The one I have is made of oil proof plastic and is shaped like a 5 gallon
GI
gas can. One side surface is indented and has a removable push-in drain
plug about an inch in diameter near what is the top end of the container
when it is setting upright. During use, it's laid on its side, the plug
is
removed allowing the indented surface to act as an oil drain basin. At
the
top end there is a spout with a removable screw cap and an air vent plug.
I allow it to set after an oil drain for a hour or so. Then I use a
piece of
stiff thin cardboard or plastic, about plying card size, to scrape the
remaining
oil residue into the drain opening, before replugging. Since the city I
live in
has curb side oil pickup, I pour the oil into other containers from the
screw
cap spout.
I don't recall how much I paid for it, but it wasn't very much. I've
been using
it at least 10, probably closer to 15 years. It's probably as messy as
your pan,
but it hasn't buckled, and I can usually get virtually all of the oil
into the
container. The scraping get enough oil off the surface so that it
doesn't drip
on the garage floor when I store the container upright. Sometimes I give
the
basin side an extra swipe with a paper towel, just to be sure.
I also considered one of those valved drain plugs, but was talked out
of it by I fellow I know who races his car. His reasoning was that
there's no
guarantee the valve might not leak at some point, or get broken off by
something you run over. The second reason convinced me, since my oil
pan is one of the lowest points on the car. The valves I found that
would
have fit would have stuck down below the bottom of the pan at least
an inch- even more for some. The stock drain plug, on the other hand,
doesn't
protrude below the pan at all.
For anyone interested, the oil drain container I have was made by Cott
Manufacturing Co., Inc., Winfield, KA. I don't really recall where I
bought
it, but they were widely available at the time.
Roland
On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 15:39:32 -0400 Paul Parkanzky <parkanz1@msu.edu>
writes:
> The drain pan that I sometimes use is a big round black
> plastic
> oil pan with a concave top. There is a threaded plug in the top so
> that to
> drain the oil from your car you simply unscrew the plug and let the
> oil
> drain onto the concave top and down into the reservoir. You now
> have two
> options. There is a 6" spout at the side of the pan with a threaded
>
> cap. You can open that and easily pour the oil into another
> container. Alternatively, you can put the plug back in and
> transport it in
> the pan itself. The top of the pan is, of course, dirty. I have
> found
> that if you let it sit for a few minutes before you put the plug in
> that it
> can be made relatively clean with a couple of paper towels.
> Doh! I just searched the internet to try to locate one and
> I
> found it here:
>
> http://www.autobarn.net/usm11838.html
>
> Apparently it is made by Blitz. I see that they make two types. I
> don't
> think that I'd like the one with the big yellow top, but this model
> works
> well for me.
>
> ~Paul
>
> At 12:09 PM 7/27/2003 -0700, you wrote:
> >Can anyone recommend a decent oil drain pan? I really like the
> concept of
> >the wide-mouth plastic container with a screw-on lid. But I tried
> both the
> >Rubbermaid and the Blitz pans, and both of the lids became
> distorted and
> >refused to seal after one or two uses. This can lead to ugly messes
> in the
> >trunk while transporting used oil to the gas station.
> >
> >I suppose I could go back to an ordinary drain pan and pour the oil
> into an
> >old antifreeze container for transport, but I was hoping to avoid
> that.
> >
> >Thanks
> >-Mark
>
> /// british-cars@autox.team.net mailing list
> /// Send admin requests to majordomo@autox.team.net
> /// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
> /// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
> /// Send list postings to british-cars@autox.team.net
/// british-cars@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|