JCY,

I have chosen to raise my kids in the fresh air away from Plano, and Arlington. They're worth every mile of it. I moved out where I am now from Arlington when my oldest was in the first grade. I can't think of anything better that I could have done for them.

I guess if we used water in our crankcases, Georges test would have been valid. I use oil in mine.

I have been a member of the MBCA for over five years and enjoy their publication very much. However, it doesn't take too much to see who the publication is loyal to. If they need an article to support their dealers topsider practice, I'm sure they have no trouble getting it.

In the case of oil in a crankcase instead of water, oil clings to everything. If you suck with the topsider for fifteen minutes vs. pull the drain plug for fifteen minutes, I expect that you would get about the same amount of liquid out. What the overnight drain does, is let the oil that is clinging to everything come out, or quite alot of it. Buried in one of my replies somewhere, I mentioned that a good way for the home mechanic to use a topsider, would be to suck for fifteen minutes immediately after shutting the thorougly warmed up engine off. Then suck some more the next morning. This way you would allow alot of the sludge to come off of everything.

Additionally, if you will reread my earlier replies in this thread, you will see that I am not against using a topsider, I just believe that you need to change a little more frequently if you decide to take advantage of the convenience.

Better yet, if you're not planning on keeping your car for the long term, use the topsider about every 10K and forget it. All my comments about oil change are aimed at those who want absolutely maximum engine life.

Thanks and have a great day,

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Larry Bible
'01 C Class, Six Speed
'84 Euro 240D, manual, 533K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles