No Fumoto Oil Change - Never Again!

[gathermewool]

I waited too long for the F108N Fumoto valve to go on sale for my new-to-me '15 Legacy, so I did not install one when I changed my oil last night. Due to budget cuts, the auto hobby shop has ZERO (0) working hydraulic lifts. I had the whole shop to myself, which was nice, but instead of the catch with an extendable neck I had to jack the car up and use a drain pan - no biggie, I'd done this dozens of times before without a Fumoto valve. What could go wrong??? To be 100% certain I wouldn't make a mess I spent way more time than usual positioning the jack and stands, as well as the pan - probably only 5 minutes added, to be honest. Long story short, the drain plug slipped out of my fingers and into the pan - not a big deal, but kind of annoying, since I got oil all over my hand. The main problem, is that the oil stream hit the pan, and like a ray of light hitting a prism, spread out and streamed off in all directions! I quickly positioned the pan so that the stream banked at a better angle, but not before ~1/2 quart had sprayed onto the deck. Luckily, the shop had plenty of kitty litter and a tiny (TINY) bit of the good hand-cleaner. So, I know what you're thinking. This was inevitable, since I would have to remove the OEM drain plug to install the Fumoto valve anyway, right? That's right! Now, however, I have to do it twice, all because I was trying to save a few bucks! It's over $30 now and can go as low as $26. Sure, I'll probably do a better job, knowing that the pan the shop uses isn't very well designed (it's actually the same one I have at home, so a valuable lesson learned), but it's still super messy and a waste of my time. I'll be doing the next change in the shop, with the Fumoto installed, and then I'll feel a lot more comfortable changing it in my garage, with my own pan. /rant Happy Thanksgiving, by the way!

 

[The motor guy]

Some of you guys try too hard to not make a mess and end up doing the complete opposite. I've never had more than a few drops on the ground when I change the oil. I don't even bother with plywood anymore.

 

[Kira]

So you meant to entitle your post, "No more non-Fumoto oil changes ever again", or some such? I bought a 106 at Fumoto's NYC office on 34th St. and I can't wait to install it. I suppose that due to there being no working lifts you were simply out of sorts and splashed some oil. I spread out a dedicated packing blanket to catch any flying drops. Where in New England do you go to have access to lifts? I'll go there as all such places near here (No. NJ) closed long ago.

 

[bubbatime]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool

Luckily, the shop had plenty of kitty litter and a tiny (TINY) bit of the good hand-cleaner.

Always use latex/nitrile gloves. You can get an entire box of them for a few bucks, and it will last you years. Perfect clean hands afterwards and no cancer causing chemicals soaking into your skin. And find a large piece of cardboard or old moving blanket to put down under the drain pan. Now any drops can be wiped up easily, and it doesn't stain the ground.

 

[mk378]

Unless the car has too low a ground clearance for ramps to fit, driving up on ramps is the way to get underneath for an oil change. On a Subaru the oil pan is way up front compared to other cars. Pretty common mistake for people to drain the transmission where they think it is the oil plug. I expect to drop the oil plug into the pan, then use a magnet to fish it out later. And yeah this post has absolutely nothing to do with a Fumoto valve.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman

Some of you guys try too hard to not make a mess and end up doing the complete opposite. I've never had more than a few drops on the ground when I change the oil. I don't even bother with plywood anymore.

I've changed my oil dozens of times without making a mess. The pan I was using is one of those that seconds as a jug to transport the used oil, so the oil hits the top, then drains down through a whole in the top, which can be capped. Most pans you direct the drain so that it will bank against the wall. This has such a small wall, that the spray banked over the small lip - I had to move it around a several seconds until it was in a position that contained all the spray within the catch. By then, the drain velocity had lowered, so knowing where to direct the drain pattern now doesn't help me much for next time. The point of my post, is that I'll have to go through something similar next time, all because I wanted to save a few bucks. The secondary point, is that no matter how hard you try, you will eventually get some oil on you or the deck. I've changed my oil dozens of times without a Fumoto valve and never had much of an issue. That's not to say that I didn't have minor hiccups, such as this past time. Once I went to the shop for a quick change in OK clothes. Everything went perfectly, but one stray spray angled just right and sniper-shot me in the sleeve of my shirt! No matter how careful you are, you're bound to get messy sometime. // As a comparison, I changed the oil in our Forester a few months ago. I slide the pan under (same pan as I used in the hobby shop; no jacks/stands required) and reached under to open the Fumoto. I walked away for half an hour or something like that, then came back out and shut the valve when the dribbling had stopped. The filter on both the Legacy and the Forester is on top, making the oil change incredibly easy and 100% mess-free.

 

[Rand]

I was expecting that you had a Fumoto valve and it failed.. Bad title. I dont like them its an additional point of failure, oil drains slower etc. I used a fram sure drain for years which had a metal cap.. you unscrewed then you screwed on a tube to start draining the oil. Some subarus do have the goofy drain angle. you want the car not to far in the air and the pan positioned properly. I prefer the deep pan not the enclosed design type.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime

Originally Posted By: gathermewool

Luckily, the shop had plenty of kitty litter and a tiny (TINY) bit of the good hand-cleaner.

Always use latex/nitrile gloves. You can get an entire box of them for a few bucks, and it will last you years. Perfect clean hands afterwards and no cancer causing chemicals soaking into your skin. And find a large piece of cardboard or old moving blanket to put down under the drain pan. Now any drops can be wiped up easily, and it doesn't stain the ground.

I have two boxes of gloves, which I use for EVERYTHING - car work, cleaning, dirty basement work, etc. I'm still a little sick, and was more congested yesterday. I had luckily laid everything out the night before, but I think my wife put the gloves away, so I forgot them. All the shop had were red rags, which are too cumbersome. The kitty litter works really well and, for a shop on a budget, the lightly used kitty litter (I mean absorbent, btw, not actual kitty litter) can be used for larger spills, which, based on the condition of the bays, happens quite often due to numbnuts like me.

 

[gathermewool]

Not sure what's wrong with the title - it's grammatically correct. "Oil change without fumoto -never again" does read better, but it's the same thing. The thread does have to do with a Fumoto valve, since there is almost no chance of what happened to me happening with one installed. Pretty simple.

 

[4WD]

Agree with the ramps = unless a wheel or two are coming off ~ my China jacks and China jack stands can collect dust … And when I do use them … a stack of heavy lumber is my backup …

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime

Always use latex/nitrile gloves. You can get an entire box of them for a few bucks, and it will last you years. Perfect clean hands afterwards and no cancer causing chemicals soaking into your skin.

+1. I spent a few more bucks recently to get fully textured, thicker nitrile gloves. It is worth the extra few dollars. I also bought medium size. The cheaper ones tend to be "one size fits all." Those were always too loose on my smaller hands, especially around the wrists. Having the loose fit also promoted tearing. I use them for just about any task that would leave my hands hard to clean. They're great for kneading a meatloaf, cleaning out a drain, replacing a toilet, etc.

 

[WhizkidTN]

I have special ramps I built for my lowered '12 Optima to get well under the car, use a simple oil mat to catch any splashes/etc from AZ(rarely needed), use a F106S Fumoto valve with four inch extended hose (and love it) to better aim it at my basin pan and the cheap HF nitrile gloves for all my oil/filter changes. Learned all this by experience over the years of always changing all my oil for all my cars (owned five at one time, now down to two). Easy-Peasy.

 

[StevieC]

I have a sheet of this laminated MDF that is super thin. It was small enough from the store to fit between the wheels of my vehicles and I put this down before doing an oil change. It makes for easy clean-up should oil spill and it allows you to slide out the oil catch pan because it's a smooth surface and not bumpy like the ground. It's also nice on the ground in February when there is ice on the drive way and/or when the driveway is cold.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster

Originally Posted By: bubbatime

Always use latex/nitrile gloves. You can get an entire box of them for a few bucks, and it will last you years. Perfect clean hands afterwards and no cancer causing chemicals soaking into your skin.

+1. I spent a few more bucks recently to get fully textured, thicker nitrile gloves. It is worth the extra few dollars. I also bought medium size. The cheaper ones tend to be "one size fits all." Those were always too loose on my smaller hands, especially around the wrists. Having the loose fit also promoted tearing. I use them for just about any task that would leave my hands hard to clean. They're great for kneading a meatloaf, cleaning out a drain, replacing a toilet, etc.

I'll have to try the textures gloves next. What I have now are the purple hospital-type gloves which was given to me, as well as a nearly depleted box of black nitrile, which fit perfectly. They do tear after a while, if I'm actually wrenching, but have let me down for general purpose cleaning or maintenance. I tried gloves once, but I didn't like the loss of tactile feel. Fine for wrenching, and great for work on hot/warm components, but not so for fasteners or anything delicate.

 

[eyeofthetiger]

I use these gloves to do mechanic work all day: https://ammex.com/product/ammex-gloveworks-hd-green-nitrile-powder-free-industrial-gloves/ They're about $17/100 on Amazon. But I use the cheap Harbor Freight gloves for quick oil changes.

 

[Colt45ws]

Yeah I don't use that type of drain pan for a reason. I have one with an assigned purpose of filter draining, thats it. I use regular deep pans for changing fluids and dump them in 5 gallon buckets when I am done.

 

[redbone3]

Buy an oil extractor. Problem solved for all your vehicles. Plus, no danger of the valve malfunctioning. With the addition of a small piece of flexible hose you can also bleed brakes and hydraulic clutch systems.

 

[Alex_V]

I take what measures I can to avoid spilling oil, but some still makes it to the floor sometimes and I've never worried about it... Does that make me a bad mechanic?

 

[DBMaster]

I started using gloves when I asked my local Honda shop how they got their hands so clean. I've found that there is very little tactile loss and I can actually grip things better than with bare hands due to the texturing on the gloves. I keep a shaker bottle of body powder on hand for glove changes, which can be nearly impossible with sweaty hands. As for a drop cloth, I have been using a cheap plastic shower curtain (used, for that matter) for years.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: eyeofthetiger

I use these gloves to do mechanic work all day: https://ammex.com/product/ammex-gloveworks-hd-green-nitrile-powder-free-industrial-gloves/ They're about $17/100 on Amazon. But I use the cheap Harbor Freight gloves for quick oil changes.

Those look really good. How do they last, long-term? A box of gloves sometimes takes me years to use up and, near last quarter of the box, I've noticed more of the gloves tear easily while using or while trying to put them on.

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws

Yeah I don't use that type of drain pan for a reason. I have one with an assigned purpose of filter draining, thats it. I use regular deep pans for changing fluids and dump them in 5 gallon buckets when I am done.

With the Fumoto it works perfectly. I let the filter sit atop for weeks before I need to transport it. By that time, only a residue of oil is on top of the catch and the filter is empty enough to bag and transport to dispose of, without mess.

Originally Posted By: redbone3

Buy an oil extractor. Problem solved for all your vehicles. Plus, no danger of the valve malfunctioning. With the addition of a small piece of flexible hose you can also bleed brakes and hydraulic clutch systems.

I've been using Fumoto valves for a while without any issues. In my Subarus, the valve is not exposed, and a Fumoto makes for a perfect addition.

Originally Posted By: Alex_V

I take what measures I can to avoid spilling oil, but some still makes it to the floor sometimes and I've never worried about it... Does that make me a bad mechanic?

Of course not. The hobby shop's deck I frequent is coated in oil in the center of most bays. While I was cleaning up my mess I swept the kitty litter around and cleaned up some previous messes. Most just wipe up what they can with a rag and move on. My issue, is that I felt the need to go to the hobby shop, because I knew there was risk of splashing and spilling, which is NOT an issue with any vehicle I've had a Fumoto valve on. As I mentioned before, an oil change for our Forester is a no-mess, minimal time job. Pretty much as easy as can be.