Which is best-Topsider or Liquivac?
 

Which oil change device is best and why? What are the trade offs? Griot's Garage sells one but does it hold enough for a 300E? Thanks.

Liquivac
 

I bought this liquivac and it works great, and has plenty of resevoir space for any job. Retails for about $30.

http://www.members.aol.com/pmizelll/greenpump.jpg

Good luck!

~Paul

________________
'91 300E, 205,000mi

$30 would be a terrific buy. The capacity is 8 quarts so for our diesels it is a push,

I used the other day to change the oil in the 1987 300TD and I pulled out a little over 8 quarts out of the engine and I saw some oil came out of the pump handle. At this point, I do not know if the pump seal has failed or it was due to over capacity.

Will try in water to see if it is damaged.

Where did you get it?
 

The only place I saw one is cal products-$49+$10 shipping=$60 and not $30.

Thanks for your opinion. Have you ever used the topsider?

Fastest oil change in the west!
 

I made my own. A long time ago, as a toy, I bought a small vane pump that went on a power drill but never found much use for it. Then I saw these top extration things here that gave me food for thought. I found a vinyl hose that would fit and used it just the other day. It worked great! It sucked the oil out in a couple of minutes, and never had to get under the car. It foamed up the oil coming out though, not that mattered:cool:

I got my Liquivac from Northerntool. It was 44.99 and included free UPS ground shipping. I have not had a chance to try it out yet as my first oil change was done from below. Also I am not sure if the free UPS ground shipping offer is still available or not but you can ask them.



http://www.northerntool.com

I do not have Liquivac. I cannot say anything about it. But I bought six Topsiders within a 2 month period when it was on sale. It worked great for me but some of my friends had problem using it. The problem was the pump cylinder which will come loose or off if the operator is pumping in a wrong angle. The pump is mounted to the can at about 80 degree. For some people, it needs practice to get the job done right.

David

I have a topsider. Been using it for about a year now, no problems yet. I got it a place that sells boat stuff, $40 I think. They said any boat place would cary them, as they use them allot on boats.

Just my .02

Thanks

I always wanted a Shurflo Oil Change system but it is expensive ($150). My LiquiVac is good but a litle slow.

I just ordered the Shurflo system today from http://www.c-mesales.com/ for $94.

See the picture.

Just my 2 cents... I bought a Tempo from Travis Marine. It was about $35. Holds 5 quarts, so it does need to be emptied once during change. But, only takes 10 pumps to do that. AND unlike the other products, YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR OIL WHILE IT'S BLAZING HOT!!! I really went for a topsider and this is what they had instead - and I love it.

Hey loubapache -- thanks for the electric oil changer link. I ordered one as soon as I saw it.

The original Topsider collapsed on me and the LiquiVac started leaking at the top seam.

I'll give a full report once I use the new device.

Hey, Lance:

How did the intake cleaning go on your VW?

Actually, we started tearing into it and realized the intake wasn't restricted at all. I think with the amount of highway driving I do (about 1000-1200 miles/wk), synthetic oil, and disconnected EGR, the intake hasn't had a chance to clog up.

Maybe I'll check out the MB intake once I'm moving around better. I'm currently having some knee issues resulting from surgery to repair a broken femur. Yuk!!

One of the reasons I still drain my oil the old fashioned way is that it gives me a regular look underneath the front of the car. I can see if there are any leaks, anything loose or falling off, etc.

I recommend that if you use one of the devices to draw your oil out the top, that you still raise the car and give it a good inspection underneath at that same interval.

Merry Christmas,

The problem with many of the cars we have is that they have the belly panel. It requires the removal of so many screws just for an oil change.