Changing engine oil - pump it out, or let it drain?

[Iamzod]

I wouldn't put my trust in a block of wood on a hefty Jag,

Problem with ramps are you have to store them & on cars with wider tyres they never seem to fit.

Wooden blocks on a flat surface won't split, and even if they do it's not like your car can fall through them although I have once had a ramp fly out from under a car when backing up onto it, it shot about 7 feet up the driveway. I still use them for the oil change even though i've got 5 sets of axle stands, 2 sets of ramps & 2 trolley jacks. It's less messing around & I only need the car raised a few inches to get my arm to the sump plug.

 

[jpaul]

I changed from metal ramps to plastic ones as per the above.

wow never heard of them .. I suppose if they have a ce mark etc. but plastic degrades under uv/weathering, I'd like to see the structure supporting the car.

I wouldn't put my trust in a block of wood on a hefty Jag,

first rule of fight club - always have two supports, too.

I usually use the car jack to raise it, put an axel stand under it, remove the wheel too, which i slide under the body of the car, and then reach the sump plug from that side. through wheel arch.
Ramp is too high too, to empty the sump, I'll often let the jack down, tempoarily, to level off the car/sump, once its draining.

 

[Finglonga]

Just watched a video about an oil extractor, it left a litre of dirty oil in the sump.

They did it wrong then or they were incompitent, it is foolproof, plus you can see exactly how much has come out.

 

[Akagi]

They did it wrong then or they were incompitent, it is foolproof, plus you can see exactly how much has come out.

He moved it around every which way and kept pumping ( ), then drained the sump to see how much was left in there. And it was a little over a litre.

 

[BUDFORCE]

wow never heard of them .. I suppose if they have a ce mark etc. but plastic degrades under uv/weathering, I'd like to see the structure supporting the car.

Yea plastic does degrade, I keep them in the garage but yes I'll keep an eye on them, but they are solid I've seen someone put a tank on them.

 

[Simon]

It’s not possible to get as much out as drain through a sump.
Easy analogy is a milkshake. You can never empty the cup completely

 

[Usher]

I bought one of the pumps but neither of the two tubes included would fit in the dipstick hole, must be extra small on my Toyota

 

[Akagi]

I bought one of the pumps but neither of the two tubes included would fit in my dipstick hole

 

[andy_mk3]

Either way is a fine option. Dealerships using them for services is quite common now. Plus there's no reason why it wouldn't get as much out. A lot of sump plugs don't sit fully flush to the bottom of the sump, so draining very often doesn't completely empty it.

 

[ericmcn]

Are they really. Are they made in China? How much do you trust the welding?

Germany, smart a55. TUV Sud certification none the less

so when you vanish from these posts i guess its from using some wood for some DIY work eh

 

[ericmcn]

I use one of those tall 7 litre vacuum pumps with ribbed sides/ It is brilliant. Upon getting a new car and changing the oil, I would suck the oil out and remove the drain plug to see what was left, just a few spoon fulls on most, an egg cup full on another. It helps to look where the dip stick is and angle the car so it drains towards that part of the sump and certainly not away from it. Machine Mart sell them but I think it was cheaper online. It comes with three semi-rigid inter-connectable nylon pipes of different diameters.

if you are removing the drain plug why even bother sucking the oil out?

 

[ericmcn]

Dealerships using them for services is quite common now.

another reason to do oil yourself, if your car is 5+ years old you are stupid to take a car to a dealer and get fleeced for them doing what is most likely a half arsed effort (if at all, they may not even do the oil in some cases) using the cheapest oil possible. They dont care about your car at the end of the day.

 

[Akagi]

Germany, smart a55. TUV Sud certification none the less

so when you vanish from these posts i guess its from using some wood for some DIY work eh

Wood is fine to use as ramps, metal ramps are fine too, those red ones don't look like the safest thing in the world to me though... Sure they might not fail, but I'd feel safer under a car supported by a load of solid bits of tree.

 

[ericmcn]

Wood is fine to use as ramps, but Nasher rarely knows what he's talking about.

I'm fine with that, makes me look like less of an idiot when he's around.

Its probably fine depending on what car you are talking about!

A Honda Jazz or a Yaris? should be fine
A 1.5 Tonne Subaru or a Jaguar which the OP had (don't know its weight but most likely over 1.5 Tonnes) - I wouldn't be using wood for any DIY jobs

 

[Nasher]

It will support it easier than that steel frame can. It's a solid block with a lot more surface area in contact with the ground and wheel, there are also no joints.

Obviously don't use something like balsa wood...

 

[andy_mk3]

Its probably fine depending on what car you are talking about!

A Honda Jazz or a Yaris? should be fine
A 1.5 Tonne Subaru or a Jaguar which the OP had (don't know its weight but most likely over 1.5 Tonnes) - I wouldn't be using wood for any DIY jobs

Block of wood will support 10s of tons

 

[Diddums]

No problem with blocks of wood.

Those types of ramps are more likely to collapse than a solid bit of wood.

Definitely, as witnessed by the countless failures we hear about right? Stop talking crap.

 

[The Running Man]

The only dipstick on my bmw is behind the steering wheel

 

[Usher]

another reason to do oil yourself, if your car is 5+ years old you are stupid to take a car to a dealer and get fleeced for them doing what is most likely a half arsed effort (if at all, they may not even do the oil in some cases) using the cheapest oil possible. They dont care about your car at the end of the day.

Exactly, I caught my local Toyota dealer putting the wrong grade oil in my Hybrid as it affects the mpg, I had to do a viscosity test to prove it and they still denied it, tossers

 

[Nasher]

Definitely, as witnessed by the countless failures we hear about right? Stop talking crap.

YOU need to stop talking crap.

Actually I'm going to put you on ignore now, byeee