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So, I've never used an oil extractor and thought "man, this seems really cool - no need to go under the car?". Man, I would have gladly gone under the car vs doing it with this "new-fangled" technology.
Maybe someone who does this successfully can fill me in on what went wrong but here's what happened. So I testsed the mityvac with a cup of water. You pump it, it sucks up water, magical...awesome. seems reasonable. Pumped out the water and let it dry for a week or so and then this weekend decided to try for the oil change.
I undid the oil cap and filter (no problem), pull out the dipstick, and use the smallest tube included with the mityvac. Jam that badboy down the dipstick hole (man, this is getting graphic) and pump it like 10 times? Right off the bat it makes this gurgling sound which is totally different than the sound you get when siphoning something with the tube fully submerged. I try out the OTHER small tube they give you also..no difference. So pretty much, I had to manually pump this thing for over an hour because it wouldn't stay vacuum sealed due to the large volume of air that was coming in also.
Did you guys buy other tubes that were smaller or something? What am I missing? I got all the oil out but it took FOREVER and my arms are tired.
Next time I'll just figure out where the legit drain plug is and change it old school.
Drain plug is easier - and less messy. I have the one that connects to an air compressor so no arm issues. You should also make sure the top cover (with the screws) was on tight, this will help maintain suction. The one thing I don't like is it's usually hard to see through those clear tubes if anything is getting pulled up (aside from the sound). Then comes the cleanup, I usually take the thing apart to clean it, another pain.
One thing that helps (and not sure if you did it) is use the largest diameter tube you can AND run the car a bit to heat up the oil and make it easier to suck.
Drain plug is easier - and less messy. I have the one that connects to an air compressor so no arm issues. You should also make sure the top cover (with the screws) was on tight, this will help maintain suction. The one thing I don't like is it's usually hard to see through those clear tubes if anything is getting pulled up (aside from the sound). Then comes the cleanup, I usually take the thing apart to clean it, another pain.
One thing that helps (and not sure if you did it) is use the largest diameter tube you can AND run the car a bit to heat up the oil and make it easier to suck.
The first 5 minutes or so it worked really well even with all the noise and gurgling, but then it just kept losing pressure. Mityvac came with two tubes. The main tube which didn't even fit in and then 2 of the same smaller diameter so definitely wish I could have tried more sizes. Oil was up to operating temperature (thank god).
If I could use this on multiple cars (my cayenne doesn't have a dipstick) I would probably return this and then get the air one. Just curious if my experience was common or not
I was thinking about this too , but I believe draining from the pan is best , plus there is a plug on the right side of the oil cooler to drain oil old oil from .
If all you were getting for an hour was air bubbles, my guess is you didn't stick the tube far enough into the oil pan. The device I use (below) came with instructions on how to determine how far to insert the tube into the dipstick tube. Basically, This:
- Measure the total length of your dipstick, from top to bottom.
- Transfer that measurement onto the vacuum tube via a Sharpie, or a piece of masking tape.
- Insert the vacuum tube into the dipstick hole.
- Once you've inserted the tube up to the mark, insert it another inch or so until you can feel it bottoming-out on the oil pan.
- Back the tube out of the dipstick hole ever-so-slightly so it's not completely bottomed-out on the oil pan.
I use this vacuum pump with great success:
Last edited by omega_jeff; Nov 21, 2017 at 06:34 PM.
So, I've never used an oil extractor and thought "man, this seems really cool - no need to go under the car?". Man, I would have gladly gone under the car vs doing it with this "new-fangled" technology.
Maybe someone who does this successfully can fill me in on what went wrong but here's what happened. So I testsed the mityvac with a cup of water. You pump it, it sucks up water, magical...awesome. seems reasonable. Pumped out the water and let it dry for a week or so and then this weekend decided to try for the oil change.
I undid the oil cap and filter (no problem), pull out the dipstick, and use the smallest tube included with the mityvac. Jam that badboy down the dipstick hole (man, this is getting graphic) and pump it like 10 times? Right off the bat it makes this gurgling sound which is totally different than the sound you get when siphoning something with the tube fully submerged. I try out the OTHER small tube they give you also..no difference. So pretty much, I had to manually pump this thing for over an hour because it wouldn't stay vacuum sealed due to the large volume of air that was coming in also.
Did you guys buy other tubes that were smaller or something? What am I missing? I got all the oil out but it took FOREVER and my arms are tired.
Next time I'll just figure out where the legit drain plug is and change it old school.
i have one and you have to really jam it down the hole ( thats what she said ) ... it defintely takes some work to figure out when you get it all the way to the right spot (again, what she said) but once you do it works like a charm when in a pinch and lazy and dont want to raise the car
i have one and you have to really jam it down the hole ( thats what she said ) ... it defintely takes some work to figure out when you get it all the way to the right spot (again, what she said) but once you do it works like a charm when in a pinch and lazy and dont want to raise the car
to recap... jam it in deep and hard
LOL. There is no way to have this conversation without our minds immediately going there. So just to continue. When I first stuck it in, I was like "maybe that's enough"...then I got annoyed and REALLY jammed it down using two hands and "she" probably took another foot or so but still make that gurgling noise.
In the end, I got it all out so I didn't totally screw the pooch, but just trying to figure out if it was my technique or a bad unit. (I'm mostly convinced it's me)
LOL. There is no way to have this conversation without our minds immediately going there. So just to continue. When I first stuck it in, I was like "maybe that's enough"...then I got annoyed and REALLY jammed it down using two hands and "she" probably took another foot or so but still make that gurgling noise.
In the end, I got it all out so I didn't totally screw the pooch, but just trying to figure out if it was my technique or a bad unit. (I'm mostly convinced it's me)
lol... it definitely take finesse in some cars.... my e55 and c63 went in and found the bottom no problem, but the e63 definitely took a little more finesse to get it to find bottom..... on thing that helps is to put your mitty vac tube in the dipstick tube while engine is hot after a drive as it softens the hard plastic tube up a bit and flows a little better down the dipstick hole.
All Mercedes Benz are designed to suction engine oil directly from the dipstick tube. This means to adapt the largest diameter MityVac tube TO THE TOP OF THE DIPSTICK TUBE. The dipstick tube extends to the lowest point in the crankcase and does not need a plastic tube stuffed down it. This is the way the dealers do it and how I have been doing it using the same pump-up MityVac as you through many Benz from W116 to W211. It takes half the time and you don't have to worry about "finding the bottom". You can fashion an adaptor from plastic tubing that will be an airtight fit to the top of the dipstick tube.
For all of you DrainHeads, I propose the following experiment. Suction your oil as I have described above. After doing so crawl under the car and remove the drain plug and see what you get. It will be nothing and you will never drain your oil again. You could probably carpet your garage with white ****.
All oil changes regardless of method should be done with the oil on the very warm side (but not hot hot). It will flow better and more importantly, the chunks will be in suspension.
All Mercedes Benz are designed to suction engine oil directly from the dipstick tube. This means to adapt the largest diameter MityVac tube TO THE TOP OF THE DIPSTICK TUBE. The dipstick tube extends to the lowest point in the crankcase and does not need a plastic tube stuffed down it. This is the way the dealers do it and how I have been doing it using the same pump-up MityVac as you through many Benz from W116 to W211. It takes half the time and you don't have to worry about "finding the bottom". You can fashion an adaptor from plastic tubing that will be an airtight fit to the top of the dipstick tube.
For all of you DrainHeads, I propose the following experiment. Suction your oil as I have described above. After doing so crawl under the car and remove the drain plug and see what you get. It will be nothing and you will never drain your oil again. You could probably carpet your garage with white ****.
All oil changes regardless of method should be done with the oil on the very warm side (but not hot hot). It will flow better and more importantly, the chunks will be in suspension.
This sounds great but again how do you drain the oil in the oil cooler ??
This sounds great but again how do you drain the oil in the oil cooler ??
I'm guessing once you drain out the 8 liters of oil, whatever is in the oil cooler will be mixed and diluted with the new oil which shouldn't make a world of difference.
True Dat nynd. I'm not sure whether or not the oil cooler and lines drain back into the crankcase or not. Regardless, the amount of oil left in the cooler and oil passages is very small and never gets fully drained.
I'm guessing once you drain out the 8 liters of oil, whatever is in the oil cooler will be mixed and diluted with the new oil which shouldn't make a world of difference.
True Dat nynd. I'm not sure whether or not the oil cooler and lines drain back into the crankcase or not. Regardless, the amount of oil left in the cooler and oil passages is very small and never gets fully drained.
Yep. Even at the dealer, we vacuum extract and don't drain the oil cooler. The amount in there is so small, it won't matter in the grand scheme of things.
All Mercedes Benz are designed to suction engine oil directly from the dipstick tube. This means to adapt the largest diameter MityVac tube TO THE TOP OF THE DIPSTICK TUBE. The dipstick tube extends to the lowest point in the crankcase and does not need a plastic tube stuffed down it. This is the way the dealers do it and how I have been doing it using the same pump-up MityVac as you through many Benz from W116 to W211. It takes half the time and you don't have to worry about "finding the bottom". You can fashion an adaptor from plastic tubing that will be an airtight fit to the top of the dipstick tube.
For all of you DrainHeads, I propose the following experiment. Suction your oil as I have described above. After doing so crawl under the car and remove the drain plug and see what you get. It will be nothing and you will never drain your oil again. You could probably carpet your garage with white ****.
All oil changes regardless of method should be done with the oil on the very warm side (but not hot hot). It will flow better and more importantly, the chunks will be in suspension.
Ok, so now I'm curious purely from a science perspective. How much tube do you think you are actually using measuring from the top of the dipstick hole. is it like a foot? 2 ft? the largest diameter tube that came with the mityvac doesn't fit down the hole and the smallest clearly was causing my vacuum suction issues. Do you go to home depot and try to find different sizes?
Ok, so now I'm curious purely from a science perspective. How much tube do you think you are actually using measuring from the top of the dipstick hole. is it like a foot? 2 ft? the largest diameter tube that came with the mityvac doesn't fit down the hole and the smallest clearly was causing my vacuum suction issues. Do you go to home depot and try to find different sizes?
You just need to seal it at the top, it will pull the oil out. If it has the large opening at the top of the dipstick, basically anything except for the newer 4 cyl cars, they just hook at the top with two o-rings and it seals, pulls all the oil. For the 4 cyl cars, there's a slot in the dipstick tube about 6 inches up from the bottom of the pan, so you have to use a tube that extends to the bottom. A small tube will work but it will take longer.
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