Oil & Filter Change for LC200 (3 Viewers)

[gasman4u]

This. I use an extractor for my boat because getting to the actual drain plug located deep in the bilge is very difficult. The Volvo engines dipstick tube has a threaded cap that my extractor just threads onto so it really uses the dipstick tube as the suction tube. It’s pretty convenient, but it doesn’t get every last drop of oil out of the pan.

I’d imagine the dipstick aspiration methods are super convenient/clean…but not EVERY drop is removed compared to traditional/drain plug outlet use.

I think there’s something to be said for heavy things being flushed out whilst draining old fluids at the lowest point (drain plug) vs using suction with a single point of contact (mityvac, etc). If you’ve got a great contact spot, awesome! There’s no way to tell unfortunately where your business end is located while working.

 

[KLF]

This is my favorite "drain valve:"

View attachment 3937243
(Obviously not my pic...)

Available on Amazon: MityVac 7201 2.3 Gallon Fluid Evacuator

I have absolutely zero worry about an oil pan drain valve accidentally opening

It removes every last drop of oil from the oil pan through the dip stick tube. The definition of easy-peasy.

HTH

Maybe I'll just try that with my Shop Vac next time

 

[bloc]

I’d imagine the dipstick aspiration methods are super convenient/clean…but not EVERY drop is removed compared to traditional/drain plug outlet use.

I think there’s something to be said for heavy things being flushed out whilst draining old fluids at the lowest point (drain plug) vs using suction with a single point of contact (mityvac, etc). If you’ve got a great contact spot, awesome! There’s no way to tell unfortunately where your business end is located while working.

Look at the oil pan on a 3UR and many, many modern engines. The lowest point of the drain port is above the lowest point of the pan, on our engines by a decent amount.

As long as you can get to the bottom of the pan, and that can be verified by measuring the amount removed, you can often remove more total oil this way. If that’s your thing. I’d argue it’s more important on diesels with their suspended soot and other engines with extended drain intervals.

All that said, I still do a standard drain and even (GASP) prefer the stock drain plug for it’s much faster drain rate and it not introducing any new potential points of failure. I could do a topside change, but IMO doing it every 5k means getting every drop out isn’t necessary. The internal pics I posted recently of my 220k mile engine seem to back this up.

 

[gaijin]

I’d imagine the dipstick aspiration methods are super convenient/clean…but not EVERY drop is removed compared to traditional/drain plug outlet use.

I think there’s something to be said for heavy things being flushed out whilst draining old fluids at the lowest point (drain plug) vs using suction with a single point of contact (mityvac, etc). If you’ve got a great contact spot, awesome! There’s no way to tell unfortunately where your business end is located while working.

I used to believe that, too - how could suction remove the same (or more) than simply draining through the drain plug?

The convenience of the suction method was so tempting, I tried it. The first four times I used suction for an oil change, after extracting all the oil I could by carefully repositioning the suction tube for maximum extraction, I removed the drain plug to see how much oil I was actually leaving in the pan. Not a single drop of oil came out - all the oil in the pan was completely removed.

In fact, as @bloc pointed out, I am actually removing more oil using extraction than I would by simply draining.

I haven't bothered to check since - other than assuring that the 8 quarts of new oil I add puts me at the proper level on the dipstick, of course.

After a few times, it is really rather easy to find the "sweet spot" for the extraction tube.

HTH

 

[doru]

I have a vacuum puller I use for diffs in other cars that do not have a drain plug. I got a Fumoto but never installed it. Instead, I got a stainless steel plug with a high-power magnet. For me it is not that it just empties faster it is that the magnet is collecting the metal from the oil and that by removing the plug periodically I know the plug is not seized because of rust or whatever.