PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - Is there a better way to change oil? I hate those plastic oil pans...

JimSmith · #2 12-31-2002, 01:28 AM

Dieselhead,

I have been using a vacuum device to suck oil out the dipstick tube for close to ten years now. I started with something called a "Topsider" I bought from Griot's Garage (mail order place) and it worked until about a year ago. It was a hand pump operated item that you pumped all the air out of, then openned a clamp on the tube going to the oil sump through the dipstick, and it sucked the oil out. After many years of great service I read on the site about the benefits of sucking it out really hot and quickly. After about a year of hot oil changes on three cars it collapsed one day into what looked like an oversized crushed blue beer can.

Then I bought a Sureflo Water Wolf (also via mail order) that cost a lot more and had an electrically driven pump. My first try with this was a disaster (really only when I went to empty the container, when I got oil all over the recycling station), but I got the hang of it. In cold weather though this thing self destructs the impeller. I have gone through two impellers now, one each Winter, and when they break and stop working it is very inconvenient, like half way into the job where you have to finish or not drive the car which also brings on a certain near panic situation. So much so that I went out and bought another hand pumping device last weekend. They are available in the original Topsider (a modified old style hemispherical metal gas can) configuration or other versions. I bought the tall thin unit made of what appeared to be stout, translucent plastic. The issue for me with the hand operated units is they have about 5 quarts of oil storage, which is not enough, so you have to empty them half way through the job, and there are no empty gallon containers yet. But they are reliable. The electric unit had a 5 gallon capacity though, and it would pump the stuff back into the gallon Delvac 1 containers and make disposal very clean and simple.

I have heard a few comments about this method and how it could not get the last drop of oil with the really bad sludge in it out like draining from the oil pan. I just did my E300 Turbodiesel last weekend and the oil stays clear in that car, so you can't see it on the dipstick, for about 50 miles. Then it slowly gets discolored. By the time I drove several hundred miles it was the usual black stuff. And this weekend I did my Father-in-law's 1980 240D. I put regular Delvac in it this summer and he drove it about 2500 miles. But he uses it in the Winter now and so we put synthetic Rotella 5W-40 in it. It also stayed clear for the 10 mile test drive. So I do not agree there is any significant sludge or left over old oil that cannot be sucked out the dipstick. I think these cars were intended to be serviced this way and the engineers figured this issue out. It works. Good Luck and I hope this helps, Jim

P.S.: Thanks for the stickers, they arrived while I was away on a business trip. They look great.