I found this think in SkyMall and am intrigued by it. My Prius has not yet made it to its first oil change, but I'm thinking this might be a good alternative to jacking up the car to change the oil. SkyMall Hand Pump Oil Extractor I know some of you will say that the oil plug is so easily accessible on the Prius that why do this, but I have a "non-Prius" too unfortunately. Can anyone think of why I should use something like this for an oil change?
I have one very similar to that I bought at West Marine. The idiots who serviced my Audi A8 overfilled it and I noticed it on a Saturday morning, just before a 250 mile round trip. I did some googling to see how others handled the overfilled-oil problem and came up with the oil extractor. My only caution would be that it won't ba as complete as draining the oil from the plug. It will also take longer since it has to suck the oil out of a small tube which snakes down the oil dipstick tube. I also change the filter with each oil change, and it won't help that. I think I'll add one of those Fumoto valves to my Prius to make oil changing as easy as moving a lever. It's cheaper than the oil extractor, too.
Skymall is a little over priced. I'm sure you can find a similar or the same product for cheaper online. For $25 you can get the Fumoto valve. Makes changing oil a snap. If you are small enough or have long enough arms you don't even need to lift the car.
I got mine through Cost Plus Tools.com http://costplustools.com/store-products-Di...city_46549.html for $69.41. I've used it many times without a drop of oil on the ground. Very clean and efficient! You can even use this model to pump fluids. I've found that everytime I take the drain plug out, no oil comes out - so it's very thorough. Hot oil, cold oil - so far no problems.
