I always wanted a topsider oil-changer to drain the oil out of my car from the dipstick tube. Removing the encapsulation panel from the bottom of the car is always such a PITA. I read a post about someone wanting to use a 5-gallon paint bucket, a vacuum cleaner, and some 3/8" plastic tubing to make their own Topsider.

Well, I did it yesterday and it worked great. Cut a hole in the top of the paint bucket (make sure you buy a bucket with a tight-fitting lid) to insert the vacuum hose, and another to insert the plastic tubing. Both should only go into the top a few inches.

Then, insert the plastic tube into the dipstick tube (make sure your engine oil fill cap is off), and turn on the vacuum cleaner. Oill begins to be sucked out immediately into the bucket. It takes a while (about 20 minutes for me), but I was checking other things on the car and changing the filter, so it didn't seem that long. I even used the plastic tube to suck out the leftover oil in the oil filter housing (it always bothered me that there was dirty oil remaining in there).

I filled the car with 8 quarts of Mobil-1, thinking that the suction device probably left 1/2 quart in the pan. 20 minutes later, when I checked the level, there was room for the final 1/2 quart. I guess it really does remove as much oil as a plug-draining.

My only design modification needed to the home-made topsider was reinforcement for the plastic bucket. When the vacuum was turned on, the bucket practically imploded under vacuum. I opened the top and inserted a rigid metal trash can (that happened to fit almost perfectly) and it helped the plastic bucket keep its shape under vacuum.

Total cost - $10. PLUS - my topsider holds 5 gallons, not 10 or 8 quarts.

Troy
1995 E420 84k

This tool works for me. It has no problem handling hot engine oil. I use one hose to extract engine oil and another one to extract transmission fluid.

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/MIT-7400.html

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Shane83SD

What did you use to seal around the Vacuum hose and the plastic tubing? What was the brand of tubing and where did you buy it?

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N. Hodges
1994 S350
1987 300 SDL (for sale)

There actually was no need to seal either the vacuum hose or the plastic hose that goes into the dipstick. Just cut the holes in the top of the bucket slightly smaller than the diameter of both hoses, and press them in until they're snug. You can make a small collar on the vacuum hose out of duct tape if it makes you feel better - but it's not really necessary.

The key thing here is to have reinforcement in the bucket (I used a steel trash can). A 5 gallon plastic bucket, no matter how rigid it feels, will collapse under vacuum if your vacuum cleaner has sufficient power.

Troy K.
1995 E420

Wow, I could have used this idea a few weeks ago with my stuck oil drain plug!

I have the same setup except I used a metal 5 gal bucket and used hose
made for air brakes on 18 wheelers. The air brake hose will not collapse when the oil is hot

I've made a couple of these over the years and I've had the best results using an old 5 gallon propane tank - it's strong to resist any vacuum source you can hook up to it and there are plenty of old tanks around since overfill protection valves are now required on all portable propane tanks.

My latest set-up is very slick, I've got a couple of lengths of pipe and a few valves that permit me to supply vacuum or pressure to the collection tank. I suck the oil out of the sump into the old propane tank then use pressure from the shop air compressor to push the oil out of the propane tank and into a waste oil container.

The best hose to use is the stuff they sell at hardware stores for water supply lines to ice makers, this hose is reinforced internally with some kind of rope mesh and it will not colapse under any vaccum I've been able to generate.

I used polypropylene plastic tubing for my rigged-up topsider. It got hot, but showed no signs of collapsing when the oil was removed. It's something like $0.20 per foot at the hardware store. I believe I used 3/8" OD tubing.

Troy
1995 E420