2012 Chevrolet Cruze Topside Oil Change Works!

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I did a topside oil change on my Cruze today using my trusty MityVac 7201. The little dipstick tube was used. In under 40 minutes including rummaging for tools, the listed capacity of 4 liters of oil was siphoned up, the old cartridge filter replaced with a new Delco PF2257G, and the car buttoned back up with 4 liters of Quaker State Ultimate Durability 5w-30 dexos1/SN.

Pictures:
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During the first part of the change:
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The dipstick tube did need some fiddling to get into the drain pan at first. Everything went smoothly aside from that. That was the easiest and least messy oil change I've ever done.
 
Next time try the larger extract tube if it can be pushed into the oil dipstick tube, it will speed up siphoning the used oil, Mityvac extractes 8-8.5 quarts of the E430 in less than 15 minutes with larger tube.

Most MB has cartridge oil filter on top of engine, changing oil and filter in a MB with a fluid extractor is the easiest and fastest maintenance thing a person can do at home.
 
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Wow, that O2 sensor will be a piece of cake to replace when the time comes. I'm jealous.

Nice little car, BTW. Gotta love new, clean engine compartments.
 
Man, there is no excuse for you to go to jiffy lube.

I have to try my oil extractor on my Mazda. I only used it to extract ATF and it worked great.
For oil changes, I would still have to crawl under the car to get the oil filter, but the way it is located I could do it without lifting the car.
 
On my cars, I use a pump that connects to my regular drill. Install it as you would a drill bit.

Purchased it at NAPA and it does a great job. Not all NAPA stores have it, but it is cheap, less than $10.00 and it works great. I use this to do a pump and dump on the transmission fluid on my 02 Continental every 20k miles or so.
 
"In 40 minutes"

...I can probably change the oil in both of my cars in that span of time.
 
Sucking oil out from the top fill tube might be all fine and dandy for a quick less mess oil change, but much is lost for not actually draining from the bottom.

First of all, gravity is your friend when it comes to fluids. Letting a bottom pan plug drain will actually help flush any particulates or sediments out of the oil. Secondly, just being under the car will give you a good indication if anything else fluid wise is leaking that maybe not evident from just working the top of the engine bay.
 
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Yeah, I'm just not a fan of topside oil changes. Since my cars have magnetic drain plugs, I would never get an opportunity to look at what's attached to the magnets if I just sucked the oil out from the top.
 
I like the time I spend under the cars. I geek out on engineering and packaging, and even on cars I've owned for a while, I see something new and cool every time I get under there. I also get to inspect things like CV boots and coolant hoses as well.

And it takes a heckuva lot less time too. If I really am in a hurry and don't have time to enjoy the scenery, I can change the oil in 10 minutes. I guess most of that 40 minutes is sucking the oil out through the thin tube?
 
Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
The turbo inlet.
Oh...I would have thought the turbo inlet would be along the clean air intake, not the exhaust side of the head. new cars are mysterious...
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I like the time I spend under the cars. I geek out on engineering and packaging, and even on cars I've owned for a while, I see something new and cool every time I get under there. I also get to inspect things like CV boots and coolant hoses as well.

And it takes a heckuva lot less time too. If I really am in a hurry and don't have time to enjoy the scenery, I can change the oil in 10 minutes. I guess most of that 40 minutes is sucking the oil out through the thin tube?


I second that.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I like the time I spend under the cars. I geek out on engineering and packaging, and even on cars I've owned for a while, I see something new and cool every time I get under there. I also get to inspect things like CV boots and coolant hoses as well.

And it takes a heckuva lot less time too. If I really am in a hurry and don't have time to enjoy the scenery, I can change the oil in 10 minutes. I guess most of that 40 minutes is sucking the oil out through the thin tube?


I already spent enough time under the car spraying Fluid Film into every nook/cranny, and yanking down all the wheel well liners/underbody panels to get behind them. More will be spent swapping to winter wheels. Enough time gets spent under the car already. NOT spending time under the car was nice for a change!

This was my first oil change ever on this car. I took my time, including getting the tools I forgot the first and second times, and still managed to do it in under 40 minutes from yanking the MityVac out to putting my 24mm oil filter socket away. The oil took about 10 minutes to suck out of a warm engine.
 
Originally Posted By: JRed
"In 40 minutes"

...I can probably change the oil in both of my cars in that span of time.


lol, me too. Seems like a handy tool that mityvac, but I'd cringe at purchasing something that gravity does for free... j/k.
 
Some cars have splash guard and it may take up to 15-20 minutes or more to remove and reinstall splash guard alone.

There are some advantages with fluid extractor: never worry about stripping drain plug, never worry about under/over tighten drain plug, never worry about new/reuse drain plug gasket, never get burnt with hot oil coming out of drain plug ...

Never worry about car jack or jack stands didn't work and get crushed while under the car.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Some cars have splash guard and it may take up to 15-20 minutes or more to remove and reinstall splash guard alone.

There are some advantages with fluid extractor: never worry about stripping drain plug, never worry about under/over tighten drain plug, never worry about new/reuse drain plug gasket, never get burnt with hot oil coming out of drain plug ...

Never worry about car jack or jack stands didn't work and get crushed while under the car.


Exactly.

And, the MityVac makes other routine maintenance tasks like changing ATF, brake fluid, and coolant MUCH easier!!! I've used mine for those jobs before changing oil with it, and it's come in incredibly handy. One of the better tool purchases I've made.
 
I have a feeling that if the oil is fairly warmed up suction vs gravity is negligible on contaminates getting drained......

More power to you. The older I get "just turned 50
shocked2.gif
" the more the suction seems like a good idea......
 
I bought the Mityvac to do oil change in the E430, because oil filter is on top of the engine so changing it is easy without lifting up the car. The E430, likes many other MB cars, has splash guard which is needed to remove to get access to drain plug. Then I found online that MB dealers use fluid extractor, heavy duty one not the cheapo Mityvac, to do oil change.

Using the Mityvac to do oil change for the E430 is so easy and fast, the time and money I saved for the last 7-8 years is much more than what I paid for it, several times over. And then I used it to do ATF, PSF, Brake fluid ... I used it more than 50-60 times so far and my BIL borrowed it many times, 4-5 times a year.

So far it had been used more than 100 times, I paid $5x-6x 7-8 years ago. Assume the value of each use is $1, it is a free tool after 5-6 years of services.
 
The first time I used the Mityvac on my boat that has a hose connection on the dipstick it actually scared me, sucked out the 4.5 qts in about 10 seconds. Definitely a convenient method.
 
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