Spartan

I can use it at the factory otherwise it's overkill. On the other hand, they want a couple of hundred dollars to do an oil change at the dealership.

And.......

I don't think I am ever going to need to buy another unit.

BTW, it resembles this unit.

Carbon9

On my car, I extract oil from the tube near the firewall on the passenger side. It has a red stopper cap. I don't remove anything like an air cleaner. On the earlier models, yes it was towards the front under the air cleaner, I think.

CALBenzo

Thanks for posting this new standard Spartan. As I just noticed the Mobil 1 0-30 weighting wasn't on their list of recommended oils. Anyway, besides the viscosity differences, is there any other differences with the Mobil 1 synthetic oil? I can see MB recommending a wider viscosity weighting to cover all driving conditions. Here in the Bay Area, however, the temperature rarely exceeds 100 Deg F., and rarely drops below 40 Deg. F. Hence, would the 0-30 weighting be fine for these conditions (especially since it will only be this one time from 5,000-10,000 miles. (Just trying to save myself a trip back to Costco to exchange it )

Spartan

Mobil 1 makes a new oil which meets their spec. Look at their specification column for the 229.5 spec.

http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...bil1_0W-40.asp

I read somewhere that this allows for a 1% in fuel economy. To me this oil is too thin for warmer climates. If I was living in Alaska then I think it's great but I would be seriously concerned about Florida.

Ultimatly, I do not care about the 1% difference in fuel economy as much as I care for a trouble free engine. In my 95 Diesel, I changed the oil every 4000 miles and the engine was in great shape when I sold it with a couple of hundred thousand miles on it.

Carbon9

www.bobistheoilguy.com

there is a lot of very good info from some real oil lunatics at that site.

there are difference in the additive packages added to the oils as well as the process of making the syn oil as well. oil is not all about viscosity.

Hart_113

Thanks Carbon9. Found what the oil tube that you were describing. Worked perfectly, sucked the oil out with minutes and changed the oil without gettting my hands dirty.
God it is good owing a merc...many thanks

Hart_113 (Chris) from Sydney Australia. This site is great.

F1Fan

Just curious how well the Topsider works. I've tried it before and I was not able to get all the oil out. So my question is: How much of the tubing do you guys insert into the dip stick? How long do you wait for the Topsider to do it's thing? I've tried it on other cars and the suction power seems to weaken. I would pump the handle about 20 times and then come back in 5 mins and the pump doesn't have any resistance to it. I'm assuming there is a leak somewhere. Have you guys ever experienced this?

scorchie

What's the difference whether you get all the oil out or not? If you open the drain plug, you never get all the oil out either. If you tear down an engine after draining it, there's still oil pooled in it.

That's why you add new oil. It dilutes the remaining oil enough.

-s-

F1Fan

Let me clarify. I was only able to get half the oil out. So mixing half the dirty oil with fresh quarts of the new probably isn't going to be satisfactory for most people.

scorchie

If you can only get half the oil out with the Top Sider, then yes, you should definitely be a candidate for draining the oil out of the drain plug. No shame in that.

-s-

BudC

You should be able to get all the oil out. If you are using very heavy oil such as 15W-50 Mobil 1 than you may need to re-pump the Topsider back up a few times. Also make sure the oil is warm but neither cold nor hot.

Push the tube as far down as it will go. Pump the Topsider at least 40 times to begin with and if and when you notice the oil is not flowing and you haven't heard the Topsider sucking part air and part oil then pump it up again.

When you notice you have reached bottom (you'll hear it), then bounce the tube up and down a few times to make sure you get the last drops of oil.

I use 15W-50 Mobil 1 in my 300E and it does take longer and more pumps to extract the oil than it would with 0W-40.

The Topsider works just fine and it will get out as much oil as if you drained it (I've verified that it does).

F1Fan

One thing I'd like to add.... make sure the oil is warm and not HOT. I've tried extracting the oil once when I thought the oil was cooled enough. Well I found out that hot oil can and will easily melt the small tubing. I only found out when I noticed that I had to keep on pushing more of the tubing into the dipstick tube. It was not a happy moment. I found some replacement tubing at Petco (tubes for fish tanks) and it works the same.

Btw, this was not on a MB. I used another car as my Topsider guinea pig.

scorchie

I do it hot. Oil comes out faster.

You might notice that the soft tubes of the true TopSider deform even with WARM oil, so they warrant immediate replacement with a better hose. If you use the original tubes and warm oil, the hose can collapse under suction and thus the speed is decreased. A better hose prevents this. Then you can do it with even hot or warm oil.

I doubt hose at Petco (similar to what comes with it) is meant for hot OR warm water, it's meant for cool water. Try going someplace more suited for industrial products, like Home Depot.

If you couldn't get out more than 1/2 the oil in the engine... I am not sure you should dispense advice on how to use the TopSider!

-s-

F1Fan

I think the point was to learn from the mistake of others (me). Whether one sees this as advice or just user experience is not for me to decide.