conekiller

If you're not familiar with the Fumoto valve, shame on you! I finally got around to ordering mine last night. I had one on my last car and LOOOOVED it. Makes oil changes a no-mess snap, and if you're a habitual oil sample tester like me, you have to own one of these! Eliminates the chance of stripping pan threads/rounding the drain plug head etc. too since you install it and never need to remove it. I still can't figure out why the manufacturers don't put these in cars at the factory.



http://www.fumotovalve.com/

XKronite

AWESOME addition that will definitley make an easy task even easier (is that possible?)

Thanks for sharing this great tip !!

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

so it totally replaces the drain bolt, looks interesting ill keep this in mind, id feel safer if the valve was locked by a small screw or bolt rather than just a lever

conekiller

Watch the .gif...the lever has a safety lock position (it's also behind a belly pan)

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

how much force is needed to lift and turn that valve lever, should be pretty tight correct?

conekiller

It's firm enough that you don't have to worry, and easy enough to release it with your fingers.

Any damage to the valve that would cause it to open or leak would've meant equal damage to your oilpan or drain plug bolt as well.

Flipsonic

In addition to draining the oil, don't you have to do other things like replace the oil filter? How hard is that? My car is still new and I haven't looked at all these things yet. I haven't even read about oil changes in the manual.

al503

I've had a couple of these for several years now. It does make changing the oil a little easier and will save you a few minutes. There are 2 drawbacks that I can think of:
1. Speed. It takes a lot longer to drain than pulling the plug completely. Not much of an issue as you can prep the new oil and filter while you're waiting.
2. Using the OEM plug will give you a more complete drain as the threads on the valve are fairly long. That means only the oil that is above the level of the end of the thread when it's fully inserted will be drained leaving anything below that level in the oil pan. It's probably only a few oz but those few oz's probably have the biggest and heaviest dirt particles. I pulled the fumoto completely every 3rd or 4th change to make sure I got that stuff out periodically.

Gernby

iTrader: (1)

I had one on my S2000, but I wasn't that impressed. The valve couldn't be torqued down very much, so it came with a cork gasket. I was always a little nervous that it would loosen over time (it didn't), but it did have a VERY slow leak. It seemed to always have a little bit of oil hanging off the bottom of the valve, and it left a single fresh drip of oil on my garage floor each day.

pavster

On the photo, it looks like it sticks out quite a bit, ending quite a bit lower than the oil pain. I would be concertned that if I bottom out with the pan, it might break off (stripping the threads) and instanltly drain all the oil. If you bottom out with a standard bolt, you might dent the oil pan slightly, but you won't drain oil.

al503

I didn't see it on the link but when I purchased mine, they offered a little vise clamp that would keep the lever from moving. It shouldn't move by itself but if you want the extra piece of mind...

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

^^with #2 said wonder why companies dont design (if they dont currently) the pan with a slight gradient towards the drain bolt so extra stuff will get drained easier

Gernby

iTrader: (1)

There was one BIG advantage that I forgot to mention. Since there isn't a drain bolt, you don't have to worry about the drain bolt falling into your oil drain pan, clogging it up, and causing the oil to overflow onto the floor. This happened to me on Sunday, so I had about 3 qts of old oil all over my garage floor.

Gernby

iTrader: (1)

You can do this yourself by raising the driver side of the car a bit higher while it drains.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

oh yea that wouldve been much simplier