Originally Posted by CR94
Originally Posted by elverado
I'm happy to have not dealt with crush washers in a long time, despite dozens of oil changes over a number of vehicles. I do it all topside now with a suction tank system through the dipstick hole. Nice to not have to worry about drips, distortion, new washers, etc.
My experience is that the washer on the drain plug is a non-issue, the least of my problems.
However, I'm considering switching partially to "topside" changes for other reasons. What device do you use? I see a manual suction tank system on Amazon which seems a good idea, but gets mostly negative user reviews.
I have been using the
BavAuto Oil Extractor for the last year or so, after I bought a V6 minivan needing higher capacity. For the ten years before that I used
this smaller one. It gets used for far more than oil changes. Brake bleeding, trans fluid changes, power steering fluid refreshes. Great for lawn mowers, ATVs, boats, air compressors where the drain options are limited or messy. I maintain some family cars and sometimes will have three in the driveway I suck dry, swap filters, and fill up in 45 mins even at 5 degrees in January. Don't miss having to jack things up and remove splash pans either.
I've heard that some cars have too convoluted of a dipstick tube for it to work. But so far have used it on a number of Hondas, Mazdas, Fords, and my MINI Cooper and it sucks them dry. German cars seem to be built for them with the cartridge filters accessible from within the engine bay. Probably not worth it if the oil filter is buried deep underside and needs a catch tray anyway, but luckily my cars don't have that issue.