Guys..
I think I've changed the way I do oil changes and likely the way I drain most of the oil from a transmission. This is after years and years of doing so.
Drain plug:
It's easy, right? Pull the car on ramps, pull out the pan and drain away. Transmission just takes a little finesse and a big enough pan. Never had a problem or stripped plug etc. Been doing it this way for years. Sure there's some splashing or a breeze blows that last little hair of the oil outside the pan. Nothing a little brake cleaner can't clean up. Simple, effective and works.
Fujimoto:
Never personally installed one. It's a valve that you install where the drain plug on the oil pan is located. You hook on a hose, open the valve and poof... draining. To me it's maybe a smidge easier than turning a wrench on the drain plug. Might be a little cleaner, but you know you are going to have a drip or two when you pull the hose off it.
Extractor:
Never could see how stuffing a hose down the oil dipstick tube was going to get all the oil out. Or at least more than pulling the plug. Since I want to do a change on my boat (inboard), I picked up an extractor yesterday. Needed a change on the car as well and decided for S&G's to use the Harbor Freight extractor (Holt). Holy moses.. that damn thing sucked every drop out of the pan.. After one oil change, I am rethinking how I do oil changes. I'd also use this thing to slurp out trans fluid before dropping a pan as well just to make it easier and cleaner. It was a super clean, super easy (didn't even put on gloves) oil change. I am rather impressed and have changed my thoughts on these extractors.
Hope this helps some of you that don't have a garage or place to do much work on your car. And.... in my Audi, the filter is on top so that may effect how others feel about extracting vs crawling under. Because if I had to do a filter on a 3.8, I'd still need to crawl under.
