Oiled the garage

[timothy]

Changed the oil tonight and learned how forcefully it comes out after removing the drain plug. I used a fancy 15qt collection container and the first stream of oil hit hard enough to splash over the side and form a 6" puddle. Reaching for the paper towels I caught my shoulder on some piece of metal. It was all pretty funny because I had just finished reading this thread. Half a roll of paper towels later, the concrete looks pretty good.

[I ordered a crush washer but was shipped the wrong size. Oh well. The local parts counter was closed and my old washer still looked okay so I decided to reused it. Moral of the story is to double check your parts before starting.]

[heyjae]

Ha! I did exactly the same thing last weekend. Except as I scrambled to grab a few rags to clean the puddle that bounced off my fancy 15 qt container, the spout got hooked on my glove and I managed to triple the spill.

[insite]

for those interested, there is a product called oil eater that is the most amazing degreaser i've ever used. it's non-toxic; doesn't even kill the grass. it's some kind of enzyme that makes oil become water soluble like instananeously.

i accidentally left two quarts of gear oil in my trunk before exiting the pits onto road atlanta for some hot laps. needless to say, the trunk was SOAKED w/ 75W. someone recommended this stuff & it broke down all the oil; amazing. i think you can get it from amazon.com.

[EPIQTodd]

Even more fun is when the laser oil shoots out and is slightly hot because you didn't completely cool the car before doing it. Yay.

Essentially you have to have the pan right underneath as you quickly remove the plug, or hold the pan up to the area if you have enough leverage to hold it up while unscrewing the cap. The oil change places (and regular body shops, dealers, etc.) have it easy because by the time it falls the 4 feet or so into the pan, it's into a smaller stream of oil, as it needles up when it falls.

Anyway, as you can see, others can relate!

[2000SoCalBoxsterS]

Yup, same here. I've done it too.

My GMC Yukon is even worse because it has a metal skid-plate whose edge is under and even extends about an eighth inch too far out under the drain plug where it catches oil and pools on top of the skid-plate. Next time I need to make sure my Yukon has it's front end slightly higher (rather than level) with the back end to try and avoid this. If I spill any more oil I'm afraid Al Gore will be after me.

[70Sixter]

I confess to a similar error. My elbow knocked the drain plug into the container, and I did not notice. Since it did not completely block the flow it did not initially look like a problem. So I took a break to let 'er drain.

Musta been a quart on the garage concrete. I keep concrete cleaner and kitty litter just in case. After a half roll of paper towels it was under control. Then hit it with kitty litter (which you really need to grind in with your feet). Followed by the cleaner. It is cleaned but slightly stained now.

[Benny986]

i wonder if we all have the same draintainer. hahha. i bought it at kragens. I have since returned it. they said yeah, I hear that a lot. so it happens to other cars too. but our car does seem to have an extraordinarily large drain hole. I got about 1qt of oil in my carpetted garage. : (

[JackG]

Originally Posted by EPIQTodd

The oil change places (and regular body shops, dealers, etc.) have it easy because by the time it falls the 4 feet or so into the pan, it's into a smaller stream of oil, as it needles up when it falls.

I wish that was the case, but it isn't. I recently did an oil change on my Box up on my new lift, using an 8 gallon roll-around oil drain container with a huge funnel on top of a four foot tube. You know, like the pro places have.

It still splashed out and on the floor. Not a big puddle, but a bunch of little drops. I moved the funnel slightly and got it to stop splashing, but that big stream of oil is a pain to deal with. I'm going to put something in the funnel to break up the stream before it hits the bottom, like a piece of coarse screen or some expanded metal.

It is nice being able to stand up under the car and work on it.

[timothy]

[QUOTE=Benny986]i wonder if we all have the same draintainer/QUOTE]

Was it this one or perhaps a closely related cousin? It looked good in theory but not so much in practice.

[FTD]

Originally Posted by insite

for those interested, there is a product called oil eater that is the most amazing degreaser i've ever used. it's non-toxic; doesn't even kill the grass. it's some kind of enzyme that makes oil become water soluble like instananeously.

Amazing stuff.

[JackG]

[QUOTE=timothy]

Originally Posted by Benny986

i wonder if we all have the same draintainer/QUOTE]

Was it this one or perhaps a closely related cousin? It looked good in theory but not so much in practice.

I actually have that exact one! It works fine on "normal" vehicles, but now I'm using one of these:

[Benny986]

very similar : ) but not even as deep : (

oh well, it was returned.

my parents are putting in a lift at their house, so where do I get one of those cool elevated oil changing funneling things?

[70Sixter]

Looks like mine.

[JackG]

Originally Posted by Benny986

my parents are putting in a lift at their house, so where do I get one of those cool elevated oil changing funneling things?

I bought the oil drain at:
http://www.asedeals.com/oil_drains.html
it's the first one on the list. It's not "professional" grade, but it's good enough for a home shop. I actually bought my lift from those folks as well, and they were good to deal with and were reasonably priced.