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Draining oil: on stands or level??
- Thread starter Proxima2
- Start date
Proxima2
Ready to race!
- Location
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
Mobil 1 every 6k miles or so. Heavy nasty is an exaggeration. I just assume its the heavier stuff. My car is super well maintained and I know the engine is super clean.
H
Huntermike
Guest
More likely thick because it’s ambient temperature by then.
I change my oil COLD and front lifted up. About 6.3qt came out.
Cold oil changes has always drained more for me on my past 3 cars. Think about it...overnight is a lot of time for oil to drain completely to the pan except oil that is in pockets. The hot oil in your pan will drain faster but oil from the top of the engine is slowly making its way down as youre draining. And plus you wont burn yourself this way and waste gas just to warm up the oil while creating unncessary engine wear.
Cold oil changes has always drained more for me on my past 3 cars. Think about it...overnight is a lot of time for oil to drain completely to the pan except oil that is in pockets. The hot oil in your pan will drain faster but oil from the top of the engine is slowly making its way down as youre draining. And plus you wont burn yourself this way and waste gas just to warm up the oil while creating unncessary engine wear.
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Huntermike
Guest
Please show me a credible source that recommends this.
Contaminants are suspended in the warm circulating oil. It doesn't need to be piping hot so let it cool down after a drive so you don't burn yourself.
Golfs everyday
Autocross Newbie
- Location
- USA
Does makes sense since cold engines show higher oil levels on the dip stick vs a hot engine.
But I use ramps (even though I have an extractor) and like to drain the oil from the bottom after the engine is warmed up over 150F. Reason is when I do oil changes that's not the only reason why I'm under the car. I check the subframe, bushings, suspension, exhaust, control arms, etc, and other areas of the car. It's just easier to do all that in one service.
But I use ramps (even though I have an extractor) and like to drain the oil from the bottom after the engine is warmed up over 150F. Reason is when I do oil changes that's not the only reason why I'm under the car. I check the subframe, bushings, suspension, exhaust, control arms, etc, and other areas of the car. It's just easier to do all that in one service.
zero10
Ready to race!
- Location
- Vernon, BC, Canada
Both arguments (hot and cold) have some credibility - after sitting for a long period of time more oil has returned to the pan, but the longer it sits anything that would otherwise be suspended in the oil settles to the bottom of the pan and due to the time it has had to sit and the increased viscosity of the oil it might not be washed out when you drain the oil. To the best of my recollection the service manuals do all specify to change oil hot, but the cold oil change believers could easily argue that this could be because it's much faster, or since cars are driven to shops and people expect quick service that there isn't time to allow the engine to cool. The following statement is purely my opinion but I suspect if you had 2 engines that lasted to a few million miles, one with the oil changed cold and one with it changed hot you'd never see a difference.
Changing the oil hot leaves more oil in the upper engine, changing it cold potentially leaves more in the pan. Allowing it to drain overnight is excessive though it probably helps get the last few drops of oil out, but in all fairness, that won't matter at all. Because of how the additives in oil work (hint: their protection does not scale linearly with additive content) and the fact that oil is generally changed because the additives are being depleted not because the base oil has broken down, leaving a tiny bit of old oil in the engine is a non-issue.
As for the OP's question, looking at the engine from underneath (without knowing a lot about it's internal oil passage design) my opinion is that having the nose slightly higher is beneficial for draining all of the oil out. I personally drive my car up on ramps but my driveway is slightly downhill so the end result is that my nose not significantly higher once I'm up on the ramps.
Changing the oil hot leaves more oil in the upper engine, changing it cold potentially leaves more in the pan. Allowing it to drain overnight is excessive though it probably helps get the last few drops of oil out, but in all fairness, that won't matter at all. Because of how the additives in oil work (hint: their protection does not scale linearly with additive content) and the fact that oil is generally changed because the additives are being depleted not because the base oil has broken down, leaving a tiny bit of old oil in the engine is a non-issue.
As for the OP's question, looking at the engine from underneath (without knowing a lot about it's internal oil passage design) my opinion is that having the nose slightly higher is beneficial for draining all of the oil out. I personally drive my car up on ramps but my driveway is slightly downhill so the end result is that my nose not significantly higher once I'm up on the ramps.
For one..contaminants should be in your oil filter. If there are any contaiminanfs in your oil, it will be insanely tiny and will float in your oil. If any does sink to the bottom of the pan, it will be flushed out by the turbulance from the oil flowing out.
Heres why ive been doing cold drains for 10 years now:
-no burns
-drain more completely
-dont need to waste time and gas to heat up oil which also creates unnecessary engine wear
if you live in cold cold climates you obviously want to heat up your oil.
H
Huntermike
Guest
Your 10 years of personal experience is not a credible source.
My dad has done it overnight cold for 40+ yrs...
Anyways I do it warm or cold. Really don't think it matters.
chiefhiawatha
Ready to race!
- Location
- Chicago
Golfs everyday
Autocross Newbie
- Location
- USA
Some cars have headers that run very close or under the oil filter. On those cars I always do my oil changes on a colder engine. Never had a problem.
Proxima2
Ready to race!
- Location
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
If youre not driving the car that night, how its it excessive. Also, this allows your block to cool down before threading your drain plug.
anotero
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Hither and thither
- Car(s)
- Mk7 GTI
Talking about temperatures, no ambiguity: the manual clearly states at what temperature to change the oil.