Has anyone ever used a Top Side Oil Changer?

http://www.coopersport.ca/canada/pro...cat=263&page=1

I'm considering on doing some of my own maintenance. Being able to change my oil Top Side is appealing to me. I never heard of this before and I was surprised when they said you could access the filter from the Top engine area as well.

Does anyone have any experience, thoughts, etc. on this product / method?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

I have used one of these for many years on boats (until I wore it out), but prefer to pull the drain plug for cars. By draining the oil from the bottom of the oil pan I'm hoping that any sediment at the bottom of the pan will be more likely to escape with the oil than might by just inserting the very narrow diameter tube down the dipstick pathway. And make no mistake, the tube has a very narrow inside diameter so it can take a while to suck the oil out. When it works it's a very cool tool.

If you decide to use the topsider, be sure to heat your oil up first... otherwise it will take FOREVER to suck it out. An advantage of this method is that the used oil will be in a clean, sealed container with a handle to take to the recycling station. Another advantage is that you'll stay MUCH cleaner and won't spill any oil under the car during the process (except maybe a bit from the filter). And of course, you won't have to jack the car up to get under the oil pan. All in all, this method has a lot of advantages. Hmmm, maybe I need to get another one?

 

Thanks! I think I may just give it a try. It's likely that some sediments, etc. will remain in the tank whichever method you use. Soon I'll be living in a condo and keeping the common garage and grounds clean will be a must.

Thank again!

 

I think the worst part about the oil change on the MINI isn't jacking/climbing under the car to drain the oil, but dealing with the obtrusive oil filter housing.

 

I did not know the filter would be that much of a problem. Well, I guess I'll walk through the process with a mechanic friend before I move out of town.

I spoke with another friend who mentioned that the oil resevoir is meant to drain with gravity and that by siphoning the oil from the top that I may not get into all the crevices, etc. I guess I'll need to speak with a few mechanics before I decide on a preferred method.

Thanks again for your support!

 

I considered the top sider, but in the end got a fumoto valve and drain from below instead. Its so easy, and probably quicker.

 

That device looks like it could help keep the process much cleaner. Maybe I'll have to consider this when i start doing my oil changes. Changing the filter may however still pose a clean up problem? It's in somewhat of an awkward position in my 05 cooper. I'd like to do the changes my garage located next to my condo but I'll need to make sure I don't make any mess as the condo garage is actually considered exclusive use but not my actual property.

Thanks!

 

I have a Griot's oil extractor and have used it a few times. It only gets about 4 quarts out for me. I now have a fumoto valve on and will just do a full drain from now on - it really doesn't take any more time and isn't any messier than messing with the extractor IMHO.

 

I wonder if you could get the Fumoto valve that has a nipple on it, and then connect the hose from the extractor to the nipple?

You'd get the benefits of the oil extractor (vacuum-assisted draining, pumping the oil directly into a container for transport/disposal, not having to jack up the car), and the benefits of the Fumoto valve (not having to risk stripping the drain bolt, and being certain you'll get *all* the oil out.)

 

That's exactly what I do. I bought a piece of rubber hosing from the hardware store; I just hook this up to the fumoto (I bought the one with the nipple) and drain directly into the container. Completely hassle and mess free.

You can get the filter off without spilling a single drop. What you do is drain the oil from below, then once its down to a drip, slowly unscrew the filter housing, until the drainage picks up again. Let it drain until its down to nothing, and unscrew some more, check to see if the drainage picks up, if/when it doesn't, take off the filter. Not a drop spilled.

 

Besides slowly unscrewing the filter housing, I hold a plastic shopping bag beneath the filter housing and after uncrewing it, I let it drop in the bag before pulling it out

 

You wouldn't need the extractor with the nippled fumoto... just a hose and a container.

You MIGHT have an issue, though - I thought I wanted the one with the nipple - but they stick down further... and on my car (a late 2006 cabrio) I have the plastic "duct" that feeds air from the front bumper fascia to the power steering fan - this sits below the oil plug and must be removed to drain oil. Do you have one of those? I don't think there's enough clearance for the valve with the hose... you could remove or cut the duct, but that defeats the purpose of reducing grit and debris entering the fan.

 

Don't give up entirely on doing it from the bottom in a condo garage. Do you have your own assigned parking spot, or is it just free parking for residents? When I moved into a loft I thought my days of wrenching were over, but the HOA is reasonable and we've had no issues (I do have an assigned spot, though, which is paid for). I never put the car on a jack or lift for more than an afternoon, and always put a drop cloth down on the floor and park over that so spills don't stain the floor. I'm very careful, too. It helps that I'm friendly with others in the building and to them favors, so they don't get in my way with car and moto work within reason. Loft owners may be a little more lenient than other types of conde owners, though!

 

That sounds really good. How would you not have to jack up the car? Would you not still have to connect everything under the car? Either way it sounds like the most efficient and cleanest way to get the oil out. I might just have to start looking for parts (valve, etc.) in Canada.

Cheers!

 

Its so easy to jack up the car, I do it that way. But I think with the valve, once you were familar enough with where the switch is, you should be able to do it without jacking the car up. But at least for installing the fumoto, you're best off jacking the car up anyway--I can get my car up on 4 jacks in 5 minutes. I was going to buy a lift, but its so darn easy to get the car up with a cheap harborfrieght jack and 4 jack stands, I can't justify the expense.

You can get the fumoto online--they're cheap, plus you get the added benefit of not having to worry about someone stripping or overtorqueing your oil plug, like my dealer did. If you do any work on your car at all, a good jack and jackstands are a must anyway--the harborfrieght jacks can be found for 90 bucks or even less, if you watch for sales, and jackstands you can get pretty much anywhere.

 

Rhino ramps work great for me for oil changes.

 

My topsider wouldn't work with my MCS, something is keeping the tube from making it all the way to bottom of the oil pan. Maybe a baffle in the pan?

 

I use this topside changer on my wife's '06 MCS:

http://www.amazon.com/Mityvac-7300-P...0386670&sr=8-1

It works extremely well and is quick. It definitely got all of the oil out and was absolutely painless, other than the slight inconvenience of cleaning the plastic tube which goes down the dipstick. I used to be a strong proponent of the 'drain using the drain plug only' crowd, but am now a convert. This also works well on my E39M5 and E36M3. Any particulates of notable size should be trapped in the oil filter and as long as the oil is hot from the engine running, all other contaminants should be suspended in the oil.

It's amazing how much oil is held in the filter housing - watching how much additional oil is extracted once the filter top is loosened is fun.

I am not sure what this means - the topside extractor is still draining oil from the bottom of the oil pan, which is where all of the oil in your engine goes when it's off (except for some in the oil passages, coating on the cylinders, etc.)

Dave

 

This is the method that most European car dealers use when they service a car. It does work extremely well, very clean, and always let the car run for a few minutes to heat up the oil. They do it. Its all about viscosity!! Thick oil, thin tube.

 

Since my '06 has been dealer serviced up until now, I haven't decided on an oil change method yet. I will tell you, though, that I have used a Pela 6000 extraction pump many times for my VW TDI (diesel) and it works great.

http://www.jerrybleach.com/pelaapplications.html

The TDI has an oil filter cartridge similar to what the MINI has, so everything could be done topside. Besides....if you have ever changed oil on a diesel engine, you know that it is a mess.....black, sooty oil all over the place and you is not fun to clean up! This Pela extractor really sucks (in a good way) and always drained the oil out within a couple of minutes without alot of pumping.

In the TDI community, it was always thought that extracting the oil was superior to draining because one could take the extractor tube and suck leftover oil out of the filter housing that draining never got out...I always got more oil out by extracting versus draining myself....but of course, that was a different engine.

 

The topside changer will never get out the same amount of oil as a gravity drain will. It simply can't get to all of the oil in the pan.

Dealerships use the topsider because it keeps a lift available for more serious repairs and they normaly have the changer hooked up to a 55 gal drum so they don't have to transfer the old oil once it is out of the car.

Best advice would be to use a Fumoto valve with a nipple connected to the topsider changer. That way you only need to get under the car to connect the tubing. Get a set of Rhino ramps to get the car up off of the ground.

 

After reading your initial post, and remembering how much of a PITA it is to get out the ramps, put down cardboard to catch the inevitable drips, get out the right size socket and wrench to loosen the drain plug, finish removing plug by hand, burn hand on hot engine oil causing drain plug to drop into the drain pan, retrieve said plug, wipe hot oil off hand cursing appropriately, wait 30 minutes for the oil to stop draining out (it never does stop completely), reinstall plug with fresh crush washer, pour the used oil into suitable containers for a trip to the recycler, clean up spilled oil that missed getting into suitable containers, clean used oil out of drain pan, and scrub hands to get used oil off (forgot to wear the darn gloves last time), I bought THIS today from West Marine. Total time with new pump for the oil and filter change... less than 15 minutes (used to take an hour including clean up). About $60 for the tool. Saving all the time and aggravation... priceless!

An added bonus is that I got even got MORE used oil out of the sump than used to drip out in 30 minutes using gravity (based on filling oil bottles with the used oil). It doesn't make sense, but I'm not arguing with success!

 

Too funny!!

I think I'm going to have to get me one of those top side units. I figured even if it left a little more oil in the pan, would it really make much of a difference? This is up for debate so I think I'll purchase a fumoto valve and try the unit from both the top end and bottom end. My own little science project.

If it's easy from the top end I'll likely end up changing the oil more often and this may compensate for a little oil left in the pan after each change?

I'd still like to see the inside of the oil pans, see how they drain, etc.

Anyone have any pics of the inside of the oil pan / resevoir?

Cheers!