Originally Posted By: ahoier
walmart sells a "siphon pump" that has the "Pennzoil" name on it, but it's actually made by "another" company if you read the back of the package.....anyone tried anything like that?
My local WM actually sells 2, they have the "classic" bulb/siphon type, and a "Multi-Purpose" Siphon/Pump that says it can be used for siphoning "any" fluid, or even as a pump to pump up inflatables....
Actually, here's the one:
Pennzoil Multi-use Hand Pump @ Northern Tool
Frp, readiong the package, you prime it a couple times, and then the fluid will simply flow to the "lower" container (oil drain pan)
Then, next to that one at Walmart, they had the "regular"/classic bulb siphon
siphon bulb cheapo thing
Only, with the Pennzoil name on it
Anyone tried something like these for siphoning OIL though? I could understand gas, coolant, etc.........but would think oil would likely be too "thick" to travel up the pump and down into the draining pan......?
And how would that "fare" with hot oil? I'm assuming you couldn't use either of these pumps with a "warmed up" engine....?
Any experience?
I got about 500 miles on my current OCI and was contemplating getting an oil sample, but don't really want to have to "change" (completely drain) the oil yet....and was thinking about trying one of these pumps (the "MultiPurpose" pump is 10$ at WM, the "siphon" is only 4$ so no real loss if it didn't work heh). On the flipside, these are a lot cheaper than the Blackstone pump....though I did notice the Blackstone pump is aluminum....the 10$ Pennzoil pump "appears" to just be plastic....and based on the construction, I can't tell if the oil would "reach" or otherwise "contaminate" the actual "pump"....
I think there must be at least two dozen versions of that identical pump, in the identical package, with only the cardboard insert varying to brand it by whoever is importing it.
I used it for my last OC, for two reasons: my base pan and plug were stripped by a quick lube, and I prefer to leave the self tapper in there now right where it is until I eventually replace the pan; and due to that, I wanted to see if it was feasible to use the dipstick hole for OCs without committing the money before hand to something like a Mityvac.
To that end, it served its purpose, and I know I can leave the pan as it is and do an effective OC through the dipstick hole on this car. That said, I won't be doing another oil change with that hand pump - next time it'll be with something like a Mityvac or equivalent.
It got the oil out, but it took forever to do it, and one of the hoses managed to separate part way through making a nice mess.
As proof of concept, to see if the dipstick hole is feasible in your car to do an OC through, it'll do. But once you've tried it once you won't want to use it again.
-Spyder