Recycle centers are frequently setup to take used oil, at no charge. Just do some calling and see who has recycling. Some citites have curb recycling that will take oil.

MikeR

 

that is one nice oil extractor!

stay away from the mitey vac 8.5 quart extractor like i have, it is a piece of sh*t and the customer service sucks. i had to take gasket maker and seal up a ton of vac leaks on it when i bought it brand new.

it works now but that is a joke, definately a poor quality unit.

 

That's too bad to hear about your Mityvac. I have the same unit, and it has worked great over the one year that I've owned it.

One of my coworkers liked it so much after borrowing it from me he bought his own, and he has nothing but good stuff to say about it as well. He also got the brake bleeder attachment, but I have a pressure bleeder so I didn't bother with it.

I've used mine for a whole bunch of jobs, from sucking oil, power steering fluid, coolant and it has worked great.

 

glad to hear you got a good one, mine showed up defective and the customer service was zero help from the manufacturer. it works now (since i fixed it) but i would never buy another product from them.

 

On the east coast there is not a charge, think about it they are getting processed OIL for free. At $127 per 42 gallon barrel they have to process it and ship it, what a deal for them (3$ /gallon), Iam thinking of storing the old oil as I get over 20 gallons a year and they may begin to pay for it, if not there are Goldfire shop heaters that burn it for heat.

A thought on the suction oil extractor, If I were to use one I would park on a curb or incline to help puddle the oil on the side of the oil pan that is being suctioned; so that I could retrieve more or all of the old oil. On the lift with a warm engine I let it drain while doing other things to let all of it fall out.....just a thought

Enjoy, Woody

 

Woody, funny you should mention that. I agree that lifting up the drivers side should help get a better job done. I did the Aero in the garage on the flat and got 8 quarts out, looking at the tube gauge on the extractor. When I did the SSB it was in the driveway and sitting uneven so I jacked up the driver(low) side and looks like I got a better extraction.

MikeR

 

so do you put the suction tube in the dipstick tube, or the filler tube?

 

Right down the dip stick tube. There is no 'filler' tube. The filler cap in on the valve cover. Couldnt get to the oil pan that way.

MikeR

 

This is good to hear. I bought the same exact extractor about a year ago in prep of my first oil change for my 2004 coupe - but before I could do that I traded it for a "new" 2005 SRT 6 - which now has almost 6K miles on it and is about ready for a change. I think it comes with like 3 different size extractor tubes you install - the only problem I encountered was I was going to use it on my 2005 Explorer and couldn't get any (even the smallest) extractor tube down the dip stick tube. It is so easy to change the Explorer though, that I simply ramped it and drained it. Hmmm - I think that qualifies as rambling....

 

GREAT thread, thanks to all !!

 

Thats a very nice oil extractor but my understanding is that it will miss some of the sludge that a conventional oil drain method would catch. This is just what ive been told, but its probably more important on higher milage motors.

It sure is a lot cleaner!

 

I still like doing the change from the bottom, it lets me pull and read the magnetic oil plug also. With a dozen vehicles to service it is good to do a look see underneath also now and then.

I have been running A NON CROSSFIRE experiment that might be of interest for at least for the conversational aspects of it. I get a lot of used oil and with fuel prices have been up a dollar a quart I have been testing the idea of using the oil as a fuel.

Used oil causes me to drain it into a transport container, truck it down to the reclaim store, dump it and drive back taking a 1/2 hour of my labor and some additional gas. I decided to try out a thought by burning MY OWN oil as I know where its been and not mixed with paint thinner or brake / transmission fluid. This is going to get some eyebrows going....

I mix the oil 50 - 50% with gas to thin it, add a magnet and let it steep in the sun with a wooly big magnetic to remove the iron particles that got thru the oil filter. When I fill up I add one quart of oil ( 2 Qts ) of mix to the tank. I use my 112,000 mile old dodge work truck as the test vehicle and have 6 months of experience. No issues to date.

The diesel guys have been doing this at a higher mixture for some time with good results. I have tried up to 5% oil mix without any detectable changes and typically use 1.25% oil as my FUEL. For me that is one quart per 20 gallon tank, works out to about 13 gallons per year or up to 52 dollars recovered WITHOUT the added expenses noted above to return the used oil FOR FREAKING FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All cars burn oil, its just a matter of how much. I feel that at my low dosage, there should be no detectable issues. 5% mixures were without any visible side effect(s).

Just my idea, if it goes better or worst Ill let you know. The indicated computer milage has gone up 0.1 - 0.2 mpg which I believe is due to the LOWER traffic density we see these days.

Enjoying, Woody

 

i use this

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...y=SiteSe arch

• [*]
• [*]

 

Anybody know definitively whether this is true or not?

 

I'll have to wait another 6000+ miles to check it.

Mike R

 

My opinion is that an oil extractor will not remove as much oil from the engine as properly draining thru the bottom plug of the motor.Think about it-Gravity. Not as much is going to go up as down. Personally I would not use an extractor to do oil changes in this type of motor(expensive/hi output/performance motor) It may be easier but I dont think better.Anyways its always good to get under your car once in awhile and inspect things and familiar yourself with whats under there.Just my opinion--------------Dave
PS- We have proved this in our motorcycle dealership(oil changing methods)

 

Is this really an ok way to change oil? Prove me wrong because I'm all about changing my own oil and doing it your way sounds pimp but I can't imagine sucking oil out that way gets all the goodies that settle by the drain or get attracted to the (presumably) magnetic drain plug.

 

Is it an ok way, yes. Is it the best way, that is debatable as you can see. Dont presume the plug is magnetic. My understanding is that it is NOT magnetic. I havent checked it but I know someone posted a thread about adding a magnetic plug.

MikeR

 

No its free to recycle oil at auto zone and most other auto part stores

 

Hey thanks for the link to the oil extractor. I ordered it online and put in coupon number 927-052-427 and got myself a free $49 soft-sided attache case item 35233-0CSD (shown in latest paper catalog on back page) for "stuff". Don't know if I'd actually pay $49 for it but for free, what the heck.

I really didn't want to keep turning my car over to the dealer for half a day to get the oil changed and pay the money when I can do it myself. This item (should) solve the problem of getting the car up high enough to get under and open the drain.