Oil Change Suction Pump

[Jim 5]

Guys with VW TDI's and BMW's love these. My BMW comes with a cannister filter right at the front and top of the engine. 36 MM 6point socket removes the cover, and you just pull the filter cartridge out. I even opened it up midway through a ARX clean cycle to make sure it was doing OK.

I change the filter while the topsider is sucking the oil out. Alogether it's truly a 5 minute job that can be done in your business suit without getting any oil on yourself.

A few guys on a bmw e46 discussion site were disputing whether "topsiders" are a good idea. The critics say that you don't get as much oil out of the sump with a topsider. He was challenged on that point by a topsider owner, and he drained his pan the conventional way and replaced the drain plug. The guy with the topsider came along and pulled out another 7oz of oil with his topsider from a "drained" engine.

Additionally, since this method is so efficient, many BMW dealers change to oil this way. The car doesn't have to even be brought into the shop.

In case you haven't guessed, I'm a big fan. If you own a bmw or a TDI VW with a cannister filter, it makes oil changes almost as easy as filling your wiper fluid.

The trick is to make sure to get one that can hold all of the oil in your sump. This was a little more difficult for me since my sump holds 7 quarts.

 

[shortyb]

I currently use the Mityvac 7400. As Jim5 noted, the Bimmer holds just alittle more than my Griots Garage extractor did. It would fill and cut vacuum just before I got the last few ozs. out. Gave it to my Father-in-law who loves it.

I always check how much it can extract on all new vehicles I use it on by the following method: Extract as much oil as it can, move the tube around to find any "pockets". Take off the drain plug and see if any more oil pours out. Have done this on a dozen cars and all are bone-dry when I open the drain plug.

 

[Tosh]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jim 5:
The critics say that you don't get as much oil out of the sump with a topsider. He was challenged on that point by a topsider owner, and he drained his pan the conventional way and replaced the drain plug. The guy with the topsider came along and pulled out another 7oz of oil with his topsider from a "drained" engine.

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That almost sounds too good to be true. Is it possible that in the time it took to replace the drain plug and hook up the topsider, 14oz of oil ran into the sump? In other words, he just didn't let it drain long enough?

 

[Jim 5]

It sure is possible. I don't really know the exact circumstances.

Having pulled a few oilpans off of a few cars, my view is that if the bottom of the pan below the dipstick tube is the same level as the bottom of the pan where the drain bolt is located, then you get the same result. In a sense with the topsider, you're relocating the drain hole to the location of of the tip of the suction gun.

I also like the idea of moving it around a little and forcibly sucking up the minute particles/sediment you always find at the bottom of an oilpan. I'm talking about the ones that don't drain with the slow-moving drain oil, and that you have to clean out of an oilpan with a paper towel when the pan's off.

In my view the difference between the two methods as far as oil that can be removed would not be significant to an engine. The topsider has a significant advantage...ease of use/cleanliness. This tends to take away excuses/reasons not to perform regular maintenance.

Plus it's handy for alot of other uses:

- you can get a brake bleeding attachment
- you'd be surprised how many other uses a guy can find for a tool that can remove 7 litres of fluid in a fast and tidy manner. (lawnmower oil changes...removing old gas from power equipment before storage/before coming out of storage, cleaning up spills, changing coolant etc...)

I don't regret picking one up. Most power-boat stores have them or can order them. I recommend the biggest one you can get!