oil change: drain vs vacuum

Without getting too caught up in the details, I prefer draining. My first and foremost reason is that I’m a home mechanic who can’t afford to buy specialty tools to do things I can do by simpler and cheaper means (oil extractor, various impact guns, brake piston compressors). Even though the average oil extractor setup is only about $50-$80, purchases like that build up over time, for me at least.

Secondly, I find that it doesn’t exactly save much time. Granted, it takes a period of time to jack up the car and get under and crack the drain plug versus simply popping a hose through the top of the engine, but it takes warm oil about as much time to drain out as it does to pump the oil out, at least in my experience. In terms of cleanliness, that’s a different story. You’re definitely more prone to spillages and dripping when draining than you are when using a pump.

Finally, I will ultimately favor the dirtier, more hands-on method over the clean and easy way. I think we can all agree that while using a C-clamp and an old brake pad to compress a caliper is more trouble than simply breaking out your piston compressor and screwing it down, you feel a greater sense of fulfillment when you finish. Same goes for oil changes. It’s much more satisfying to crawl under a car and drain your oil with a wrench and a pan than it is to do so with a tank a plastic hose and a bike pump handle, even if it is as basic a job as this.

Now, I’m just a home mechanic. I only work on my own car as well as those of friends and family, so I don’t necessarily find myself looking to save time and mess everywhere I can. Ultimately, I have no problem cleaning up a spill with a towel and kitty litter and letting it sit for a couple days. But for those who work on cars on a professional level and need to be able to get things done quickly and easily, they might prefer using a vacuum, and understandably so. This is just my own opinion as someone who doesn’t have things like a job and a paycheck to worry about when it comes to cars.

I say drain. Although I guess it wouldn’t make much difference aside from buying a specific tool for the vacuum job, and avoiding having to crawl under a lifted vehicle. Sounds like a semi-convenient waste of time to me. Ya gotta remove the filter anyway.

Service time is also a time you need to be inspecting for other issues on the car to head them off before they become an issue. Also most drain plugs have a small magnet on them and you should be looking at that to see if something very bad is coming your way. As was already pointed out, you have to get under the thing to change the filter anyhow.

If this was something perhaps in a marine application, maybe I could see the vacuum method as getting into engine bilges can be a pain. The tugs I’ve worked on before had hoses with quick-connect ends coming from the drain plug port of the pan. You drained them by hooking in a pneumatic diaphragm pump and it worked great. No place in the bilges to get a pan in there anyway, especially one that can hold 10 gallons. But it still drained through the drain plug fitting.

I’ve seen those little suction changers at Hazard Freight before. I could maybe see using them with a small engine or a boat. Perhaps handy to suction an overfilled automatic trans through the dipstick tube. But for changing the oil on a car, no.