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I feel like I figured out something useful to us all. Because the Pentastar has the oil filter on the top of the engine, there's nothing stopping us from doing complete oil changes from the top, without having to roll around on the floor or mess around with jacks or pans or any of that nonsense. That's exactly what I did today.
Why? For me, I drive almost 12,000 miles a month, and I am of the mind that extended mileage oil changes are the single best way to ruin/wear out/blow up an engine. You'll never save enough money in oil to pay for that engine rebuild. I change at 6000.
So that's once every two weeks. I don't mind paying someone to do this, but I don't trust the quick lube places. One knucklehead over tightens the oil pan plug and I'm out of business. But I don't like losing a day of work to schedule an oil change with my mechanic. And I absolutely HATE rolling around in the driveway…in winter….at night to do it myself. Solution?
I bought this thing called the Topsider for around $50 on ebay. It's monkey simple, just a vacumme pump, metal can, and a nylon tube that goes down the dipstick hole. You can see a good video demo of it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65MMnubY4DA
Skip to about 5:20 to see it work.
So today I tried it. Works great. It took a little fiddling to get the insert depth right, but I measured what came out and I pretty much got it all. The filter change was equally easy and not as messy as I thought. The nut to get the filter out is 24mm, but that crosses to a 15/16" socket.
One secret is to let the oil get up to temp before you start sucking. Not crazy hot, because that will melt the tube.
So I figure I can do an oil change in a truck stop parking lot, in the dead of winter, without making an oil slick, in about 20 minutes start to finish. When you are done, you can pour the old oil back into the 5 quart jug that the new oil came in. Nice.
Why? For me, I drive almost 12,000 miles a month, and I am of the mind that extended mileage oil changes are the single best way to ruin/wear out/blow up an engine. You'll never save enough money in oil to pay for that engine rebuild. I change at 6000.
So that's once every two weeks. I don't mind paying someone to do this, but I don't trust the quick lube places. One knucklehead over tightens the oil pan plug and I'm out of business. But I don't like losing a day of work to schedule an oil change with my mechanic. And I absolutely HATE rolling around in the driveway…in winter….at night to do it myself. Solution?
I bought this thing called the Topsider for around $50 on ebay. It's monkey simple, just a vacumme pump, metal can, and a nylon tube that goes down the dipstick hole. You can see a good video demo of it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65MMnubY4DA
Skip to about 5:20 to see it work.
So today I tried it. Works great. It took a little fiddling to get the insert depth right, but I measured what came out and I pretty much got it all. The filter change was equally easy and not as messy as I thought. The nut to get the filter out is 24mm, but that crosses to a 15/16" socket.
One secret is to let the oil get up to temp before you start sucking. Not crazy hot, because that will melt the tube.
So I figure I can do an oil change in a truck stop parking lot, in the dead of winter, without making an oil slick, in about 20 minutes start to finish. When you are done, you can pour the old oil back into the 5 quart jug that the new oil came in. Nice.