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I just did an oil change today with an extractor for the first time ever. It is easy, mostly neat, and effective.I have a 2015 Audi Q5 with the 3.0T engine. There's some pretty signficant underbody panels that have to be removed to get to the oil plug for a traditional change.I would concur with JC's excellent review, which was at the top of the favorite reviews when I bought this and when I finally got around to using it a few months later. The pump pieces are all adequately sturdy, but both the pump and the extractor tube are fitted to the spherical chamber with friction-fit push-on connectors with soft plastic gaskets - they don't screw on. You need to push them on tightly, and you need to hold the bottom of the pump onto the main sphere when you're pumping. All it takes is 20-30 strokes and you'll see the oil flowing immediately. You definitely want the oil to be warm (but not hot), although my car takes 0-40w oil, so it flows pretty easily in any case.The extractor tube seemed pretty short to me, but was more than adequate to reach to the oil pan with length to spare. The dipstick cap (there's no physical dipstick on Audis) is at the front of the engine block, but the tube could easily reached anywhere in the engine compartment.The main caveat for me was that my engine has a 6.5L oil capacity, but the capacity of this extractor is 6.0L. I didn't think I would get that much oil out, but the recepticle filled and oil was sucked up into the pump. That makes for a huge mess and it quite difficult to clean. I'm sure this is mentioned elsewhere in the comments but if your crankcase capacity is higher than 5L, then stop it before you get near the top of the sphere - you just need to pull the top off to release the vacuum, dump out the container and finish it off. There is a very convenient spout tip that you can use to pour oil out of the container. It works great, but you'll get quite a gush when you start pouring, so go slow to avoid an oil spill. You can also unplug the pump and pour dirty oil out of the top hole.Unlike the wrenches and funnel that you'd be wiping off for your cleanup, there's a lot of parts here that you won't be able to get the oil out of. Don't plan on putting it back in the box to store, just get some big bags.This was quick, easy, and will be mostly neat next time. Don't worry about the negative reviews, when you use this right it works really well.I love this pump! I bought it for my Yamaha PWC. It works great. I warmed my Yamaha and it pulled out the oil in about 12-15 minutes. These PWC oil changes are really spendy, so it saved me big $$$, Then I was thinking of my other vehicles.I have a 4x4 Ford truck that holds 6 quarts of oil and, due to the height of the oil pan, the hot oil gushes all over the place when you remove the drain plug. I used the extractor and pulled about 5.25 quarts through the dipstick tube. I pulled out the drain plug while holding the drain pan next to the hole. The small amount of oil that remained (I have Automotive OCD so I had to remove all I could) was easily collected without any drama. I saved loads of old newspaper compared to my normal oil change. I tried it on my Gen 2 Prius, and usually I tilt the car up on a 4x4 on the drivers side. I sucked out the oil and then (just on this vehicle) I removed the drain plug. I got out three more drops! It pretty much empties this car completely. I no longer even remove the drain plug on my Prius oil/filter changes saving a replacement plug crush washer each oil/filter change.Ever have to change the oil/filter in your automatic transmission without a drain plug? There is an exciting part of the process, where you drop the tranny pan and oil cascades all over you, mostly around your oil drain pan, your inadequate amount of newspaper, and your garage floor just as the oil pan breaks loose from the casing. This pump removes all of the excitement. Pull out most of the fluid and do a calm easy removal of the pan with only a small manageable amount of oil remaining in the very bottom.As others have said, give it a few extra pumps during the extraction process to move things along.I now use the extractor for all my oil changes, whether it is a PWC or not. It is not super fast like an open drain hole at the bottom of an oil pan, but the convenience and cleanliness make it easier and much neater. I just do other maintenance while it is removing the oil, like checking/adjusting tire pressure, tread depth checks, refill wiper fluid, etc.This device works great for its intended purpose, but you will find that it (or other devices like it) can help when doing all kinds of mechanical maintenance.UPDATE: I have had this particular device in use since June of 2017, it is now February of 2021. It continues to perform without issue.If you found this information useful, please click the appropriate button so more shoppers see this post.Worked great to extract oil from my seadoo, feed the supplied hose into the dipstick hole and create vaccum by pumping the unit and keep pumping every 1-2 mins for constant flow, does take a little bit of time since the hose is very small but does the job took about 30 mins to suck out 3L of oil, i recommend holding the pump onto the reservoir when pumping to avoid it coming offWorked well - oil definitely needs to be warm. Otherwise there is a lot of pumping required. Took me 15 minutes and lots of pumping to drain 1.5 litres of oil from a generator in a 20*C garage. Took only about 3 minutes to empty about .5 litres from a warm push mower.The other advice I would give is to tilt the machine on an angle to allow more pooling of the oil in the crankcase, otherwise there will still be residual oil that the hose cannot suck up.Lastly, I found it was tough to truly keep everything "mess free". I find even suspending the hose for a week or so after a change there is still residual oil that gets into little crevices and drips when the unit is taken apart.Great extractor for the price.Took about 20-30 minutes to suck out about 4 L from my Sea-Doo.The black portion of the hose fit perfect down the dipstick tube.It sounds like it should work--however when I tried it with cold oil in through the dipstick it would not work. It seemed to have suction. I will try again next time with hot oil as it may be thinner. Otherwise, I am not sure what to say about it.It does work but takes too long for automotive applications. Because of it's size, you need to do a lot of pumping to get the oil out. Warm oil helps but it is still time consuming.
