bakdoor

Greeting, all.

So I'm having a slight issue with my new Pela 6000 oil extractor. Now I know that the 6000 only has a short dipstick tube made for cars, and it's volume isn't enough to hold all of the Cummins' engine oil at once. So I figured I'd (a) remove the tube that came with it and replace it with a longer one, and (b) just remove half the oil at a time, empty the container, and remove the rest of it on a second run.

So, I'm sizing things up, I get some new tubing to reach all the way down into the oil pan. But when I stick the new tubing down the dipstick tube, it's hitting something and it won't get far enough down to reach the oil for extraction. Serious bummer.

So, has anyone else had this issue, and is there a solution? I've done the oil change many times the "regular" way, and was just hoping for a quicker, cleaner method of oil draining. But it's looking like it's not meant to be... Should I chalk this up as a "that's what you get when you try to do things the easy way" lesson, or should I keep thinking outside the box? I know many folks don't like oil extractors to begin with, so there's that, too.

Thoughts, opinions, etc are welcome. TIA.

Foxborough

This was an old response I did a while back but it still same issue.

I got the pump from Blackstone Labs. The pump comes with a 1/4" plastic tube. The 1/4" tubing is too large to fit down the oil dipstick tube. Right at the end of the tube is some sort of rib that stops a larger tube from going any farther. I bought some fittings & smaller tubing to get a sample thru the oil dipstick. With the new 3/16" tube, it went in smooth. I used the components from McMaster-Carr. Here are the items
(1) brass compression 1/4" od tubing 1/4" NPT female #50915K215 $1.87
(2) brass compression 3/16" od tubing 1/4" NPT male #50915K313 $1.87
(3) 3/16"od 1/8" id tubing with Teflon PTFE semi-clear $9.40 for 10 feet #5239K11.
Cut the 3/16" tubing to 60" If I remember right the dipstick was 46.5" long. I wrapped electrical tape around the 3/16 tube to mark insertion length and create a stop plug. Tube didn't crush down, it worked great. The tube was kind of pricey but wanted something stiff that coud take some heat. FYI

bakdoor

Thanks, Foxborough. Great minds think alike...

So after I got over my initial annoyance at not being able to use my $60 oil extractor on the vehicle that I change the oil myself most frequently on, I regrouped.

Stopped at the hardware store today and bought 6' of...yep, 3/16th tubing. Just an educated guess, but I guess it turned out to be the right one. Came home, test fit it in the Ram's dipstick tube, and voila! Smooth passage, with about 6" of oil on the end if it.

While I like your idea about using the fittings to mate the Pela's tubing with the new, smaller stuff, I wasn't that fancy. I just wrapped the 3/16th tubing with some teflon tape, smeared it with Gorilla glue, then jammed it into the Pela tubing. We'll see if it holds.

Thanks again for the ideas!