Topside oil change without jacking up car

[DJCarbine]

**The point of this DIY is to change your oil out using a vacuum pump, without needing to remove the drain bolt and without needing to jack up the car. Everything is done with the car on the ground**
**Some people do not agree with this method, but I have never has any problems/issues**
**WARNING if you do not remove the dipstick tube, you are required to use very small tubing to fit in the dipstick. This can cause the tubing to roll inside the oil pan, and get stuck. This HAS happened to me.**
**Removing the dipstick tube takes 10 seconds, and you can use a larger diameter tube that will not get caught, will not bend/kink, and it will remove all oil in approx. 3-5 minutes**

::edit
People are using smaller dipstick tubing with no issues. Maybe I was just unlucky! The oil change is a lot faster with larger diameter tubing, but if you don't want to mess with the dipstick just use smaller tubing!

I've been a big fan of doing topside oil changes coming from the E36 BMW family. The oil filter was right on top of the engine in these cars, making them a perfect candidate for topside oil changes without using jacks/ramps and without disturbing the oil drain plug. Its also very convenient and clean, as you don't have to deal with draining the oil under the car while on your back with hot oil splashing everywhere.

The FR-S is pretty much the same with a twist.

First, grab yourself one of these on amazon or your local auto parts stores. This model has both a vacuum/dispense function, and it will help drain/dispose of engine oil, trans oil, diff oil etc.


The second step would be to drive the car until it has reached operating temp. This will help the oil flow through the tubing you will insert into the oilpan. Warm oil flows easier than cold oil, and by running the car you will suspend any particles that may be floating in the oil so they will get sucked out (although your oil filter should be filtering that anyways)

You can insert a skinny tube down the dipstick hole, but I have found that the small tubing will catch on the dipstick tube and cause it to break off/get stuck inside. You do NOT want that to happen.

Remove the dipstick tube bolt, it is easy to reach, takes a few seconds (10mm), and then remove the dipstick tube from the engine.


In this picture, the dipstick tube bolt location is circled in red, and the hole where the dipstick tube goes into the engine is in blue (also where you insert the LARGE diameter tubing in). The large tube allows you to suck all oil out in about 3 minutes due to its size and the ability to really get it the oil pan without risk of catching on anything and getting caught.


Give the handle a few pumps and while the oil is being evacuated, go ahead and change the oil filter. The oil is halfway done in this picture, the vacuum container will be almost full when its complete.


When its done,remove the vacuum tubing and reinstall the dipstick tube/bolt.
Make sure the oil filter is hand tight, fill with the proper amount of oil, and start the car. You don't need to check for leaks under the car as the oil drain bolt has not been touched. Just check the oil filter seal. Recheck oil level after startup, the oil filter will hold some oil.

Save your old oil containers and change the vacuum to "dispense" mode to easily fill your old oil containers with the used oil for proper disposal.

On my e36 I cracked my drain bolt after sucking all the oil out to see how much was left, and I got 2-3 drips of oil out, that's it. Might check this on the FR-S, but it took an entire 5+ quart jug of mobile 1 and another half quart, so it appears to suck all the oil out as well.

[Laika]

I feel a bit daft for not knowing I could get a manual pump. The pneumatic pump originally killed my desire for this but this seems great. Price seems good too.

I don't have a garage so changing oil is a bit of a hassle for me. Bring my ramps, ramp extenders, plus all of my oil gear from my basement to the street...steep driveway ruins the possibility of just doing it there. This is amazing. I'm trying to come up with any cons....

How does the tubing stay in the orifice? Just pushes in? Do you have an OD of the tubing?

[DJCarbine]

Originally Posted by Laika

I feel a bit daft for not knowing I could get a manual pump. The pneumatic pump originally killed my desire for this but this seems great. Price seems good too.

I don't have a garage so changing oil is a bit of a hassle for me. Bring my ramps, ramp extenders, plus all of my oil gear from my basement to the street...steep driveway ruins the possibility of just doing it there. This is amazing. I'm trying to come up with any cons....

How does the tubing stay in the orifice? Just pushes in? Do you have an OD of the tubing?

The tubing comes with the pump, there are 2 lengths of small tubing and a length of large, the small ones fit in dipstick tubes and the large one fits in trans/diff fill plugs as well as the dipstick hole in the block

I just push it in at an angle so it reaches the bottom of the oilpan, which the dipstick tube is normally inserted at an angle so it naturally goes that way

[PNW FRS]

What model number for evacuator? Hand pump or air version?

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by PNW FRS

What model number for evacuator? Hand pump or air version?

First picture shows the model number.

[hyperpunx]

how well does this work in relation to traditional methods of changing oil?

[Huehuecoyotl]

Its cool method and I thank the OP
but....Still a bunch of work and seems you can still have a spill while swapping the dipstick and leaving a place for stuff to leak.

I like my fumoto, drive up on a ramp or use a jack/stand, twist a valve, wait a few mins, twist a valve, fill. No leaky, no tools. time will tell if it holds up to high temps and my abuse, but this is a great option for when my back hurts!

[DJCarbine]

Originally Posted by hyperpunx

how well does this work in relation to traditional methods of changing oil?

Even draining with the drainbolt doesn't get all the oil out of the motor
As said before on my E36 I used this and it got out all the oil, I checked by cracking the drain plug after I used the vacuum and only a drop or so fell out (probably just residual oil still draining from the topside)

I am comfortable using this method, the worst it can do is leave behind a small pool if you dont put the tube all the way down, and in the grand scheme of things its filtered used oil which has had another 5+ quarts of clean oil added to it

There are others who do topside oil changes and have gotten used oil analysis done and they were fine. I know its popular in the Mercedes Benz crowd for difficulty of accessing/removing the drain plug, and there have been no problems except they have to use a smaller tube so it takes longer

[Enraged21]

I'm very intrigued about this...

[@Art_Mighty]

When the dealer overfills my oil I use one of these to take out the excess and it works very well. After my Scion "Boost" is up I'll probably do this moving forward...

[post_break]

We've done this on my car many times. You don't need to remove the dip stick pipe. We've sucked 99% of the oil out using this method, and opened the fumoto valve to find it completely empty. This makes oil changes painless, you don't have to get messy.

[xxscaxx]

You can also just get a fumoto drain valve, drive the car up on ramps or 2x4's, slide the oil pan under the car and open the valve up like i do. Then replace the filter as you are waiting for the oil to drain. This is pretty interesting though. Didn't see this back in march.

[cobrabyte]

As @post_break said, you can purchase an oil extractor that allows you to do this without removing the dipstick. For instance, the one I purchased at West Marine (this one) comes with a couple different extraction tubes that go inside the dipstick tube. Just feed it in and it just works.

Works like a charm.

[DJCarbine]

Originally Posted by post_break

We've done this on my car many times. You don't need to remove the dip stick pipe. We've sucked 99% of the oil out using this method, and opened the fumoto valve to find it completely empty. This makes oil changes painless, you don't have to get messy.

Originally Posted by cobrabyte

As @post_break said, you can purchase an oil extractor that allows you to do this without removing the dipstick. For instance, the one I purchased at West Marine (this one) comes with a couple different extraction tubes that go inside the dipstick tube. Just feed it in and it just works.

Works like a charm.

The small tube I inserted actually kinked and bent in a weird way when I tried to remove from the dipstick tube. I had to remove the dipstick tube and luckily was able to get everything out of the engine. Maybe I was just unlucky.....

Being able to insert the largest tube also makes for a MUCH faster drain. Takes me about 15 seconds to remove the dipstick tube, its just personal preference IMO

I'm just glad I was able to transfer my lazy topside oil change method from my E36 to this car. Both have the oil filter in easy topside access