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Does Anyone Use an OIL Extractor For Oil Changes?

gmcjetpilot

Well Known Member
OK don't bash me... OK bash me. But I am curious if anyone has considered it or done an oil change on their LYC with an oil extractor. I use one all the time on my cars. I can change my oil on my VW in under 15 mins, not get dirty or have to lay on the ground or get hot oil on my had.

CAR - The old fashion way, get car jacks out and jack car, take out a dozen + bolts to remove aero belly pan, wrestle pan out from under car, get oil catch pan in position, pull the drain plug letting it blurb into open catch pan, wait, carefully slide catch pan out trying not to slosh, put drain plug back and torque (use new washer), wrestle aero pan back under car and try to align it and install dozen bolts, crawl out from under car, lower car, put jacks away.... change oil filter (which is on top). Add oil to crankcase. That takes about hour and more tools and monkey motions.

CAR Continued - The easy way with extractor, forget jacks and no need to remove belly aero pan and associated hex drive tool. I pull dipstick and put extractor hose in, goes to very bottom of pan, can hear and feel it. Since plug is in front corner of oil pan, I park in a way oil pools in front corner. (*Read below on difference in amount drained between methods). I pump the extractor to suck oil out. It takes about 4-5 minutes to pull all oil out. In the mean time, I change the oil filter which is upfront on top cartridge type (not spin on). By the time I change the filter the oil pan is drained, as the extractor is slurping up the last bit. I remove the extractor hose, put in dipstick. From the fill port over valves, I pour in the exact amount of oil needed. Start, look for leaks. Check for level. I am done in 15 minutes and never had to get on ground or get jacks out. ALSO the oil is in a sealed container of extractor not an open pan. I can take it to Auto-Parts-R-US and dump oil with no spill.....

* What is the difference in oil removed drain plug vs extractor. On my VW Diesel it is a few ounces (2-3 oz max). However the oil filter housing has a pocket at bottom that does not drain. I use the extractor to get all the oil out of the filter housing. That is about 1 to 1.5 ounces. Not a big difference, but the drain plug does squeak out a few more ounces. Many car manufactures and dealers only recommend use of oil extractors now. I think in some cases (German of course) there is really little choice, you have to extract from the top.


NOW TO AIRPLANES.... OK I get it, this is not something you want to do all the time. TCM and Lyc recommend 50 hrs or every 3 to 4 months between oil changes. With most not flying that often 25 hours per 3/mo is not uncommon. Personally I change at 25 hrs to 35 hours. OK what if I go to 50 hrs for full meal deal oil and filter change, but at 25 hrs just swap oil out with extractor, with cowl on. Everytime I cut a filter open it's pretty. I can always do oil sample on oil I extract. Would be be accurate? Well I think most oil analysis folks ask you to not take the first bit of oil right.... I think extracting, will provide a decent sample?

What are the PROS and CONS of using an oil extractor?
One PRO is you can change the oil alone without removing the cowl.
Two CONS is with cowl on you can't change oil filter and can't do under cowl inspection.

What are you thoughts. Any place, justification, advantage of using an extractor on your Lyc vs drain plug. Most of the work is getting the cowl off and reinstalling it. Many GA planes allow you to drain oil and replace filter with cowl on. For me the biggest reason to remove cowl is inspecting under the cowl, regardless of oil change. RV's all you can see is a peekaboo around dipstick/filter door and cowl exit area... not much.

Thoughts?
 
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I always decowl the airplane. That gives me 3 more opportunities a year to "look under the hood" and identify problems before they become problems.
 
I bought one for changing the oil in my cars. I used to have a very low to the ground 2 seater and it required a little work to get it jacked up. Now I use it for a couple of different cars. It makes it much easier. No crawling under the car, no removal of the drain plug, no mess to clean up. Everything is done from the top side. It makes it really easy.

I won't comment on de-cowling since its probably not a bad idea to do that still.
 
George, your post covered most every consideration pro and con ...

Many marine engines live their entire demanding lives with the oil extracted at every change. No accessible drain plug or anyway to get to it anyhow. Diesel and gas, they seem to do fine for a long time.

Sounds like personal preference and your comfort level with what you can see or want to see during an oil change. Your call.

Good thoughts, fly well

Cheers
 
My boat has a hose that attaches to the drain on the oil pan (lowest point). I attach a suction device or pump to it and that's how I change its oil. Very effective. Most important.....I don't have to stick a plastic tube down the dipstick and risk some part of it getting stuck, or worse, being sheared off, and the hassles of trying to retrieve it later (via oil pan removal). Virtually every boating forum has numerous posts recounting that nightmare. I would never put any kind of tube down the dipstick of my airplane.
 
Nah, I extract the oil 25 hours in like you described.
I decowl, drain the oil, and change the filter every other 25 hours (and cut open the filter for inspection). That makes a 50-hour interval for the filter.
If I encounter any oil problems either from the filter inspection, the magnet plug, or the Blackstone oil analysis, then I'll run the full decowl/oil drain/filter change every 25 hours.
 
So which one do you use? I got an oil change pump from A and tried to use it to move the oil from my 5 gallon bucket to one gallon jugs which my trash company will pick up.

I might not live long enough to empty that bucket. Slow is not the word to describe the transfer rate and that is with the pump on the floor and the bucket elevated.

Aircraft oil at room temperature resembles molasses and that might be the problem or I went too cheap on the pump.

Any ideas?
 
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Aircraft oil at room temperature resembles molasses and that might be the problem or I went too cheap on the pump.

Any ideas?

Perhaps consider a change to multigrade oil, like PHILLIPS 66 VICTORY AVIATION OIL 20W-50:

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/phillips_08-17114.php

Or Total Aero DM 15W-50:

https://www.aircraftspruce.eu/total-aero-dm-15w-50.htm


https://resources.savvyaviation.com/client-resources/savvy-oil-recommendations/

It will flow better.

I use the extractor on the cars I maintain, but have not yet done that with the aircraft. I just picked up a little hand pump extractor at Harbor Freight and will try it soon, since it will allow me to easily save some oil for the analysis.

https://www.harborfreight.com/multi-use-transfer-pump-63144.html

I'll give it a go and then open the drain to see how much is left.

Adding an additional oil change at 25 hours with an extractor, even without changing the filter or removing the cowl seems like a good thing.
 
So which one do you use? I got an oil change pump from A and tried to use it to move the oil from my 5 gallon bucket to one gallon jugs which my trash company will pick up.

I might not live long enough to empty that bucket. Slow is not the word to describe the transfer rate and that is with the pump on the floor and the bucket elevated.

Aircraft oil at room temperature resembles molasses and that might be the problem or I went too cheap on the pump.

Any ideas?
IMHO, too cheap on the pump. I use 50 weight oil in my boat. If it's warm, it's very pump-able with a good pump and an adequately-sized hose.
 
I guess I’m old fashioned, I de-cowl, and drain via the drain plug that way it flushes out the rocks, dead birds, gears and anything else that wants out at the time as well as go right over my donk with a fine tooth comb, I value my life and don’t wanna miss an opportunity to have me live till I’m a grump old fart😁:D
 
I use an extractor for the interim oil changes. Much easier and cleaner. The change at annual, the drain plug comes out.
 
IF I need to, I can drain the oil without taking the cowl off. It is NOT difficult to reach the quick drain valve on the oil sump by reaching up under the down beside the exhaust. Slide drain hose up in the down between exhaust pipes, fit hose on quick drain, twist quick drain, and wait for oil to drain out hose into container.

The only time I ever wish I had an oil extractor is changing the ATF filter on my GMC. (no drain on the transmission and you need to drop the pan.)
 
IF I need to, I can drain the oil without taking the cowl off. It is NOT difficult to reach the quick drain valve on the oil sump by reaching up under the down beside the exhaust. Slide drain hose up in the down between exhaust pipes, fit hose on quick drain, twist quick drain, and wait for oil to drain out hose into container.

The only time I ever wish I had an oil extractor is changing the ATF filter on my GMC. (no drain on the transmission and you need to drop the pan.)


As Gary described, a quick drain plug is really easy to use without taking off the cowl. One of the only reason why I did not buy the magnetic drain plug was because I didn't want to give up having a quick drain for this very reason. Only if you could combine the magnetic plug with a quick drain... winner winner chicken dinner :D
 
For the little time it takes to remove the cowling, I cant imagine any valid reason to skip this step when changing oil. The benefits of taking a good look and touch of the engine and components FWF far outweigh the hassle of removing the cowling and possible nicking or chipping the paint. Please don't get complacent with airplane maintenance.
 
Totally agree with David C. and others. Take the cowling halves off (alone works fine) and go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. This gets increasingly important as the plane ages. At 1380 hours, I expect some new issue somewhere every time. Usually that doesn't happen, but occasionally it does.
One note; lie down under your decowled engine, look up, and see whether anything looks off. A firewall forward inspection should be a 360 degree experience. Go slow, move stuff aside that can, use a borescope to peer into nooks and crannies, pull on stuff to see if it moves when it shouldn't or doesn't move when it should. Cracks are hard to find and require slow inspection from many different angles. Etc...
 
Additional consideration

One more benefit of taking the cowl off and draining the oil is that you have the ability to remove and check the suction screen while the sump is empty.
 
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