Oil change with an extractor
 

Time for my second non-dealer oil change. I did the first at 7500 miles. Dealer did the 2nd at about 12k miles (at one year) and then the service indicator oil change at 14,500 miles. So today I tried my new oil extractor at 22,000 miles. It is so easy, and it was great to stay in my warm garage on such a cold day. :thumbup: Note from the pictures that the extractor can hold 6.8 quarts (6.5 liters). 2006 X3 3.0i is supposed to take 6.6 qts. This baby sucked out 6.8 quarts, since that is what the dealer put in there. Ended up right at the top before the float valve cut off the suction. I just put in 6.6 quarts of BMW 5W30, since I'm under warranty and the price is right at the dealer with a 10% discount. 7 quarts oil and factory filter were $43.00. The extractor sounds just like at straw at the end of a milkshake when you have sucked out all the oil you can. Works great. Got mine from Griots before xmas when price was $10 cheaper and there was a 15% sale. Each line on the extractor indicates a liter.

http://griotsgarage.com/product/car+...d+extractor.do

It is the same thing you can get from PELA
http://www.pelapumps.co.uk/default.aspx?A10PAGE=PL650

Here are some pics from cell phone:

Looks like it worked well for you.

I am familiar with extractors from working on marine propulsion engines, where you often can't get a drain pan under the sump. While they work well, I somehow always think that opening the drain pan gets more out, even if it is just the drips at the end.

All of this is a non-issue with the new models, however, as they don't have a dipstick.

I somehow feels that draining the pan also gets more gunk out as well. But the extractor seems like a less messy alternative.

On a side note, did they shrunken the oil capacity on the new 3.0 engine? My '04 3.0i X5 holds 8.5 quarts.

US quarts vs Imperial quarts :dunno:

The previous generation 3.0 gas engine in the X3 holds 6.6 quarts oil and in the X5 holds 7.6 quarts. So yes, the oil pan is smaller in the X3. Not sure about the capacity in the newer 3.0 engines, but they don't have a dipstick, so you can't extract anyway.

Can you buy a dipstick? You can for the newer Mercedes engines.

My first thought was and still is I like this thing.
Would be great to suck out the oil in between dealer oil changes. I really don't like the 12K - 15K mile oil change intervals that I saw on my 06 X3 and so far it looks the same on my 07. I have 12K miles on my 07 and it says I have 2900 miles before to go before the first oil change.

I'd really love to at least do a quick chang using something like this would make that easy.

However there's one big issue. There's no dipstick on the 07 and no place to put one.

That's a problem.

Try Fumoto Oil drain valve
 

I tried to get a group buy for this but few folks change their own oil. So the extractor works on 2004 to 2006 X3. The drain valve is a good, quick, reliable option for the newer X3s.

http://www.x3world.com/group-buys/10...ain-valve.html

Now available at:
http://www.quickoildrainvalve.com/

The valve is a genious invention. A great time saver.