New oil drain pan

I picked this up today at Auto Zone. Normally I don't get too excited over something like a drain pan but this design looks to me like it will work very well. It is designed to catch the stream of oil as it somes shooting out of the oil drain hole and it will catch the streams of oil that spring out when I loosen my oil filter. Been there, done that on both counts many times and have wound up with hot or warm oil all over the garage floor and my arm too.

Here's a few pics:







This is the only open-style drain pan I have ever seen that has a filter-draining provision on it too. I have seen other rectangular shaped drain pans before but never bought one until now. This one also has a provision on one corner for pouring out the oil, which will also work very well for me because I pour my used oil into empty 15 pound size cat litter containers to bring in to the Advance store up the street for recycling.

And lucky for me, I am going to change my oil tomorrow, so I won't have to wait too long to see how the new pan works....

Looks like a good pan, probably won't get as much if any splash since it's deep, and looks like they have places to grab on all four sides. Hopefully the material is good and durable, some plastics are prone to cracking/deterioration. I'll probably look for it next time I go there.

looks pretty cool.

Let us know how this pan works out for you tomorrow by posting the results with a few Pic's if you can.

Thanks.

Originally Posted By: mongo161
Let us know how this pan works out for you tomorrow by posting the results with a few Pic's if you can.

Thanks.


Will do. I think it will do a lot better than the big round pan I have been using.

oooh aaah oil porn I need a cigarette!

How many quarts does it hold?

Looks like I could easily "overpour" that little spout on the corner.

Hey, I know I am never going to do an oil change with ZERO mess to clean up!

Have you ever?????

It doesn't say how many quarts it holds, just says "holds two oil changes". I am guessing it would hold about ten quarts easily. The pan seems to be just as sturdy as any of the old style round Blitz drain pans I have had for years.

The pan is called the Blitz "Less Mess Drain Pan". I have done a few oil changes where I did not make any mess or wind up with hot oil running up/down my arm but they were few and far between. The last time I changed my oil I ran over my other drain pan. It's one of the big round sealed designs that has a pour spout on it that a lot of us here use. I did not scoot the pan far enough out of the way and when I backed my truck down off the ramps I ran over one side of it. I popped out most of the dents and the pan still works OK but when I saw this new pan at AZ I figured it would help keep me from making a mess when draining the oil.

I will let you all know how it works out tomorrow.

I might just have to try one out.

Thanks for the info.

OK, sorry for the delay in updating this post. I had some issues to take care of before I could get back here. Yesterday when I changed my oil with the new drain pan I took some pics and tried to upload them on imageshack.com and post them here, same as I have done with every other pic I have posted on BITOG. Somehow I picked up some serious malware and a trojan from the image shack site. I had to fix my computer and could not have done that without the help of the guys who replied to my post down in the computers forum. I am back online now, using Photobucket, it works great so now on to the update...

The pan is a keeper. The low profile makes it very easy to work with when I am underneath my truck. The rectangle design makes it a lot easier to position the pan lengthwise, parallel to my truck's body to catch the oil as it comes shooting out when I remove the drain plug. It also fits great in the area under the filter and catches all of that oil too when I crack the filter loose. I just have to turn the pan perpendicular to the wheels when removing the filter.

The big open area of the pan does keep from making a mess under the truck. The pour spout did dribble some oil out as I poured it into the cat litter container. Next time I will use a wide mouth funnel, should not have the problem again.

Yesterday when I put my truck up on jack stands to change my oil the very first thing I saw was power steering fluid all over my pressure side hose, and on the undercarriage parts too. I saw that I had a leaky pressure hose. The long rectagular shape of the pan also made it super easy to drain my power steering fluid when I removed the hose today to replace it. The pan sits right under the axle and caught every drop of power steering fluid with no trouble or mess at all. Sorry, I didn't get any pics of that job.

Oil change ready to go, including a new drain plug:



Old oil draining out:



Filter placed on filter drain provision in the pan. That part of the pan works well and is designed to hold the filter and let it drain completely. I was even able to slide the pan around on the floor with the filter in place and it never moved or fell over at all:



Old oil ready to be put in cat litter container. I took the oil to Advance for recycling today:



If you look to the left under my bench in that last pic you will see a plastic bucket style cat litter container. It is nearly full of used oil filters. When it gets full I take the filters down to the garage down the street for recycling.

This is a pretty good design this oil drain pan. Just be careful and/or use a funnel when dumping it out with the spout on its corner and it should make things a lot less messy. It is still a bit messy to wipe it out with paper towels after I use it but I do that just for storage I guess.

Nice pics and info! Thanks!

I DO like the 'filter holder' in that pan - great idea!

I will probably have to pick one of those up since my Blitz round one sometimes doesn't catch all of the initial stream and it goes down the outside of the pan and makes a mess. I like the oil filter draining provision also.

How much did this pan cost if you don't mind me asking?

Wayne

It was $7.99 at Autozone. Not a bad price, I think I paid more than that for my sealed-style round pan, the one I ran over at my last oil change and it is not nearly as easy to use as this new pan.

I picked up this new pan today after work and a new bigger funnel also made by Blitz. I may get to use this the pan this coming week if my son has not gotten his oil changed yet on his 95 Pathfinder.

wayne

Good deal. Let us know how it works out for you. I am pretty sure I will be using mine on all of my oil changes from now on. It works well and is a very good design.

Looks like i'm gonna have to pick one of these up. I have the round sealed pan too, don't like it much, there's too much splashing coming from the shallow top and can't see in there when i'm pouring oil out into the container.

I have the same pan and like it. Only complaint is pour spout is too small and can spill over when transferring it. When i change the oil in my hemi which is 7qts that pretty much fills the pan. It probably holds 8qts.

The best oil drain pan I have ever found was at BigLot's for .99 cents about 15 years ago. Found it in the kitchen/housewares section It's designed to be placed in the kitchen sink for washing dishes. I remember my MOM having one long ago in their old house where she couldn't plug the sink to hold water. This is how she would wash the dishes and then rince and place the dishes onto a draining board.

I had one of those black plastic pans from the parts store but, they tend to cracked when they get too old or when it gets cold out and the oil mess is unbeleivable! This white plastic mini-sink/tub thing-y is indestructable/flexible and holds >8 qts of oil comfortably while still being able to pour the used oil into my carrying container for disposal.

I have a friend that uses from the $1 Store, a large disposible aluminum oven pan large enough to hold a trukey for when changing his oil. He says that you have to get the heavy gague pan and can use'em for years before having to get another.

You wouldn't beleive what I have found in the home/kitchen section of a store for using on cars. I found theis spring loaded claw. You push(like a suringe) and this claw comes out of the bottom and grabs just about any screw/nut that you may have dropped in a tight place...$1!

I will let everyone know how I like it. I have many kinds of oil drain pans. I have the shallow sealed one everyone talks about but I only used it once for actually putting it under the car. After splashing oil everywhere, I now only use it for oil storage to take to recycle.

I'm currently using the big green round Blitz pan with the spout on it that works pretty good other than the initial stream usually goes over the side and makes a mess.

Wayne