not think you need a machine powered one.
 
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I'd get a harder nylon tubing. Can be soft further up, but softer tubing can collapse.
 
Use the clearish white opaque plastic tubing (polyethylene or polypropylene I think) for going down into the dipstick. It will be harder/less flexible than clear transparent tubing so it will slide down the inside of the dipstick much easier, and will resist heat better. As stated above, use the largest tubing that will fit down your dipstick.

12 inches or so above the top of the dipstick you can switch to the transparent tubing (PVC I think), the next size larger than the tubing going down the dipstick. The PVC tubing is more flexible and easier to see through. If you're going to change it while warm, use the thicker tubing with the reinforced strands in the middle layer - if you're going to change it when cold, the clear one-layer PVC tubing is sufficient.
 
are you actually going to suck the dirty oil through shop vac? I mean would the dirty oil end up inside the shop vac container itself or you going to fabricate something using another container hooked up to the shop vac?
 
Hi Vikas,

I'm going to use a 5 gallon bucket to receive the oil and the shop vac to provide the suction.

No oil will touch the shop vac.

I do have a spare shop vac and thought about that option but I thought this is neater.

Regards
 
Originally Posted By: Doog
Why not just buy a Motive or Mity vac on amazon? The motive ones are $65


Its $90 for the Mityvac I need compared to less than $10 for the parts to make your own. It will take me about 20 minutes to make it and with powered vacuum the extraction will be faster and more complete.
 
I'd be curious how it turns out. In 9 years time I've gone through two Pella's, and wouldn't mind an electric version.

That said, I don't feel that manual vacuum did not get the job done--that somehow an electric motor would pull more oil out. It'd just make it easier, albeit louder, in getting the job done.
 
Originally Posted By: EType
Originally Posted By: Doog
Why not just buy a Motive or Mity vac on amazon? The motive ones are $65


Its $90 for the Mityvac I need compared to less than $10 for the parts to make your own. It will take me about 20 minutes to make it and with powered vacuum the extraction will be faster and more complete.


Post pics when done! I'm curious.
 
I'll update everyone.

There's a video on YouTube that shows a machine that a Mercedes dealer use. The extractor does not even go down the dipstick tube, it just attaches on top and has enough suction to get the oil out.

It got me thinking about the benefits of powered suction.
 
I already have 9ft of Polyurethane 8x5.5mm tubing. So OD is 8mm / 1/4" and ID is 5mm. Seems I could use this only?
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Keep in mind that this will leave maybe 1/2 QT of oil in the pan.

Not if the car was designed with dipstick extraction in mind to begin with, like his Mercedes.

Guys have done tests on this before. After they sucked all the oil out via dipstick, then they unscrewed the drainplug and nothing came out.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Donald
Keep in mind that this will leave maybe 1/2 QT of oil in the pan.

Not if the car was designed with dipstick extraction in mind to begin with, like his Mercedes.

Guys have done tests on this before. After they sucked all the oil out via dipstick, then they unscrewed the drainplug and nothing came out.


I pulled the pan on my 83 MB and found hardly a drop after dipstick extraction.
 
So I just had a "wet" run using water and it was a success.

My shop vac is too powerful and caused the bucket to collapse inwards when sucking and the lid to loosen when blowing, but that is easily remedied by altering the distance of the hose and the bucket was not permanently affected.

This weekend I will do the oil extraction. I will mark the bucket with quart levels so I know how much came out.

I purchased:

A Home Depot bucket and lid
1.5 inch male and female PVC adapters. Note the Home Depot ones did not screw together all the way so I picked these up from Orchard Supply Hardware.
polyethylene tubing

Cut a circle through the lid with box cutters and attached the male and female PVC adapters

Drilled a hole for the tubing

Simple. I don't even think I needed the PVC adapters because the suction I have is so great I am not doing it airtight even when they are on.

Pumping the water out worked as well but my tubing does not go down straight. I might see if I can attach a length of pipe to the underside of the lid that will go down almost to the bottom of the bucket. This will route the tube to the ideal spot for extraction.

I also might drill some more holes in the lid to relieve pressure.

What temp do you think polyethylene tubing and the bucket can stand? Full oil temp?
 
Just looked at Home Depot

PVC tubing can handle 175f

Polyethylene tubing 125f

And polyurethane apparently goes to 200f

And polyurethane is what I already have and tested using water
 
Not sure what the tubing is that comes with a Mityvac 7400 but the manual indicates not to extract fluid above 175 degrees F.
 
Thanks

I'm going to buy the tubing rated for 200f

But obviously the bucket, like the Mityvac material, can probably not handle that.
 
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