Does anyone have experience with this thing?
I do the oil changes on all 4 of our vehicles and being able to extract the oil through the dipstick instead of jacking the car up and taking off a bunch of plastic shields (3 of them are Vdubs) sounds like a winner to me.
Only concern I can think of is that maybe using the drain plug method will get more "sludge" out of the very bottom of the oil pan compared to this method?
Opinions/experiences are welcome. I'm just a big proponent of working smart, not hard

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mityvac-MITMV7300/223276268267

 

I'd would personally feel more comfortable pulling the drain plug to drain as much oil as possible. Boaters have luck using these vacuum oil change systems, however doing any oil change on a boat is much more difficult than pulling covers. If the covers are the only thing stopping you then I would consider cutting an access port to do oil changes. One anecdote is with the 1st Gen Chevrolet Cruze, there was a recall where techs hacked the bottom engine splash shield because the LUV leaks oil from the factory and start fires on the cover from the hot exhaust down there. What I am suggesting is you might not cause a problem by making an access hole in the shield. With zip ties, you could make the cutout, drill holes and use zip ties to replace it so to do an oil change you cut a few zip ties and let it hinge open on other zip ties or something else creative here to keep it sealed up if you're concerned.

 

I have no experience with them. I have heard a theory that VW makes you remove the belly pan in order to force you to check for leaks. It would be good to eliminate the need to remove and replace the drain plug, though. Some people have a hard time applying the correct torque on them.

 

Makes sense. Great idea if I continue to do it the old fashioned way, thanks!

Good point that the inside of the VW belly pan would tell you if there was an oil leak.
Both our Tiguans have a crush washer on the drain plug that needs to be replaced every time, so I do use a torque wrench on those.

I'm not too worried about the Cobalt, I'm underneath that thing all the time as it is lol

 

I tried one a friend had bought for his side mechanic business. It removed 99% of the oil, I jacked the car up and a little bit came out (talking maybe 50mL). You do have to consider where you park and where the dipstick tube is in the pan.

 

I thought about that. The dipstick is not necessarily in the lowest part of the pan, so question is if it would get all the oil out (or at least almost everything). I have a picture somewhere of my LDK trap door oil pan before it went in, but i have no clue what the VW pans look like on the inside...

 

Found the picture of a stock LDK oil pan. This one came off my new LDK engine which explains the sealant but no oil residue in it
Clearly here the hose would easily reach down to the bottom although the dipstick doesn't get that low.

 

I use my mityvac at work on merica. But that's because the drain plug stripped years ago and I sealed it up. I see no issue using it on a cobalt so long as the oil is changed frequently, the car is level and leaning back slightly, and you use a straight stiff hose that will bottom out against the corner of the pan without bending. Your gonna get about the same oil out as draining it when level with the plug and not waiting a hour for it to stop dripping.

 

i find the mityvac to be a pain in the ass. i use them on boats, and smart cars (diesel smart cars have no oil drain plug). they take forever to suck the oil out. honestly i can jack a car up, remove the belly pans, drain the oil, inspect everything, put it back together, swap filters fill it with oil and have it out of my bay before a mityvac can suck the oil out

 

I'm assuming it was an old one, the one I used had the oil out in less time than it would of been to wheel out the jack and get a jack stand under the car.

Correction the one I used was used an air compressor to pull vacuum on a cylinder that then the oil drained into, let m see if I can a link

 

It was similar to this:

 

Is yours hand, electric, or air powered? Mine is the 7300 air powered one and if I am using smaller hoses it does take longer but no where near as long as your saying even when mine had its suppressor. The suppressor is a big restriction though and the new style seems even worse, mine was the old style and got knocked off long time ago and now with the big hose on it I can fill the whole tank (2.3 gal) in about 10-15 sec with fuel and about 30 sec on oil. Its loud as crap but works damn good. I did compare it to my coworkers new one with the suppressor and his does takes forever. We were draining a diesel tank and I had at minimum 3 tank fulls to his 1 including the time it took to pour mine out into the waste tank at the back of the shop

 

Yeah I saw there are several more expensive brands. Not sure I would want to spend that much on it for 5-6 oil changes a year (although it can also be used for bleeding brakes and other things).
the one I linked is also powered by a compressor BTW.

 

the one i was using was similar to the one in the first post, but it had a hand pump on it.

another part of the reason i hate these things is by sucking the oil out of the car your not doing a proper service on the car. when you change the oil on a car you need to have a look under it for anything thats not right, such as the beginnings of leaks, play forming in suspension components, tire condition, etc. if your not inspecting your car when your doing an oil change, how do you know what sort of condition its in?

 

If it was one vehicle I would ask if you'd consider fabricating and installing a hose if you were able to route the hose in a way that the end would be accessible while also having a continual drop, or at least level, from the oil pan you could then have a remote drain setup. Or possibly even just a 90 degree configuration that you could drill a small hole in your shield to have accessible plug for the oil to drain straight down. But with 4 vehicles that might be more trouble than it's worth. Also could not be a good way to even do that on those cars. I don't know, just thought I would throw that idea into the mix. This is the way our skid steer is configured and it works pretty slick. I think on it is just a regular hydraulic line.

 

Wow, I always just figured my girlfriends dad cut it off of her car.