Oil suction rather than drain

[jmfox]

Is anyone using an oil suction system rather than draining? My ASV requires removal of the belly pan, which is a bit of job.

jmf

 

[DieselPower]

My personal feeling is that draining is better than sucking out the oil. Any heavier crud that might sink to the bottom of the pan will never have a chance to get flushed out the bottom drain plug if the suction method is used. May be easier and less messy but you stand the chance of leaving some contaminates in the pan.

 

[redharley]

i agree with dieselpower,draining is better.but if nearly impossible to drain then sucking out would be better than not at all

 

[CCWKen]

I'd pull the belly pan and change the oil. After that, I'd cut an access hole in the belly pan for future changes. Even my ole 56 JD crawler has an access hole to drain the oil.

You could even make a cover plate to cover the hole if you're worried about debris getting behind it.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have been sucking the oil out of boats for 20 years and it "sucks". You only get 80% at best. What I did on most of my boats is add a fitting to adapt a 1/4" hydraulic hose about 24" to 36" long to the pans drain hole. Then all you have to do is tie up the hose with zip ties when not in use and secure a plug on the end. When its time to drain you simply move the hose to a bucket, in the case of a boat you feed it through the drain plug, and open the cap. It drains slow so I usually do it at night then come back to the job the next morning.

I am seeing some boat come from the factory set up like this. I also have a friend who has a mowing business and all his equipment has Kawasaki engines and they are set up like this also.

Chris

 

[john_bud]

Can you hook up a normally closed solenoid to the drain and then to a 12v dc oil pump and just do it electrically (hose to an external collection point)?

 

[Wesdor]

I would be interested to hear from our European members to confirm my observations.

We have been able to spend a good amount of time in Germany and it seems to me that the typical method of changing oil is to suck it out. You pull into a little station, they insert the wand, suck out the old oil, then fill with new.

I have always wondered if this was getting the sludge in the bottom, but they say there is no problem. And this from the country that brings us Mercedes and BMW.

This isn't an answer to the question - just an observation of what I have observed others doing.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I guess you could do that John but good old gravity has seemed to work just fine. The only draw back is it takes a hour or so to drain. Not really a issue since they only get changed once a year or every 50 hours so a little planning on when to do it takes care of that problem. I just let it drain over night then refill the next morning.... You could also start the draining process and then do all the other maintenance items and by the time you are done it should be also.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

I would be interested to hear from our European members to confirm my observations.

We have been able to spend a good amount of time in Germany and it seems to me that the typical method of changing oil is to suck it out. You pull into a little station, they insert the wand, suck out the old oil, then fill with new.

I have always wondered if this was getting the sludge in the bottom, but they say there is no problem. And this from the country that brings us Mercedes and BMW.

This isn't an answer to the question - just an observation of what I have observed others doing.

You are right. I have heard some of the new German autos do not have drain plugs at all. You can only suck it out. I guess they figure if there is sludge down there it will just stay. To be honest, every engine I have had apart is fairly clean. Especially in the pan and the valve train.

Chris

 

[ninefinger]

I'd pull the belly pan and change the oil. After that, I'd cut an access hole in the belly pan for future changes.

You could even make a cover plate to cover the hole if you're worried about debris getting behind it.

I guess I am just old school but I like this idea.