danaw007

Mighty vac makes great oil extractors, I also have that brake bleeder and it works great. Get a vac with a large capacity (at least 10qts) so it’s less hassle.

ray0214

I have the mityvac 7201. It’s capacity is just shy of 8 qts. I have to pour out some oil to get full 9 qts evacuated, but it’s no big deal. Never saw anything about using cleaner would damage seals, but definitely something to check out. I only use the evacuatir once a year on two vehicles, the R230 and a corvette, neither driven more than 3500 miles yearly. For future reference, where do you get seals and o-rings for the mityvac?

mikefamig

I've always drained the engine oil from the drain plug. I have a lift and nice drain pan and draining from the bottom will remove contaminants that might be left in the bottom of the engine when pumping the oil out from the top. If I didn't have the lift I'd be pumping it too. I may even go buy a pump for when I'm not feeling ambitious enough to drain it.

Mike.

danaw007

Ebay or Amazon I believe. I use mine about four times a year and thought about it for a minute “why am I cleaning dirty oil out just to put dirty oil in it”, so I simply reverse the flow valve to empty it and that’s it.

danaw007

As I have done my research on oil filters and transmission flushing I have done the same on oil evacuation. I drained the oil (Mobil 1) on a sports car driven less than 5K miles a year for 4-5 years. I dropped the oil pan as the gasket was odd looking, but not leaking near the plug. The residue left at the bottom of the pan was a large amount still. I did the same on an suv that had over 100K miles after I used the Evan and the residue was about the same so I determined that unless you drop the oil pan it doesn’t matter much. I’m no mechanic but I do have a two post 10K lift and I use the evac. I have had three vehicles that I’ve bought throughout the years with less than 20K miles on them that I serviced to over 500K miles without dealership Intervention with original engines and transmissions, no small feat given that they all were V8 powered Jeep Grand Cherokees 😉

Rudeney

I dropped the pan on my CLK550 at about 80k miles, so it had about 8 oil changes with Mobil 1 0w40 (sucked out with the Mityvac). I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was very clean and free of any gunk or residue. Everything was a nice golden color.

Barak

Guys, any suggestion about the unreadable dipstick?
couldn’t find any different color aftermarket one…
I was thinking to spray paint the measure area with white/silver enamel spray paint, do you think it will hold in the oil temp?

Gene Fiorot

https://www.paintsupply.com/product/...paint%20(29827)

Sozo

I agree the orange dipstick doesn't help to read the oil when newly changed. My trick is when I remove the dipstick I gently press it against the towel mainly from one side of the dipstick (but not wrapping the towel around the dipstick or using any wiping motion). This then leaves an 'imprint' of the oil on the towel from the part of the dipstick that's 'wet'...and voila, you have measurement of the oil level.

cdk4219

I spray the Mini Cooper one I have with brake cleaner and dry it off. It’s easier to see the glossy level of the oil. I agree it’s extremely Hard to read these dipsticks takes me a few times when it’s full.

Superdave955

I, too, found the dipstick nearly impossible to read with fresh oil. So I wrapped it with white medical tape once around. Reinserted it for a few seconds and the oil soaked the tape which made the level much easier to see. Remove the tape and wipe off any residual adhesive and you're good to go.

tonylinc

My SL55 has oil checking electronically, but my GL450 SUV has that orange-tipped dipstick, and it can be hard to read with fresh, clear oil. I have generic reading magnifier glasses that were really inexpensive that can help. Also the trick of holding the tip on a paper towel and seeing the oil saturation works. I think checking in bright sunlight helps, or any bright light. I have the MightyVac that holds ten quarts, and most of my Benzos take about nine or 9.5 Quarts to fill. I just LOVE the MightyVac. Hint: Remove oil filler cap when sucking the oil out of the engine, as leaving it in probably makes it harder to get the oil out.

elMacko

Gentlemen, my 2004 SL500 has an electronic warning when the oil is low...! This is my first car where I cannot read the engine oil level or the transmission oil level...! So, since I didn't want to rely solely in the electronic sensor, I found an oil dipstick from an older Junkyard Mercedes, then after the oil change I measured how deep from the top of the dipstick tube to where oil level is detected...! Then modified the junkyard oil dipstick to a length that read about half inch of oil contact. Now I have no issues at all! As far as the transmission oil level it cannot be measured, but if you refill from underneath the oil pan, the correct level is when newly added oil starts dripping out!

tonylinc

My MightyVac is the ten-quart model, and I hotrodded it by removing the tubing that goes up the side and replacing it with a larger diameter tubing (3/8" and also got rid of the little valve at the air inlet, there's no need for that. I then installed a compressed air inline filter on the air inlet. It pulls out all the oil, 9 or more quarts, from any Benz, in about 5 or 7 minutes. A Mercedes full oil will fill it almost to the top, so what I do sometimes is pull out exactly 2 Quarts then empty the MightyVac, and resume operation. Then add back in, exactly the same amount that came out. Of course, checking level in whatever appropriate way when done. One thing is warm the oil first; it doesn't have to be super hot, also remove the oil filler cap so that air can get in while sucking out the old oil. Once the filter's removed, I take the tubing and vac out whatever oil is down in there as well. It is a very quick process and easy and clean. I do all the cars once a year.

Gene Fiorot

My only issue with the above method is the oil pan sludge remains.

MikeJ65

I have the large Harbor Freight 6 1/4 gal. extractor. The hose end fits the Mercedes dipstick tube directly, so you don't need to use any of the 'straws'. Most modern Mercedes cars are designed to be extracted directly out of the tube and it is the dealer method. I can get 2-3 changes before I have to empty it and it is air compressor powered. Oil is out way before I have time to change the o-rings on the filter. New oil goes into the nice big hole of the filter housing, filter goes in, job done. Easiest oil change possible.

JoBlow

Where is this reset you speak of? I see it mentioned on the dash sometimes but I've never seen a reset button.