Hi,
I've seen it recommended here to change your oil using a vacuum oil pump like the pela, and I was looking to buy one when I saw a 12v electric version of these that run from the cig. socket or with croc clips to the battery e.g Draper 73319.
The price is roughly the same but I was wondering if it would be detrimental to the car battery to run the pump from it for up to 5 minutes with a current draw of 8 amps and 83 watts with the engine off?
Also would it be less durable than the hand pump version?
Thanks
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The electric one won't drain the battery in that short time, however, the Pela ones are so effortless, reliable and quiet I would just get one of these, I would be worried about an electric one breaking down and being slow.
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A lowish car battery capacity is about 50Ah, and you need a 0.7Ah battery, so you'll be fine.
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Mike Farrow
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If you have a sump drain plug, it's best to warm your engine first then use that hole to drain the oil, because it will bring out a lot of the crud/dirt/swarf which has settled to the bottom of the sump. And you guarantee to remove all the oil in the sump.
If you use a vacuum drainer you have no way to know where the end of the hose is located in your sump, and therefore no way to know that all the oil has even been drained let alone the issue of dirt at the bottom.
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This is an old argument. Out of long tradition I favour the drain plug method, but it does depend on your tilting the car so that the plug really is at the lowest point.
But I do concede that using a pump seems to be perfectly satisfactory in boats (no room for a bowl). I also query whether there actually is any of this much advertised crud in a properly serviced engine. And even if there is, what is the filter for? And if the crud really is heavy enough to sink to the bottom, why would it be picked up by the pump anyway?
Adding in the possible inconvenience of having to remove a sump cover to gain access to the plug, I can see why people go for the simplicity of a pump.
Also what is the health risk of a lifetime of touching dirty sump plugs?
To answer the question manual or electric, you pays your money -----.
Manual will be reliable and probably last a lifetime, electric will break down at some point.
Possibly with electric there is more opportunity for swishing the end about in the sump by twiddling the pipe, so that you scavenge out every last drop.
There's still the messy business of unscrewing the filter of course, and then refilling it before spinning it back on.
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The battery drain will be negligible. It would take the alternator about half a minute to put the charge back into the battery.
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You could run the engine while you were pumping the oil out!!! It would protect the battery!
{although it *should* be obvious that the above comment is tongue in cheek, just to make sure for anyone not mechanically minded, you should not run the engine while it has no oil in it, or whilst the oil is being drained - DD}
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If you have a sump drain plug, it's best to warm your engine first then use that hole to drain the oil, because it will bring out a lot of the crud/dirt/swarf which has settled to the bottom of the sump. And you guarantee to remove all the oil in the sump.
Although that seems entirely logical, car buffs in the US (where they take the whole subject of oil changing to ridiculous extremes) did comparisons and found that extraction brought out more solids than draining.
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Yes, have a thick milkshake in a paper cup and see how much you can get out of the bottom with a straw, then pierce a hole in the side of the cup at the bottom. The flow rate is so low towards the end, that any residue just stays sat on the bottom. The bottom of sumps are to flat. Anyway, any deposits shuld be dissolved in the oil, unless the car has been maintained, and if there is swarf there the engine would be scrap anyway.
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Manual pump, as I have said before, when I have used mine and then take the sump plug out, no further oil runs out.........
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The flow rate out of the sump plug will remove far more crud than the very localised suction achieved at the end of a small diameter tube, and you know the oil is all out, and you can leave it dripping for a couple of hours.
And there is swarf in loads of engines (I won't say all but I reckon all engines) stick a magnet on the sump plug you will catch swarf, for better results put a magnet next to the sump plug (hard drive magnet) or on the oil filter and cut it open to see what you've caught.
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Manuals are so easy to use I can't see why anyone would want electric.
Personally I prefer to drain via the sump plug, but I do have an extractor and use it from time to time.
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Also, something which may not be obvious with the manual extractors... You don't have to pump the oil out manually as such, you simply give it about 8 strokes, and then stand and watch as the receptacle fills with oil, when it's nearly empty it gurgles and you wiggle the semi-rigid pipe around until all the bubbling stops and just air comes through.
It's also best to park the car so that the pipe will go down to the lowest point of the sump.
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