I just took a business trip and while on the plane, I was reading one of those "gadget gift" catalogs. In it they had an oil pump that you can get which pumps the oil through your dipstick tube, no need to remove the oil pan plug. Has anyone ever seen one of these? Anybody have any experience using one. I found the one I saw in the catalog at http://www.autosportcatalog.com/inde.../3411/sc/14662.

Doug

 

I guess it ok. But for $65 dollars I can un-screw the plug a few times.

 

Or for $ 26.45 get a Fumoto valve with a nipple and drain straight into your waste oil jug.

 

I have seen them and ... maybe ...OK

I just don't see how it could remove all the oil (or as much as removing the pulg)

 

Boat owners use these types of vacuum pumps all the time. There is no drain plug to unscrew, so a different method must be used.

I have a Topsider brand pump, and have used the model you reference as well. This plastic one is a little faster than the Topsider, but the method is the same.

 

I'd stay away from this. Any heavy solid particulate that would normally drain out of the drain plug hole would remain in the sump.... and how do you know if you removed all of the oil? Most likely a bit of old oil will not get sucked out.

 

I have a Mityvac 7201 (got mine from amazon.com for about $60) and it works great for the MINI. I can extract almost all the used oil and dispense it out into a container for disposal. It's mess free, no need to crawl under the car or mess with a torque wrench or drain plug. It doesn't work on all cars, but I've used mine on a Mercedes and Toyota too.

I've never done this, but you could also use the 7201 to dispense fluids e.g. transmission fluid. There is also a vacuum brake bleeder kit you can buy, but IMHO a pressure brake bleeder works better.

 

How do you get the tubing down to where the drain plug is located in the oil pan?

 

I guess if you change the oil and filter more frequently than recommended by MINI, it would be alright to leave a little used oil in the oil pan. Also, you could put some fresh oil in and pump it out out to sort of "dilute" any contaminated oil remaining.

 

Exactly. I use a Griot's pump for my "in between" oil changes... and do the full drain at the factory recommended intervals. I change the filter each time. So the car gets twice as many new filters as the factory recommends, and the oil only gets used half as long. So what if there's a little extra stuff in the bottom of the pan... I get it out every 15K miles...

 

I could live with that. How much time does it save you?

 

Frankly, not a lot... the extractor takes a while, maybe 10 minutes? I can jack it, drain it and refill as quick as I can use the extractor (I'm fast)... but it's a lot less actual work with the extractor, and no rolling under the car... and I can do other things (like quick detail or interior detail or condition leather, etc.) while the extractor is doing its thing.

 

I have heard only good things about them from the OWNERS.

 

That's why I asked. I would use the pump for the between factory changes. I'm still a little uncomfortable about one oil change a year. I thought the pump could save me having to climb under the car and messing with the plug.

 

I love crawling under my car. I also love turning my wrenches.

 

I've been using one on my 330/530/M Coupe and my friends 540/850 for the past 6 years. the 330i has 145K miles and the 850 has 185k miles. 530 110K miles. no problems with any of them. I did change the oils every 7500miles instead of 15K interval.

in the case of the 530 the oil sucker got more oil out than draining via the drain plug. there is a little divider in the oil pan and the side with the drain plug is smaller than the side where the oil dip stick ends up.

 

i was considering getting one of these before i found out the location of the drain plug. It directly at the bottom with no protection from debris. that and my car is lowered.

 

On an R56 the drain is on the bottom of the sump. So, the valve would stick down and be vulnerable to being sheared off by a rock or other road debris. This is a risk I wouldn't want to take.

If you go for a pump with plastic tubing (they may all be this way) you need to be careful about the temp of the engine when you suck oil. Ther are reports that if it is too hot the tubing can melt. Too cold and it wont pump out properly. You need to run the engine to stir up the oil and warm it.

 

I'm still waiting on a R56.
This would help if the oil filter changes out from the top like VW or BMW.
I've used a Topsider for those makes.
The clear vinyl hose has a tendency to collapse under the vacuum and warm oil, slowing the process.

 

the manufacturer of the pump recommend you warm up the engine by driving it for 10mins or so then let it sit and cool for 10mins. the oil that comes out is nice and hot but so far I've not had the hose melt on me.

 

I use my extractor not for oil changes, but for tasks like automatic transmission servicing. Since most auto trannies dont have drain plugs, draining the fluid usually means pulling the pan off with the trans still full. This always makes for a mess. Draining the fluid with the extractor first makes the job a lot easier and a great deal less messy. They are also helpful when dealing with power steering, brake fluid, hydraulic systems and cooling systems, anything that does not have a convenient drain.

I prefer draining the oil hot, via the drain plug.

 

I've had the impression that I get more oil out with the pump. One place is the oil cooler. It can be slow with the collapsing hose. I might look to replace with a different material.

 

I used one on my MINI for 3 oil changes. I wasn't impressed with the amount of oil it removed. Seemed to vary each time, wasn't consistant. And it was always lower that a full drain from the pan.

It does a decent job on my Chev p/u tho.....!

 

I have been doing the oil changes on my 07 MCS the regular way, even though I'd bought a 6.8 quart extractor from Griots Garage a couple years back. I finally decided to give it a try. It was easy to use. I ran the engine for FIVE minutes only prior to extracting, and the oil came out warm. I did have to move the hose around a bit to get the job finished up. I had a magnetic drain plug to install, so I cut a gallon milk jug down and slid it under the pan to catch any remaining oil. When I pulled the plug, I was pleasantly surprised to have only a few intermittent drops of oil fall out. Then I decided to jack up the drivers side a few inches, and I DID have a small amount come out. I'm trying to attach a photo, but in case i doesn't show up, the amount was two to three tablespoons of oil. I MIGHT have picked this oil up if I'd jacked up the driver's side prior to using the extractor. I found that I wanted to turn the extractor hose so that it was curving over toward the side of the pan where the drain plug is. Anyway, imo, the pump worked great. I'm not going under the car again except to check what that magnet plug picks up after a couple of more oil changes.
I just switched to Redline 5/30 full synthetic. I ran factory recommended Castrol the first twenty thousand miles.
BTW, I'm still loving my Mini just as much as the day I picked it up. It's a terrific little car.

 

Thats not a lot of oil left in the pan...

Might look into one of these.