Let's face
it, changing oil is not very difficult but it is potentially
one of the messiest jobs you can do on your car. You
have (in this case) almost 9 quarts of oil that must be
drained from a car that starts off five inches off the
ground. So you have to jack it up, take off the splash
cover, put a catch basin under it, remove the drain plug and
drain the oil.
Meanwhile,
topside, the old filter must come out and another one put in
its place. When the oil is drained out, you put the
drain plug back in, fill the engine with the proper amount
of oil. The last quart usually goes slow because it's
a good idea to check after every 10 ounces or so to make
sure you don't overfill it.
Then you
start the car by cranking a few times before letting it
start. Check all the covers and drains for leaks,
button up the splash pan, and after letting it sit for
another few minutes, top up the oil to the mark on the
dip-stick.
No big deal
right? But who honestly likes to lay on the ground,
mess with the drain plug and splash plate? And what
about that drain pan? Isn't it fun to slosh 9 quarts
of oil from the car to where ever you dump it for later
return to the recycling place? NO!
So when I
saw an Oil Evacuation system described on the
Crossfire
Forum (read the message
here), I decided to go for broke and order it. And
since it came with a brief case for free, how could I pass
it up? Seriously, it's very simple. Connect it
to the compressor (90psi minimum), stick one of the vacuum
tubes down to the bottom of the dip-stick tube, and flip a
lever. The oil is sucked out of the engine and into a
storage tank! No fussing under the car. No
jacking. No messy clean up (at least not with every
oil change). It tells you how much oil came out of the
car (it sucked all but about 4 ounces out of mine - assuming
it wasn't down that much to begin with). Except for
the sound of the compressor charging the tank, there is no
sound at all.
It sounded
too good to be true.
Harbor Freight supplied it and
it's made by their house brand - Central Hydraulics - not a
high-end manufacturer. Still, for the price, it's
sturdy, comes with several vacuum probes, decent
instructions (Download here
- 5MB) and wheels to make it easy to
move around.
I had to
make a hose to go between the compressor and the unit. The long
story short is that I purchased a segment of 3/8" hose, a
1/4" NPT connector, a air chuck connector (male) to thread
on, a couple of 3/8" hose clamps, and clamped the hose in between that and the air chuck
connector on the device. I connected the hose to the
compressor, cranked up the compressor
and followed the instructions. Pretty soon I was
standing there with a 1 7/10 gallons of oil in extractor tank and an empty
engine. Not a drop of oil anywhere in between! I
love this thing!
Clean, easy
and safe way to remove oils and fluids.
Extracts fluids through dipstick tubes or
other openings. Great for cars, tractors,
boats and small aircraft engines. Also ideal
for industrial gear boxes, coolant and
hydraulic systems.
- 1/2 gallon per minute extractor rate
- Pressure gauge
- Reservoir capacity: 6-1/4 gallons
- Suction capacity: 4-1/4 gallons
Includes vacuum gauges and five probes. Air
inlet: 1/4'' NPT; Working air pressure:
70-110 PSI; Oil temperature range: 68°
(minimum), 158° (maximum); Nylon
probes:1/4'' x 27-1/2''L, 5/16'' x
27-1/2''L, 5/16'' x 39-1/4''L; Copper
probes: 1/4'' x 27-1/2'' L, 9/32'' x
27-1/2'' L
ITEM 46149-3VGA
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