Schwaben extractor. Maiden voyage

[CTYankee]

This weekend I completed a successful oil change with my brand new schwaben extractor (acquired from ECS along with five filters and an air filter).

The Unit is well constructed, comes with filler attachments for various transmission and diff fills. (Unit does out and in). That being said, My main purpose for the purchase was clean and easy oil changes. Access through the oil dipstick tube is a sweet way to go. Old filter in and out, extraction through oil dipstick, new oil in. Done.

Suffice it to say, the poly tube that comes with the unit is approx 3.5 inches too short to reach the bottom of the pan. Not good. uncool in a "How much did you guys save by cutting back the length by 3.5 inches?" Kind of way...

So, because I really wanted to replace more than three quarts of the oil, my effort included a run to the friendly neighborhood Home Depot for 10 feet of 3/8 OD 1/4 ID tubing (two bucks), which is a good replacement for the stock tube on the schwaben. After the added minutes to add the New tube I was good to go.

Aside from the annoyance of spending 150 on the unit, and having it not "measure up" in terms of the extraction tube included, the unit worked flawlessly and removed all of the oil in a couple of minutes. Well made, nice features, and easy to operate. The aspect I didn't like, Obviously, was The ridiculously short extraction tube.

[BMWCurves]

Nice write up! I've never really considered doing an oil change using an extractor. I guess I assumed that the added bonus of doing a standard oil change apart from getting your hands dirty and crawling under the car was that any particulate matter will have accumulated at the bottom of the oil pan and will be carried out when you drain it through the bottom. That is in comparison to a liquid extractor that might miss those vital last ounces of oil at the bottom. Someone can probably chime in on whether or not that's really the case.

That being said, sounds like it was a relatively successful outing and a viable alternative to the standard oil change. Plus, having an extractor is nice for a whole lot of other things as well, not just oil changes. Not bad.

[CTYankee]

?..That is in comparison to a liquid extractor that might miss those vital last ounces of oil at the bottom. Someone can probably chime in on whether or not that's really the case.

Thanks... The added benefit of the longer hose is while maintaining pressure, I was able to pull and push on the hose against the bottom of the pan. I could hear the slurping... So I think it was pretty thorough... But if there was a particle... Did it get it? Good question. Anyone?

[danewilson77]

I did a test one day with mine. I extracted my oil then did a full drain.

The extractor left about 1/2 cup of oil in the bottom of the pan.

"No flamesuit required"

[ryankokesh]

Has anyone tried these things on transmissions that have a dipstick?


Sent from my iPhone

[blalor]

I hate running oil through tubes. The cleanup's a pain in the butt. Sometimes it's necessary, like for a transmission where you can't pour in from above. Glad it worked for you; would be really useful for power steering fluid changes.

ECS' Schwaben line is growing pretty rapidly. I bought a spring compressor and ball joint separator and they seem pretty well built. So far their stuff seems better quality than Harbor Freight, so there's that. ;-)

[danewilson77]

Has anyone tried these things on transmissions that have a dipstick?


Sent from my iPhone

Same principle. Should work.