FloTool 5060TSMI Topsider Extractor Multi-Purpose Vacuum Oil Change Pump for 4-Cycle Engine, ATV, Boat, Large Vehicle, 8-Quart, Blue

A while back, I had this guy's little cousin, the LiquiVac. I used to use it for all my small engine stuff because it is so much easier to change oil over pulling a plug or tipping a machine on its side. Well, I went searching for another because that was 20 years ago and who knows what happened to that thing in that time. I have moved at least 4 times since I had it and I literally have no idea where it went!Well, I was going to get another when I saw this. It is about the same in capacity - 8 quarts. But, it is so much heavier duty! The pump tube is metal and not plastic like the LiquiVac. And the tank is solid metal as well. It is just as easy to use as the LiquiVac too! In short, it makes my life so much easier to service all my small engine stuff from my rider to my push mower.My hats off to the customer service of Hopkins Manufacturing, who makes this and the LiquiVac. My Topsider was missing the black insert that allows the small tube to fit into the larger tube, I wrote them an email and within a few days, I had the insert in my mailbox and I was up and running!I have only used it with my rider and push mower so far, but I am looking forward to using it with my wife's Caravan someday as that is a cartridge up on top of the engine and it would be so awesome if I don't have to crawl under it anymore to change oil! i guess we will see, I have heard I might need a different tube to do that, but Hopkins can help with that as well! Thank you Hopkins for this wonderful product and your awesome customer service!

I'm one of those guys that prefers to change his own oil... I always have since my dad taught me. I like buying quality oil, quality filters, and knowing that the job was done right. Does changing your own oil save you time or money? Probably not. But do you get the satisfaction of knowing you put high quality oil in, that your filter wasn't over tightened, and your drain plug wasn't over tightened and/or stripped? Yes.The problem for me is... I rent, and now that I don't live near family, I don't have any place I can go to jack my car up and drain the oil from underneath. Even if I did, then I have to deal with a messy drain pan. Where am I supposed to store that in my apartment?So I just recently found out that products like this exist and you can suck the oil up through the filler tube. A lot of people worry that you aren't getting all of the oil, or that it doesn't get all of the contaminants that settle to the bottom. Well - I did a lot of research, and what I found indicates that this way might even be BETTER than the traditional method of draining oil.The product came in a small box and is a lot lighter/smaller than I expected. It holds up to 8 quarts. It was super simple to put together and use. It took probably 15 minutes to suck up all of the oil from my car, and I did have to pump it up a few times toward the end... but it worked great. I dumped the old oil back into a container and I got almost a full 5 quarts (which is what my car takes). So, it definitely didn't leave any behind. The beauty of this is that you can screw the provided caps on, and store the oil without having to deal with transferring it from a drain pan into something else.This particular oil evacuator is not as popular as some other brands on Amazon... but I liked that this one was made of metal. The downside is that you can't see how much is in it, but that doesn't bother me. I was nervous that the plastic tube wouldn't fit into the dipstick of my Chevy Sonic, but I had no issues with that at all.All in all, I highly recommend this. Time will tell if it lasts, but for $60... this product allows me to change the oil in my car without spilling a drop. This means I can do it in the parking lot of my apartment complex. I'm quite happy!

These siphon units on Amazon are all cheaply made. This one from topsider is the only one with metal, hard to topple over because its a wide base canister AND all the fittings are on TOP of the unit.All these design choices together adds peace of mind that you will not accidentally spill used oil everywhere. The others on the market are missing at least 1 if not 2 of these design elements making them inferrior.With that said, the gauge of metal is not the best, and its hard to tell the strength of the vacuum, which seems to be a consideration since the manual forewarns you many times not to over pump the unit.So I was careful not to pump it too much because you are flying blind.Also, because its all metal design, you cannot tell how filled it is. I had to just go by weight. I held 5 quarts in one hand and this filled unit in the other, and you can tell theres more than 5 quarts in this unit. Very crude but works well enough.the fittings are less than perfect fitting and I lacked confidence when assembling the hoses. I just couldn't tell if I had pushed them in well enough. There is no satisfying click or full connection. You just have to push the hoses together "as far as you can make it go" and then see if it can pull a vacuum.Lastly, you only get one set of hoses, caps, and gaskets. At this price PLEASE include SPARES in an orange back and zip tie it to the handle. Mark it as "SPARES" so that when you go to use it again, you know you have all the piceses you need, even if you misplaced something from last time. We are talking pennies here, for a night and day difference in your diy experience.At the end of the day this is a great solution, and definitely works. Took me less than 30 minutes to do the oil change my very first time doing ANY oil change of ANY kind AND assembling the unit. And even then a good amount of the time was just waiting for the suction to siphon out the oil.I highly recommend. Especially if you have a Euro car, because everything including your filter is accessible from the top of the engine. We are talking 10-20 minute oil changes for cheap, for life. Really great.