[AirCavHokie]

I've seen several pumps advertised which suck engine oil up through a tube which goes down the dipstick shaft for changing. Has anyone tried one of these on their Elise/Exige? I'm worried that it would not get as much of the old oil out as the traditional method. Any thoughts/recommendations? I've tried searching the forums with no success. Thanks.

 

[SirLotus]

They may or may not work, but what about changing the filter?
Michael

I've seen several pumps advertised which suck engine oil up through a tube which goes down the dipstick shaft for changing. Has anyone tried one of these on their Elise/Exige? I'm worried that it would not get as much of the old oil out as the traditional method. Any thoughts/recommendations? I've tried searching the forums with no success. Thanks.

 

[Green Hornet]

I kinda like the idea of swapping out used oil for new (as needed) between formal changes just to keep everything protection high and everything fresh.

Has anyone tried this ?

 

[SweetDaddyD]

You could use a flowbee to cut your hair too.

 

[tvacc]

I have the one from Griots Garage. Works great.

I have not used it on the Elise. I use it on other motorized things such as tractors...snow blowers....my crossflow Seven.

 

[Green Hornet]

You could use a flowbee to cut your hair too.

I need a hair-cut -

What's a flowbee :shrug:

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

 

[Green Hornet]

Maybe I'll wait rotfl

 

[9and3]

AirCavHokie-- On my car with 38,000 miles, I change the oil & filter every 7500 miles (except for track day interruptions) but at each 2500 miles between, I change just the oil with this: Amazon.com: Mityvac 7300 PneumatiVac Air-Operated Fluid Evacuator: Automotive

I actually read a U.K. or German based report that said new filters are less effective than filters with a a few/couple'ish thousand miles on them. I'm not convinced this is the truth but it's a convenient suspension-of-disbelief that allows me to sleep at night while I let an oil filter live 7500 miles in my car. I've also been unable to find this article again--how convenient to my cause, huh?

My comments:

• None of the plastic tubes that comes with the unit fit with the Lotus but a simple plastic generic tube from OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware) works fine;
• When pulling the tube through the crankcase, it can nick on sharp internal corners/edges. Once a nick is made, the plastic tube is more likely to catch next time; even if it does catch, gentle wiggling should relieve it from any catches. To minimize this, I get a new tube every 4-6 oil changes--they're cheap but could be a nuisance to some;
• The extractor doesn't always pick up *all* the oil without some figgiting (see above comment), so you have to have some patience to get it all out;
• Sorta slow ±15 minutes--I let it do it's thing while I play with other stuff in the garage and come back to it every 5 minutes. I can not imagine using the manual pump version;
• The PneumatiVac version is loud. Not Arqray-Single-Tip loud but a lot of air whistling sound if you're sensitive (which considering the nature of this forum, you're probably not).

Overall, it's a nice solution to a problem few have.

And no, I don't use a flowbee to cut my hair. rotfl

 

[cobrabyte]

AirCavHokie-- On my car with 38,000 miles, I change the oil & filter every 7500 miles (except for track day interruptions) but at each 2500 miles between, I change just the oil with this: Amazon.com: Mityvac 7300 PneumatiVac Air-Operated Fluid Evacuator: Automotive

I actually read a U.K. or German based report that said new filters are less effective than filters with a a few/couple'ish thousand miles on them. I'm not convinced this is the truth but it's a convenient suspension-of-disbelief that allows me to sleep at night while I let an oil filter live 7500 miles in my car. I've also been unable to find this article again--how convenient to my cause, huh?

My comments:

• None of the plastic tubes that comes with the unit fit with the Lotus but a simple plastic generic tube from OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware) works fine;
• When pulling the tube through the crankcase, it can nick on sharp internal corners/edges. Once a nick is made, the plastic tube is more likely to catch next time; even if it does catch, gentle wiggling should relieve it from any catches. To minimize this, I get a new tube every 4-6 oil changes--they're cheap but could be a nuisance to some;
• The extractor doesn't always pick up *all* the oil without some figgiting (see above comment), so you have to have some patience to get it all out;
• Sorta slow ±15 minutes--I let it do it's thing while I play with other stuff in the garage and come back to it every 5 minutes. I can not imagine using the manual pump version;
• The PneumatiVac version is loud. Not Arqray-Single-Tip loud but a lot of air whistling sound if you're sensitive (which considering the nature of this forum, you're probably not).

Overall, it's a nice solution to a problem few have.

And no, I don't use a flowbee to cut my hair. rotfl

Iiiinteresting...

Thanks for the link. I like the idea of just sucking out and 'swapping' the old oil every 2500 miles or so. Beats having to pull the panel.

 

[Aedo]

Iiiinteresting...

Thanks for the link. I like the idea of just sucking out and 'swapping' the old oil every 2500 miles or so. Beats having to pull the panel.

If you are using a good synthetic oil and not tracking regularly changing the oil at 2500 miles is just a waste of money. The recommended service interval of 7500 is more than sufficient for the engine - in Europe the service interval for the same engine is 15,000km (9,000miles).

 

[ads_green]

I agree - if you are not tracking it or getting serious performance out of the engine it is an overkill. Just make sure you have a "proper" fully synth oil (most are branded fully synthetic but are not) and it'll last ages even with abuse.

That being said you can't over change the oil so it won't do any harm other than to your wallet

 

[fpitas]

The only fault I can find with the suction devices is the possibility that stuff resting on the bottom of the oil pan might not get removed. That's probably not a big concern if you keep the oil changed regularly; but if you're worried about it, run the engine immediately before the oil change to stir the stuff up.

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

If you are using a good synthetic oil and not tracking regularly changing the oil at 2500 miles is just a waste of money. The recommended service interval of 7500 is more than sufficient for the engine - in Europe the service interval for the same engine is 15,000km (9,000miles).

I can feel the difference in my engine between ~4,000 mile oil and new oil. So I change my oil at ~4,000 miles. With the filter. In my car-owning history, operating by feel rather than by scheduled service intervals has served me quite well. I have an E36 BMW with no major issues at ~320,000 miles.

Clean oil + dirty filter = dirty oil. Pretty simple equation. You might as well not waste the clean oil if you're taking this route.

 

[SirLotus]

There are all these ideas floating around about when to change the oil. I say, take the guesswork out of it, and occasionally send a sample to a good lab as I do. Based upon the results, I have determined when an oil change is required, as long as it is within the manufactures mileage limit guidline.
Michael

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

There are all these ideas floating around about when to change the oil. I say, take the guesswork out of it, and occasionally send a sample to a good lab as I do. Based upon the results, I have determined when an oil change is required, as long as it is within the manufactures mileage limit guidline.
Michael

What's your oil-mailing interval?

 

[SirLotus]

I have done it at almost 2 years with approx. 5000 miles on the oil.
Michael

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

And the verdict?

 

[SirLotus]

And the verdict?

Here are the results. It should be noted the oil does not degrade by not being run in an engine, with one exception, water absorption from condensation. My oil sample had "0" water content.
Michael

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

Thanks for scanning that. Your viscosity and flashpoint are out of range according to this chart. I suppose I should read that as "5700 miles is too much".