oil drain valve

[hiker]

I installed a Fumoto oil drain valve on my 99 ML 320 shortly after I bought it new. Be sure you get the one that has the attached nipple on it that allows you to press on a detachable clear vinyl tubing from the hardware store. This allows you to depress a lever and move the lever a quarter turn to flow oil cleanly thru the tubing to your drain container. I had to grind off a little of one of the oil pan fins to have enough clearance to thread it in. Bought it thru Summit Racing and it makes my 3000 mile oil changes quick and clean. Only thing, I didn't like about it is the threaded shaft isn't nearly as long as the original drain plug, but it is in a protected location, and have taken my ML on unmaintained trails with no problem. Now have 66,000 miles on it.

[mcreynol]

I had one of these valves on my old Mitsubishi Montero and I must say that it worked very well. It had had a nipple to which I permanently attached a short hose. This made it easy to drain directly into a container. It never leaked even so much as a drop.

Newer MB's are all intended to be drained by vacuum through the dipstick opening. This actually removes more oil than opening the drain plug. You can get a variety of inexpensive oil suction devices from boating supply houses (real hard to get under those inboard motors :-).

Alan
63 230SL
96 G300DT
98 E300DT

[hiker]

Thanks for the info