Pump or Drain Oil?

[HawkTX]

Curious for those of you that change your own oil on your Class C. Do you pump the oil out with an extractor from the dipstick hole or do you pull the drain plug and drain?

[youracman]

I pull the plug and drain, Tom. I think you are going to find almost everyone does. You are gonna get a little dirty anyway as you change the filter (messier than the plug on the oil pan, actually.) I did the whole deal a few days ago (before it got cold) and had the used oil in the recycle jug and the engine running with new oil in under an hour. So, not a big deal......and with the nitrile gloves, not even dirty fingernails. :^)

Good luck and safe travels.

[Podivin]

The only time I've used an extractor was boat engines, where there simply wasn't any room to get an arm between the engine and the hull of the boat to remove the oil drain plug.
I'm of the opinion that draining from the bottom will do a better job of removing all of the old oil (and the gunk it carries) than pumping it out the top will.

[al1florida]

Don't forget to grease the suspension every time you change the oil. That is the biggest pain in servicing the RV!

[youracman]

Originally Posted by al1florida

Don't forget to grease the suspension every time you change the oil. That is the biggest pain in servicing the RV!

Gotta agree on the "pain", Al. Mine only has 4 zerks to do, but yeah, it's a pain. The Ford truck center I had grease the chassis last year charged a lot of $ for it.....but I wanted them to verify that the driveline-type parking brake unit (uses ATF) was OK......and I can't reach it. (They said it was full enuff so it dribbled out when the plug was partially removed........so good news.) I will probably let them do it every other year. Dunno if all Ford E-450's use that parking brake system, but if the seal goes bad and the unit fails, it is a coupla grand ..... just for the part. BTW-failure cause is almost always overheating due to "driving with the parking brake on" as I understand it. Glad mine has an "idiot beeper" with a special sound for the parking brake (I need things like that). lol

Safe travels, and happy holidays.

[creativepart]

When I owned a Class C I found a Jiffy Lube near by with a tall garage door and they did the job for $69. At that price I let them get dirty. Plus they checked and topped all the other fluids, too.

I did use a pump to drain the generator oil. On my C you had to move the exhaust pipe to get to the drain plug. I used to own a sailboat with a diesel inboard motor. The only way to do an oil change was with a pump system. So I still had the pump.

I have a Class A now and just did an oil change on it in my driveway. Very messy but quick.

[HawkTX]

Ended up pulling the bolt. Easiest oil change I ever did on any of my past vehicles because everything is so easy to get to. Cheers!