Does anyone have any experience with changing the oil on their XJ through the dipstick tube? I have many customer reviews for foreign and domestic cars, but nothing in the Jeep family. Was wondering if it might make a difference.

In particular, I have been looking at the mityvac 7400 http://www.mityvac.com/pages/products_fee.asp#07400

Also, most reviews have been favoable, but a few concerning reports about gasket and seal failures on the unit when synthetic and synthetic blend oils are used. (I use a semi-syn blend)

If using a suction pump would make maintenance easier for some (thus maybe done more frequent) vehicle owners, then I'm all for it. BUT, draining the oil thru the hole in the pan will always yield a more complete drain than a suction pump.

Synthetic/synthetic blend oils causing gasket/seal damage is just a myth continuously perpetuated on the Internet.

Agreed, Total BS.

Synthetics clean your engine, if you had gunk plugging up a hole that was already in your gasket it'll clear it out and probably leak. But it should be fixed anyway.

s**t falls down hill not up

jeeps are meant to be drained from below and filled through valve cover
read the manual.....
don't cut corners

Thats why they have DRAIN... PLUGS...

That's totally true about *****, but at the same time, motor oil contains sophisticated additives that keep the crud/dirt/***** suspended, especially when the oil is circulating.......that's why it's recommended that the engine be warmed up, then the oil changed.

Dayum.....how does s**t get spelled with 5 asterisk?

I apparently was not clear about the comment regarding gasket/seal failure... That was in regards to the gasket/seals on the syphon unit itself, NOT in the engine.

And yes, I realize the purpose of draining the oil through the drain plug is to flush out all the gunk... that's the way I do it all the time. However, I find myself driving a lot more these days, thus increasing the frequency of oil changes. I was only planning on doing the overhead method every other time or so to save some labor. Just wanted to see if anyone else had used this method or specific pump on their XJ in the past.

thanks.

I suppose you could pump the old oil up through the dipstick tube with a Mity-Vac, but if it's supposed to be a labor saving measure, it seems counter-productive to me. I'd rather pull the drain plug than pump 5-6 quarts through a Mity-Vac. To each his own, I guess.

Unless Mighty-Vac says synthetic oil will damage the pumps seals, it's a myth. But, if they say damage may occur, think i'd be looking for another unit.

I worked at a BMW dealer and this is how we changed oil. The only reason was to speed up the process( no lift, and the unholy # of screws holding on the belly pans). The machine we used cost like 5000.00 and was messy. I have a mityvac that I use to fill newer trans w/o dipsticks, it sucks and blows. If this is for home use I would save the cash.

Sorry, I just went to the link. I have that one too, it's for bleeding brakes, clutches and such. It only hold 2.5l or so, but it is awesome for brakes.

Except for sludge which separates from the oil and settles at the lowest point it can.