Oil remover/extractor/pump - do they work?

Rather than jacking up the car and crawling underneath to change the oil, they sell a pump that works from above. See: http://www…p&pid=5551 for a typical one. Do these work as well as draining? I understand that they work for the transmission fluid change too.

There are some vehicles that require a similar method, so I suppose it works, but for $70 I’ll crawl under and drain the oil.

The advantage further disappears depending on the location of your filter. You often need to crawl down underneath to get to that anyway. It is also the case that there isn’t really a way to make that part neat and clean (and the picture in that ad would lead you to believe.

I like getting it up on ramps, knowing that as much oil as possible has been drained out, and having the opportunity to inspect many things underneath while the car is up.

It was always my understanding that all of the “junk” which was in solution in the oil would drain down to the oil pan. I’ve cleaned a few and never found too much in there anyway, but maybe it is because I change often and let it drain for a good while. I think that you would lose that potential . . . draining the “junk” that gravity brought down to the oil pan. Ideally I drain the oil overnight in my garage and fill it back up the next morning. Yes, I do have another vehicle in case of emergency. BUt whatever gets you to change it, this is better than not changing it and isn’t this how most marine engines are serviced? Rocketman

If some one gave me one of those pump, I would drive my vehicle upon ramps, use the pump, and go underneath (usually) to change the filter, etc. I’ve accidentally spilled a little oil too many times (right, right, that’s klutzy).

A habit of mine is to not click on links provided (security issue). I have used the suck the oil out the dipstick tube approach when it appears the drain plug is damaged(outside is all you can see). It is suprising when people claim you damaged their drain plug (they were setting you up) and you show them you never removed it.

With most of today’s cars, the dipstick tube is too small to insert anything but a very small tube down into the crankcase. Pumping the oil out could take a while. With marine engines, this is how it’s done, but these engines almost always have large, short, dipstick tubes.

Yes, they work but are a mixed blessing.

You have to get down and dirty anyway to change the oil filter so you?ll still need to drag out your drainer and a few tools anyway.

The up side to normal oil drainage is you can elevate the car with ramps, packing and jack stands to a position that optimizes drainage to get all the snot out of the engine system.

I usually set everything up in readiness before taking the car out to warm up and ramping the car to drain the oil first while doing all the other stuff like prepping the new oil filter, have a cup of coffee ? that stuff. I?m not doing this for a living so I leave the car to drain for at least 30 minutes before plugging up and pulling the oil filter.

The real upside to getting under there is the opportunity to survey the vehicle underside for leaks, road damage and wear. To me this preventative maintenance survey provides far greater advantages than any time I might save by using an oil extractor.

I have and use a Pella brand that uses a vacuum to pull out the oil.  In my car it is a pain to get under it and my filter is top serviceable. 

The first time I used it, I went under and removed the drain plug after I had used the vacuum. I got maybe an additional tablespoon full out of it. That is good enough for me.  I use it all the time now.   

 Your experience may be different.  A number of people have reported that they are not able to get anywhere close to all the oil out.  I would guess it depends on your technique and the configuration of the drain pan.  

  I would guess using it for my manual transmission fluid would be a real pain as it is rather heavy (thick) and would not be easy to remove that way. It might work OK with automatic fluid (I have never owned an automatic) but I would want to get in there to clean the filter, not just change the transmission fluid.

As always your mileage may vary.