Changing the oil with an electric extraction pump - Crossflow.

[orangepeel61]

Anyone any experience of changing the engine oil by extracting the old oil with a pump on a Crossflow?

Lidl are selling this for £9.99

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/p/car-essentials/ultimate-speed-oil-pump/p35314

If it works it could save some grovelling and a messy garage floor, question is would it get to the bottom of the sump? Presumably it would be via the dipstick tube.

 

[elie boone]

Yes one uses the dipstick tube for extraction oil, the warmer the better it goes but with an electric pump there are limits unlike a system that relies on vacuum.

[garybee]

You'll struggle with the tubes that come with it.  They're all too flexible so you can't tell when you're at the bottom of the sump.  You need something semi rigid ideally that you can attach to the inlet side. 

[SM25T]

Just unscrew the sump plug when engine hot. That way you get all the debris too. Nothing on garage floor if you position the drain can under where the oil will flow.

[Roger King]

I'm assuming that you're wet sump! If you're dry sump it won't work at all.

If you try it, I'd be inclined to remove the sump plug afterwards to see how thorough it has been.

[orangepeel61]

Yes, wet sump.

That had crossed my mind, would be the proof of the pudding!

[grumpy the 7th]

AND !!! remove the drain plug on the apollo there's a good pint (1/2 litre for you youngsters) still in there.

[SM25T]

Apollo ... for me, that's where the vacuum extractor with thin tube is useful. It drains down ok to the bottom hose when you remove the breather hose and the engine sump plug. Then I insert the vacuum hose through the top breather and hoover last bit of oil out. Better than the risks of removing the drain plug. If you do attempt to remove the plug, be sure to hold the bottom of the tank beside the plug with a big spanner, or you may damage the tank.

[elie boone]

On a X Flow not all oil comes out as the sump is modified. 

[OldAndrewE]

I assume you are talking about a Caterham supplied X Flow (how are they modified?) .  All the oil comes out of mine which is a front/large pan with a horizontal plate baffle.

[CtrMint]

This post caught my eye, I've got a vacuum style pump but it's is a pain, so being electric I thought that would be handy and a bargain.  Plus both my Sevens have dry sumps so no concerns regarding insertion.  

As we don't have a Lidl on the Isle Of Man it turned to Amazon, searching through same description, the average price of what appears to be the same product was £50.  Lidl really are offering good value you there.

[Tim S]

I remember being told by a mechanic some years ago that oil extraction pumps are a Bad Thing as they don't extract all the oil and and debris. His view was that maybe ok to use occasionally, but certainly not every oil change. Perhaps he was trying to avoid losing trade to Halfords etc or maybe they have improved since then.

[CtrMint]

I believe CC don't recommend removing the bottom bolt from the dry sump tank as it's for a temp sender and not draining, so there's no other way to get the oil out.  

[aerobod - near CYYC]

In my standard R400D triangular dry sump tank I have an oil temp sender in a boss on the side of the tank near the bottom and a drain plug in the centre of the bottom that has a crush washer under the bolt. The one in the centre of the bottom would be problematic if used for a sender, as the electrical connection would hang down below the frame and be prone to damage from road debris.

[PACR]

I've used the Lidl pump on a k-series (warm) and a-series (cold) but not on a crossflow. I also used it to remove the gearbox and diff oil on the Caterham without issues (actually as the a-series was in a Mini it also removed the gearbox and diff oil in that...). In both engines the sumps came off and there was little oil left. It does make it easier to extract directly to an old bottle for disposal rather than a tray and then bottle. They can run 'dry' for a bit so you can do a measure and mark on the extraction tube against the dipstick length / sump to dipstick hole length to get the bulk out and then feed a bit more in to search out any pockets of oil without too many concerns of it sucking air. For the money it's a good bit of kit. I did think about getting another 'clean' one for refilling the gearbox and diff - if you've not gone in through the gearbox top plate and got the floor out I'd suggest this (or just reuse the same one if you are happy that the bits are all out).

Piers