kevink2

I watched the tech do the last oil change.

Many owners think the DIY suction tube method is the same thing. Not so.
The dealer uses an adaptor that is attached to the top of the dipstick tube,
and that tube is then used to suck the oil from the engine.

The local dealer uses Fluid Evacuators equipment. This includes about an 8-10 gallon red
tank, and a tranfer hose with a shut off valve near the adaptor (vacuum is
created from shop pressure using a vacuum jet venturi ).



The special MB adaptor/probe is shown below, with the big end to be inserted
in the enlarged top of the dipstick tube:



The company normally supplies nylon tubes, like DIY's use with Mityvac's,
that are fitted to the shut-off valve body ( see the probe data link ). The MB
part is special, and can be ordered for $24. A 3/8" fuel hose could be used to
connect it to a DIY set-up, like the Mityvac 7201

Two advantages of the dealer approach are faster evacuation since
the diptube bore is larger than the inserted tube, and there is no worry about
making sure the inserted plastic tube is at the bottom. The second
issue was a problem for me and several other 4MATIC owners. My
measurements showed that the inserted tube could not get closer than about
1" from the bottom, leaving 1 or 2 Q's in the sump.

-

Glyn M Ruck

Our dealers use a very similar unit. Same principle - a little larger & on wheels. Needless to say from Germany & painted battleship grey!

M-bENZ

I used the Mityvac all the times but just dont have that MB adaptor so where can I get one ?

Thanks,

Andy

nyca

How much does that thing cost? Not for the DIYer I imagine.

The Mityvac is fine for a "diptube into the pan" method, I don't know you can generate enough suction with one to suck the oil out from the top of the diptube.

nyca

I see the price now - $429 - it ain't cheap.

kevink2

Andy, the phone # is at the web site. Adaptor is about $25 +Shipping.

Nyca, the larger the tube was on my Mityvac, the faster it sucked up the oil. Your diaphram pump is only rated at ~45 watts, and would not be tolerant of any air leaks. But w/o leaks, it should easily be able to make about 10-20" water column, which is what is needed just to lift the oil, regardless of the ID of the tube.

M-bENZ

thanks bro. and does the adaptor come in different sizes or just one size do you know ?

Andy

Distalero

What's interesting to me is the comment about the amount of residual oil left in the sump. This should have caused another heated discussion (in a long line of so many of them) from the mityvac-gets-it-all crowd vs your experience, and my experience, and the experience of many others over years of using a suction device AND pulling the drain plug.


Guess those folks are still hung over from New Year's

nyca

Forgive me, I'm missing where the link is to order the adapter for $24.

kevink2

They are used to dealing with shops .... just call them with your CC handy, and ask for it.

I had though of a cheaper approach: 3/8" SAE J30R7 Fuel Hose is a close fit in the top of the dipstick tube. Take about a 2" length and stuff a 3/8" brass hose barb in it to swell it a bit, and then stuff it in the dipstick tube. Use more 3/8" hose to attach the other barb and to the Mityvac, or whatever. I'd also wrap the diptube joint with a couple wraps of duct tape. The MB adaptor is a more elegant solution.

"What's interesting to me is the comment about the amount of residual oil left in the sump...." MB designed these engines for vacuum extaction of oil, and I would not be surprised if they cast a low point in the oil pan, to assure full removal of oil. It really doesn't matter to me, as I always dump an extra 1/2 Q in for removal, after all the dirty oil has been removed.

M-bENZ

http://www.fluidevacuators.com/handheld.html

nyca

OK, so the pump vendor sells the adapter. Do I just call it the Mercedes diptube adapter fitting when I ask for it?

kevink2

yup

Pete7874

And their shipping is a bit of a ripoff, IMO. $11+ for shipping of a tiny part that fits in a little envelope... I'm guessing it costs them 1/3rd of it in reality.

While extracting, do you keep the oil filler cap and oil filter housing cap unscrewed or not? Or does it not matter either way?

jctevere

I know this thread is a bit old, but would this adapter be the same size on the w204 c300 4matic as a r230 sl500?

RLE

Either cap off.

rb23lb

anybody used this method recently?

thinking about doing this or maybe taking it to the dealer if i can find an oil change under $100

acela11

I can never get anybody to answer the phone, I leave a message and never get a call back

RLE

An odd question.

There are many of us that do this on a regular basis and have discussed it here countless times. The only difference between sucking it from the top of the tube vs the bottom is the small amount that remains in the dipstick tube which is inconsequential.

If you buy your oil when it's on sale and buy your MANN filters someplace other than the dealer, you can get by for about $60.00.

The differences between the cheapest vs the most expensive oil sucker for home use are mainly price. I've been using my Topsider (from West Marine, about $50.00) for about ten years. You can spend more but the end result is the same. Some take longer than others to suck it dry plus some will hold the full eight quarts and some won't.

kevink2

Did you read the suggestions by the company that I posted a bit ago?

What is really needed is a MB indy shop to buy 10-20 adapters at a time from this company (that normally does not sell much to the public), and then buy from the indy.

An alternative is to order the rubber "tube to tube" adaptors for the 8L Mityvac oil evacuator. Someone found these can be stuffed into the top of the dipstick tube, and any evacuator with about a 10mm od tube can then be used.

http://www.mityvac.com/pages/products_fee.asp

.

2012c350

Actually, $400+ isn't all that much (for the Fluid Evacuator) if you want to "do it like the dealer". I haven't had a MB yet, but from what I've been reading here it sounds like the machine will pay for itself quickly when compared to paying the dealer for an oil change...plus it looks like a cool addition for a home garage. :-)

What I don't understand, is how can hooking something up to the dipstick cause suction to pull up all the oil when the dipstick tube doesn't touch the bottom of the pan. I can see the mityvac with a tube inserted down through the dipstick tube to the bottom of the pan, but not the former. Okay, so I just did some quick searching and it appears that the dipstick tube does indeed go down to nearly the bottom of the pan....makes sense now.

nyca

You don't need a $400 extractor (unless you want one, I am sure it works great). If you want to step up a bit from the manual pump type vacuum extractors you see on alot of these oil change threads, get a 12V powered marine extractor unit - boat stores have them, so does amazon, the brand I have is Jabsco. Hook it up with the adapter on this thread, hook up the 12V clamps, flip the switch (get the oil warm first) and it will extract to pan right into an east pour plastic container.

nyca

The adapter make a tight seal at the top of the diptube (no insertion into the pan), with enough vacuum from the pump and no air leaks, the oil is extracted.

2012c350

I agree. I guess my point was that even at $400 it's not that expensive when you realize it will pay for itself. But certainly, as you stated, there are much cheaper units that will work for DIYers and they'll pay for themselves even that much quicker. If you change oil for a living then the heavy duty ones make sense...for us, not so much.

Woo hoo, just noticed that I've been promoted to "Junior Member!" And as a bonus I just came home to find a message on the answering machine from the dealer that all is going well and my car is about to hit production....

RLE

I'm trying to understand why a shop would want to invest their own money to buy something to try to sell to a very narrow market while including their 40% necessary markup.

Everybody wants to buy at wholesale, it seems.

Why don't you do this, similar to the groups for nav map updates? After all, it's just time and money. And taxes.