[TR] Aluminum Oil Pans...No LBC Content

[Bob Danielson]

I brought my 2007 Mazda3 in to the local Valvoline Quick Lube center for its
first oil change. Ahead of me was a new VW Jetta in one bay and a new VW R32
in the other bay. Over at the Jetta the guy was pulling on something at the
front of the engine....it looked like a long white tube. Then at the R32,
they wheeled this canister up to the car, hooked an air hose to it and stuck
a long white tube down the dipstick hole and pumped the oil out. When I
questioned the guy about it, he said that on cars with aluminum pans they
don't want to mess with striping the oil plug so they pump the oil out. He
also said that's what the dealers do too. So why have a drain plug? The
tattooed biker lady who owned the Jetta was not a happy camper as it took
about 20 minutes of pushing and pulling to get the tube out. There's no
fitting on the end of the tube so maybe the plastic got caught on something
in the pan. She was in their faces when I left. So what's the collective
wisdom of removing oil this way? And are aluminum pans really that big a
problem with striping the threads?

Steel Panned TR6, Mazda6 and Mazda3 here!

Bob Danielson
1975 TR6 CF38503U
Running w/ Throttle Body Injection
http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org 


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