Quote:
Originally Posted by semtex
I'm thinking of getting an oil extractor myself, but I'm wondering what happens when you want to send your oil off for UOA. Blackstone's instructions say to take the sample from the middle of drain. In other words, don't take the oil that immediately starts dumping out when you remove the drain plug, and don't wait till it's almost finished draining either. Point being, if I were using an extractor, I don't think I'm supposed to just scoop some oil out of the extractor when I'm finished extracting all of it. So if I have to drain my oil the old fashioned way in order to get a proper oil sample for UOA, then this would be a waste of money for me. SoCal370Z -- any thoughts on this?
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I situate my extractor's oil tube (up in the air and through a bike rack I have in my garage) so that oil in the tube is drained back into the hopper until the next oil change so the tube itself is cleared of oil, but surely it has oil residue inside that can contaminate existing oil. I always wipe-down the tube prior to placing it in the engine's dipstick, AND I start pumping immediately as I do not want any of the possible residue inside the tube going into the engine oil (although I'm changing the oil). You will not be able to take a sample from the hopper as effective cleaning of the hopper is impossible, and you would be getting a contaminated sample. The assembly of the pump's mechanism in the hopper makes it impossible not to contaminate any incoming oil with prior oil. The cylinder of the hopper is marked with graduations—in metric—so you can easily discern how much you have extracted. This allows you to leave enough in the oil pan whereby you can open the drain plug and retrieve your sample; afterwards simply place the tube back in and extract the rest. Another benefit from using an oil extractor is that in doing the method I mentioned above to get your oil sample, you do not have to worry about oil rushing out of the drain hole when you remove the oil drain plug; this makes for much cleaner oil change.
Here's a good thread write-up and a photo montage of the Pela Extractor:
Oil Extractor Review