Do you vacuum your oil out or use the drain plug?
 

I'm interested in the number of forum members who use either method. I'd like it if ya'll kept your additional opinions about the method(s) you use out of this thread, that's what this thread here is about: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/179353-engine-oil-change-oil-extractors-vs-traditional-way-do-you-like-best.html
You can do your flaming at that thread.:D

I don't think it matters much which way you do it as long as it gets done.

I drain the warm-to-hot oil overnight. You'd be surprised how many hours, literally hours, oil is still draining from the pan.
In the morning, I insert a cotton strip during the plug hole which is about 3 feet long, and allow it to soak. Then I remove it.
Every time I change the oil, which is every 3000 miles or 3 months (whatever comes first), I change the oil filter and refill with fresh Rotella Synthetic oil.

I drop the pan, swab out the cam cover, vacuum the oil cooler, and give the oil filter big wet kisses.

Vacuum. MityVac system.

Jim W.

And to think that I have been accused of being anally retentive concerning oil changes.

I have for years, however, done overnight drains and Paulsen is right, it will drip for hours and hours even when hot. The last drops that come out are the sludgiest.

Don't let my comment discourage you. Keep on changin'!

I usually let it drain for "only" about 20-25 mins.... :o

Fresh Mobil 1 5w40 synthetic and a Hengst filter every 5,000 miles. :D

I guess I'm anally retentive too. I drain mine overnight or all day on a Saturday. I've found what seems to have the worst sludge comes from the oil cooler. And since mine is not a daily driver, I personally consider draining to be a little more thorough.

I drain my oil every two years....about 30kmile OCI, and the filter every 15kmiles. I take the plug out, let it drain until the drips slow down to 1 every 5 seconds, put it back in, and refill with synthetic diesel oil.

My engine will last just as long as yours, I'll spend $80 a year less on oil than you do, will pollute less, and might save your kid's life some day.

However, I won't get the sexual gratification that you get when you do your little procedure. I'm weird that way.:D

240Joe

Gravity is free (for now). :D

I drain by removing the drain plug when the engine is hot, put a pan under and let it drip for several hours, I only put the plug back when it stops dripping.
On the filter housing I get in it with a rag and absorb about everything deep down that is visible from up top, when I put a new filter in the housing is clean and dry.
I change oil about or little over 2K miles, Delo 15/40 diesel rated.


Vahe
240D 77/350K

Vahe,

Changing your oil at 2kmiles makes you a certified environmental disaster....sort of an Exxon Valdez in slow motion.

240Joe

You seriously run your oil for 30,000 miles??!?! :eek: Oil analysis will prove that that is definatley NOT a good idea, even quality synthetics can't go much over 6-7,000 miles in these older diesels without a serious amount of soot in them, which can rapidly increase wear when it gets to a certain point. I highly doubt your engine will last as long as one with more frequent changes. I do them every 5k, with synthetic oil and a new filter.

Pawo, check out the link to the thread I gave in the first post and check out the last few posts in that thread.

No, it won't.

What is your TBN after two years and 30,000 miles?

I am the one who started that thread and, well, I've learned a lot from your answers there. A couple of days ago I built myself a pair of homemade service ramps (hard wood, 4" tall) and I'll do my first DIY drain-plug oil change this evening, letting it drain overnight... I used to change it every 6 months (usually I'd put on the car 2,000-2,500 miles during that time frame), waiting so long between changes just because I was so much in dread of those incompetents at EZ Lube placing their hands on my car... But now with ME doing it, it's a totally different story: drain plug changes every 3,000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first. I was considering getting a cheapo extractor (pela economical, 6.5-quart) and alternating between drain plug and extractor... but I think I am going to be lazy, abandon the idea of purchasing the pela and just get under my car and do it the traditional way. I finally get to use the tools that I bought two years ago, right after purchasing the car, and never used. Next will be a transmission fluid change, and after that a differential fluid change is in order (only God knows when was the last time it was done on my 240D). By the way, thank you all, guys, for the precious advice you have been dispensing in these pages.

Rino

I would NEVER work on a car with home made ramps. You don't even need ramps to access the drain plug any way.

Why not? it's hard wood, and it's only 4" tall, it's 8" wide and 2 feet long... just to raise the car enough for me to go underneath. I discussed it before in this thread: my car sits very low; if I put my head under it, my nose touches the engine's low end - no my head is not very big... it is actually small. That's something else I'll probably need to look into: the car suspensions... it sits really low, and every time I go over a bump it is a real tragedy... like if the car has no suspensions at all. I didn't want to go with commercial type ramps, because they raise the wheels about 9" from the ground, and I was concerned that with that much inclination, a lot more spent oil would remain trapped in the engine than necessary... A 4" ramp provides a much better angle, and allows me just enough space to go underneath, to take a look around, to see the drain plug for the first time... And 4" ramps are not made commercially...
I read about others here building custom-made wooden ramps for their garage.
I even glued and nailed a rubber sheet under each ramp in order to avoid slipping... Do you really strongly advise against using them? I am all fired up about doing my first DIY oil change this evening...

Rino

You may have better building expertise than I do, I know I wouldn't trust myself to build ramps for a car personally. I would just go to the store and get some rated for more than the car's weight. Lazy way out, but at least I probably wouldn't cause my own demise or injury. Yeah, I'm that bad. :P

Now you got me real concerned... I have to run... I'll be back tomorrow.

Rino

To me getting it up on the ramps, removing the tupperware in my case, allows me to see what is going on down there. Always gives me time just to look around, check for leaks, rust, general condition of things.

Now that it is 2 degrees out the vac would be an excellent idea or if time was too short and you could do a quick change before a trip or wanted to change it on an extended roadtrip.

There is nothing wrong with driving the vehicle up onto a flat piece of wood (or two pieces that are stacked).

If you notice how a rigger will move a 15,000 lb. milling machine, their principle tool is a multitude of wood blocks for support at various points of the operation.

The wood is fine for support provided that it's in direct contact with the ground and is not constructed into a "ramp". I'm sure you had no intentions of doing this.

The ramps I use for my motorhome, 6,750lbs on each front tire and 13,000lbs on each end of the drive axle, are home-made cribbed wood. Can't find ramps to handle that weight. I patterned them after the "home-made" cribbed wood ramps that my local bus service used.

The ones that scare me are the stamped-metal ones my dad bought from Sears for the cars.

How much does it cost to go to the store and get a hydraulic jack and a set of jackstands?
These are a must if your going to work under the car anyway.

I changed my oil yesterday the way I always do. Drain the pan, drain the oil cooler, change the filter. put everything back together and fill up with 2 gallons of Rotella T 15W-40.
I drained the pan until it stopped dripping, about 15 minutes. The oil cooler took about the same time. Total time abvout 45 minutes.
Also, drain it HOT!

Danny

I did it last night - after returning home from a party... Used the home-made wooden ramps to do my first engine oil change and they worked beautifully (basically each one is two pieces of 2x8s, 2 feet long, stacked and nailed together, plus I glued and nailed to the bottom of each a sheet of rubber to avoid slipping (probably unnecessary). I drained the oil and let it drip.... came back two hours later to replug the drain hole and finish the process. 6 quarts of old oil had come out (as opposed to the 5 quarts that came out when those incompetents at EZ Lube did the job). I have to say that the greater quantity of old oil being discharged might be at least in part due to the inclination provided by placing those 4" wooden ramps under the front wheels... So using those ramps is a plus in more than one way.
I did it in a way to minimize messiness: I drained the oil (with engine hot) directly into two jumbo (6-pound) empty tomato cans, with no oil whatsoever spilling onto the floor. Then I simply capped the cans and labeled them "Used Delo 400 for recycling", ready to be delivered to the local recycler on Monday. No mess whatsoever to take care of, no containers/pans to be cleaned later, etc. A sweet way to do it... :)
The ramps gave me the chance to look underneath the car (for the first time) and to acquaint myself with where the various drain plugs are. You are right, guys who wrote that you don't need to raise the car to do an engine oil change... but raising it was necessary to help me locate the oil drain plug in the first place (my car manual is all wrong about what the plug looks like and where it is located).
The bottom of my car is a total mess: everything is covered by what appears to be sooted, hardened old lubrication fluid, which makes it very hard to inspect...
Same situation with the bottom of the engine and all the items attached to it...

What do you guys suppose is a reasonable, economical way to get rid of all that filth, so as to be able to inspect and make needed repairs?

Rino

I don't know, perhaps around $150-200... But cost is not the point for me. The problem is, where am I going to store that stuff? You should see the garage (common-area) in the building where I live... space allotted per tenant is very limited... and you are not supposed to work on your car there... So those ramps, at least for now, seem to be the best option for me to get things done...
By the way, it cost me about $8 in materials to build them.

Rino

At the awful W-mart, you can get them for about $50, hydraulic jack and stands...., ramps probably for about $30, I don't remember exactly....
What I hate about the ramp scenario is that I can never get the car on there alone. I always need someone to signal.....

Pretty cheap, really... But are those any good, reliable ones? Then again, as I explained, it's not a matter of cost for me...

That's the beauty of the 4" home-made ramps... It was 3:00 am and I was alone in the building's garage. I just cranked up the car, one side at a time of course, and placed one ramp under each front wheel... Very, very useful...

Rino

Not really, I take the used oil back to the auto store for recycling.
As for environmental disaster, many folks are in the habbit of pouring their used oils along the feces in their bacyards, used as weed killers, now that is a major environmental issue and is very much practiced by may, habbits like this are very difficult to change.

Vahe
240D/77 350K

Man, I am taking my car in and getting the oil drained overnight. Seems to be a pretty damn good idea. Thanks for the tip.

About that every 30,000 miles oil change. Go ahead, save the earth a little. If thats what you believe will be better for the environment, then go full force. But you better recycle, have solar power running your house, shower weekly, and only eat food processed from mother earth before you go around sayin changing your oil is economic. I could just imagine what is coming out of your exhaust that you don't realize. But hey, I wish you luck.

Even that recycled oil is costly to the environment. And it takes energy to recycle it. Recycling isn't all it's cracked up to be.

The 3kmile oil change is a classic example of how well propaganda works. You have to be smoking crack 24/7 to believe it, but people still do. The interesting thing is how long it has lasted.

In the 1980s, a German car magazine ran a VW gas engine 62kmiles on the same oil and took the engine apart for a complete inspection by engine designers. All parts were within spec for an engine with that mileage. This was over 20 years ago, with the oil available at that time.

240Joe

Note to self: Don't buy a used car from 240Joe.

Don't worry, you won't get a chance. But if you did, you'd fine everything working to spec.

240Joe

Sounds like blueranger again with a different screen name. :rolleyes:

Most of the "recycled" oil is burned in power plants and other outlets. The Steam engines in Eureka Springs, AK and the Union Pacific Challenger run on used engine oil.

Call around to various detailing shops and dealerships (new and used). They usually have someone who steam cleans the engines in the cars they sell or service. Be aware that there are some questions you want to ask:

1) Do they use solvents?

Look for someone who uses only high pressure steam. The solvents will unnecessarily dry out your gasket edges and harms wiring insulation.

2) Do they cover up any engine parts during the cleaning?

They should answer that they cover up the alternator, starter, distributor and coil and the good ones will probably disconnect the battery as well when cleaning. It's not that water will damage these things (unless the distributor cap is hot) but the gunk being blown around can foul up these components. BTW, yes I know that this is a diesel thread, so they need to cover your starter, alternator and preferably your underhood relay.

Uh, Joe, you may be a bit too binary for most here.

Smoking crack 24/7, saving kids' lives, sexual gratification ... getting pretty high up the strange tree for an oil thread.

And, I agree with you on most of the content of your opinions.

God, I love oil threads.

Still waiting to hear what your TBN is after two years and 30,000 miles...wondering how much reserve alkalinity you have in your oil.

How much make-up in that time period? Surely you leak or burn some?

How about filter changes? Do you change the filter and top-up at any frequency?


Tim

Chocolate Hagen Daz on computer screen.............





:P


.....

Drain Plug method, & Castrol Techion diesel oil
For my 300D I try to change every 3000 miles.
usually always before 3,500.

I ride around for at least 20 minutes to get the engine hot,

my driveway is slanted down so it may help with some of the extra oil draining out.
No ramps, just an old pair of work gloves, a metric socket wrench, and a plastic oil drain pan from AAP.

I don't know how to drain the oil cooler, so any diy for that is appreciated.

BTW my 85, burns zero oil between changes & has about 305,000 on it so it's just about breaking in....



..

Just leave it alone. If they wanted you to drain it, there'd be a drain plug. The amount of oil in there isn't even much. Do you really want to risk hundreds in damage for a few drops of oil? Your car made it this far w/o draining the oil cooler, let it be.

Thanks. That is pretty logical. Those oil cooler drainers are idiots!! :mad:


;)
...

It's really no big deal to drain the cooler. But, if the nut has never been touched in 20 years, you're probably asking for trouble. Since I changed the cooler hoses, cracking the fitting and letting the cooler drain during an oil change is no big deal. You get a bit more than 1 pint out of it.

Thanks a lot! With so much incompetence I've seen around these days, perhaps I should go to someone who routinely does that on diesel MBs, so as to avoid the possibility of major screwups... Does anyone know of any such reliable places in the LA area?

Rino

i just let it drain for a few hours