easier? yes. but a few turns with a rachet is not at all hard. plus i'd like to keep my magnetic drain plug.

 

+1, i guess it savesyou a crush washer, but the oil filter comes with one anyway.....

so not sure this is worth it, plus when the oil gushes out i would think it would pull more settled debris with it.

 

new mod

 

I don't this would be useful for our cars. However, if you change your oil more frequently using conventional this might be more useful.

 

This is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure if the valve can be trusted it won't leak in a long run.

 

I heard of the valve and it seems to work well. But I use the Mityvac pump so no need to jack up the car and turn the wrench. No gushing hot oil either.

 

I'm an old guy in this forum, (I think) and I used to use something almost identical on my 1st car, a 6year old 1981 Mazda RX7. Got it from Racer Wholesale.

They work great, but I change my oil far before the (current) recommended intervals. (2 oil changes, one filter, in about half the mileage BMW wants one change and filter.)

I just bought one, thanks for the link. I often wondered if they were made for the e46. (Everytime I've been under my car changing the oil anyhow.)

 

Anyone tried oil changes without raising their car? (ex. driveway)

 

Sure, I do it all the time. Its called an oil extractor. On our cars you can do the entire oil and filter change from the top using one of these. You can even wear a tuxedo, or at least a fine dinner jacket while doing it and not get mussed.

If you mean draining by gravity, and using a sloped driveway or curb to raise the front or side to get underneath, this is a method some use and it works fine.

Regarding the Fumoto, it works ok. I did have one a long time ago, when they were very popular, that got stuck closed on me. The lever would move, but the ball valve would not. I unscrewed it to do the change and replaced it with one that had zero moving parts (original drain plug bolt). Is it worth the $$$ to save you a miniscule amount of time/ aggravation? Thats up to you. You can get a stackful of scented pine trees for the cost of the valve that would give more benefit IMHO, but again, the choice is yours.

 

Had one of these on my '02 Honda Accord. Worked very well -- no leaks or anything. I got the version with an extended nipple at the end and kept an 18" hose around to route the flow directly to the pan. No spilling Unfortunately, still happened a bit when changing out the filter (which was a pain with the Accord).

 

Easy to drain but I dont like something sticking out like that underneath the oil pan - it can rip off the oil pan if you hit something!:bawling:

 

looks brass, it would def break off first.

 

i change my oil so infrequently, I don't even know if this thing would pay for itself.

 

um mityvac= easiest.

 

it takes about 10 minutes at least to drain out

 

How hard is it to pull the whole bolt? Plus you only do it once a year. Plus the valve may accidentally open. Plus this will for sure be a slower flow, thus making the drain take even longer.


Not a good idea IMO.

 

I have used this valve in my liberty and TR6. I use the one with the nipple and use a hose to route the oil to the drain pan. It turns out to be a very clean operation. For those who worry about it accidentally opening, it has a positive latching mechanism and simply can't open. You would have to try it to understand what I mean.

For my 330, I am wondering if it is protected behind a frame member since I too want to get one. If these are too exposed, they could be torn off by a rock or something.

 

The Fumoto drain valves are just fine and dandy, they work just great and they'll ruin you for any other way of draining your oil from below. We used to use them in our high-mileage fleet of 45+ commercial vehicles. They don't necessarily pay for themselves from saving time, but they keep the expensive oil pan from having the threads stripped in vehicles with frequent oil changes, vehicles that can't afford down time. In our world, we don't have harried mechanics doing five or six oil changes an hour, not paying attention to putting the plug back in the pan, crossthreading the thing (and you don't want to hear a fleet manager yelling and screaming when a tech tells him he stripped the oil pan. Well, maybe you do. You can learn a lot of new terms, and fresh combinations of usual words). At our level, we do oil changes ourselves, most of us (if you're reading this, that's you). So, buy it for the convenience, not as a money-saver. :thumbup:

They sit high enough that if you do manage to hit something high enough to strip it, you'll probably have other larger problems to deal with. :tsk:

If using one worries you because of the lack of a magnet, well... just replace the Fumoto with your magnetized plug every five or six oil changes... but I just don't see that many metal shavings in modern cars... do you?

 

Buy a Mityvac instead.

 

How Lazy have some people become?

:thumbdwn: on this valve contraption.

 

if people weren't lazy we'd still be walking everywhere and none of us would have an e46

 

^
True, like Forest Gump.

Or, riding donkeys, horses, or stallions - depending on your resources. But, we would still have to do up-keep, even on those things.
And, that's what I was referring to the laziness - for "making the simple effort of doing general maintenance" of our cars.

 

+1 it is unscrewing a bolt..........

 

i dont post much on here-but i cant understand why anyone would add another hole to to a container that is supposed to retain fluids-the more seals/the increased chances of failure -ive seen similar items that were the greatest thing .....until their garage floor was covered in oil..----just sayin

 

I can't understand how any competent person could crossthread the drain plug. You ****ing hand tighten it and then torque it down.

This item is seriously unnecessary.

 

nice

 

These are used a lot in the heavy truck industry so you can take a sample, for oil analysis, without having to drain all the crankcase oil (11-12 gallons).

Additionally, you can take a "live" sample with the engine running instead of stopped where contaminants can settle and skew the results.

 

I use an extractor.

 

I use fumoto in all my cars (currently 3: two toyotas and honda) and it is a huge hassle saver: I don't need even to raise my Toyotas anymore, just lay down reach the valve and open it. On Honda I still need to raise the car since the filter is underneath, but still time saving and no spills at all (I attach a hose to the valve and direct it to the pan). No risk of rounded, crossthreaded, broken drain plugs.
On E46 it is even better - the drain plug is located behind the small door and the hole is completely horizontal, so valve will be horizontal and there is no risk that you break it somehow while driving. I would definitely get a Fumoto valve for my E46 ZSP/ZPP, once I've fix it!