Has anyone used a Top Sider or other style of pump to remove motor oil? The idea of a cleaner oil change appeals to me. I have a '97 Outback and as far as I can tell the tube would hit the bottom of the oil pan when inserted through the dipstick. Pros, cons? As always, thanks for any advice.

Mods, I didn't think this went through, so I sent it again. Feel free to delete one of these. Thanks

Has anyone used a Top Sider or other style of pump to remove motor oil? The idea of a cleaner oil change appeals to me. I have a '97 Outback and as far as I can tell the tube would hit the bottom of the oil pan when inserted through the dipstick. Pros, cons? As always, thanks for any advice.

Looks like you never got an answer to this.

I've tried a Pela 6000 (http://www.jerrybleach.com/pelapumps.html) on my 97 Outback Sport (2.2L). I did a full extraction and then removed the drain plug to guage the effectivness of top-side extraction on the 2.2. I had about 6 oz of oil (that's a guess, not an actual measurment) come out of the oil pan when I removed the plug. This was a little disappointing. The car was level and not jacked up. Since you have to get under there to chain the filter and everything is accessible without raising the car I'll probably stay with the traditional method, except for maybe in mud season when I don't want to be on the ground if I can help it.

On our Golf TDI I found that it extracted all but an once or two, in addition is was able to extract the oil from the filter housing (it's a cartridge type) which you wouldn't be able to do on a normal drain. To get to the drain plug on the TDI you have to take the bottom engine cover off, which is a pain. The filter housing is on the top, so for the TDI the extractor is the way to go.

If you do decided to get a Pela, I highly recomend Jerry B. Leach. They were good people to deal with and I received my extractor very quickly.

i can also vouch for the pela 6000, though i don't know if a subaru really justifies it. i never used it on a subaru, so i'm not sure how much it would leave in the pan, but it is excellent for a tdi engine as dweebus said. you can do the entire oil change from the top of the car. i have also used it on an altima, and then pulled the drain plug and got nothing out. i think it depends how much you move the hose around when you are sucking the oil out.

 

if you are only using it on a subaru, i would say it is not worth it, except that you save youself the chance of cross-threading the oil drain plug. otherwise, the oil change on a subaru was a breeze.

 

i ordered it from globalrider.com. $42 shipped. it can also be used to remove other fluids (tranny, etc), so it can come in handy...