Engine oil extractor for oil change - How good are they?

[cooa99]

I was looking at an old tread on here for something else and there was a mention of Engine oil extractor pumps to change oil without having to jack the car up and remove the drain plug from the sump. This will be ideal for 3 cars in the house and will also save me from kneeling as much.

So wondering how good this is on the E53. The only way i can see this working well if it the hose can easily be pushed all the way down to the lowest part of the sump.

Also i have always use castrol 0W30 ....LL04 for oil changes. Now that the car is at about 170k miles, should I change to using 5W30 instead?. seems the latter is easier to find.

[Leslie]

I use an oil extractor on my e70 and other cars ( a 6l pela one) but to be honest it painfully slow to suck the oil out taking at least 30 mins , mine may have a leak at an o ring but ive cleaned them before and it needs repumped a couple of times and its only hold 6 litres so needs emptied twice .
When I was in the tyre fitters today I saw vauxhall oil 5w30 is now Bmw LL04 approved and was only 20 quid for 5 litres !

[Alan Gunn]

I have been using an oil extractor for some years now due to my disability.
Best thing since sliced bread if you ask me.
The tube will go all the way to the bottom of the e53 3.0d sump and it get's every drop out.
I bought the 9Ltr version so no messing about emptying it half way.
You must get the oil warm if not hot it will empty a lot quicker if hot.
I gave my first one a 6Ltr one to my sisters lad and found him trying to suck cold oil out out of her car one day he had about one pint out so i told him to put it back in and run it for a while to warm it up.
Took him about 10 minutes oil out filter changed new oil in job done.

[pete_g]

Although I don't have an X5, I have been running an e46 330 for a while and would definitely recommend an extractor.
As mentioned already, make sure the oil is hot before extracting (while the extractor does its thing, you can change the oil filter )
There is the argument that it does not remove 100% of the oil, but I would say it does 99.99% (I once used the extractor and then went in underneath too, but barely anything extra came out).

[cooa99]

Well sign me up. I am now sold . Will get a 9ltr version.

The bay price for the 9ltr version are about half the amazon prices


so approved 5W30 ok or just stick with the 0W30 i have been using on it for the last 10yrs.

It appears that most of the catstrol 0W30 nowadays don't have the BMW LL04 labeling