Just did first oil change with a Mityvac

[04silver]

I just got a Mityvac 7400 to change the oil using the dipstick tube on another car of mine and gave it a try on the Pilot. It worked great. It sucked every last drop out of the oil pan and only took a few minutes. The filter is really easy to get to so I was able to do the whole oil change in just a few minutes, and avoided dumping hot oil all over my hand when pulling the drain plug.

For what it is worth, this is an easy way to do an oil change. I've also heard that the Honda Passport can only be changed this way as there is no oil pan drain plug.

[linuxrlz]

hi, sounds like a good idea, but how do you know you got all the oil? did you pop the oil-pan and check?

thanks,

-jeff

[ncelk]

Is there any chance that this could damage the vehicle in any way, or it is not as "safe" as a regular oil change.

I had never heard of it until this post, so I researched it on the net.

Now I guess I am looking for more info as it sounds like a great idea.....................

[04silver]

But I pulled right about 5 quarts of oil out of the pan using the line down the dipstick tube. I've never gotten all the oil out using the drain bolt on any car before.

To be truthful this is the first oil change on the Pilot so maybe the drain bolt works just as well, but It sure was nice not to have to be under the truck to do it.

I changed the oil in my other (Z3) car the same day and had similar results. The benefit of the Z3 is that the filter is on top of the engine so it was even easier to finish the job.

I'm not saying that using the drain bolt is not the right thing to do, but I hate jacking up the car onto jack stands as my garage is not very big.

I'm very pleased with the results that I've gotten so far. It'll be your call of course as to which way you'd prefer to change the oil.

[04silver]

As long as the engine is not so hot that it melts the plastic tubing, I don't see how you could damage your engine using this method. There are no mechanical parts in the dipstick tube, and the tube ends right into the oil pan which is just a bowl shaped piece of metal designed to be a resevoir for the oil.

[FLPilot]

This looks like a great idea. I guess you could use this to change your own transmission fluid too then! That would be nice instead of paying someone to flush your system you could just empty the tank and refill the fluid right? Or is there more to doing this with transmission fluid?

[04silver]

You should be able to remove most fluids with this type of system. I'd be cautious with brake fluid as it is caustic to many plastics and can be contaminated easily if you use a dirty tube to collect it.

I'm not totally familiar with the transmission in the Pilot yet, if the fill plug is in a good location and leaves enough room inside to send the tube to the bottom of the fluid resevoir, then you should be able to remove most of the fluid.

The one fluid that I can't see a use for this is the coolant as much of the coolant is not reachable down through the top of the radiator, and there will be at least 1/2 in the engine block itelf that would need to be flushed and drained.

I plan on using it mostly for oil changes.

[alancao]

Saw your post on the sidesteps. I am glad it worked out for all of us. Just curious, how much does it cost to buy the sucking tube thing you used to change the oil?

[04silver]

The Mityvac7400 that I chose cost about $45. There are other brands that cost a bit less, but I liked how much fluid the Mityvac held over the other brands.

I bought it online at the www.toolwarehouse.com site. (hint for that site, buy something else and get the total order over $50 to avoid a $10 "handling charge.)