I live in an apartment and management there frowns upon people working on cars in the parking lot and my unit is right next to the leasing center. The idea of being able to pump both the oil and the transmission fluid out of the dipstick tubes with a hand operated pump into a sealed container appeals to me.

Any drawbacks/dangers to this?

 

Just go get it changed.

Risking getting thrown out is just not worth it.

Moving is a PITA.

 

Go do it at someone else's house? Parents/grandparents/siblings/friends/friends' parents.

 

^this

 

Suppose I was gonna do it with the pump. Any dangers to the engine/trans seals or anything? Interestingly enough the ad that was auto generated above this reply is the pump I want to get.

 

Do it at AutoZone or Wal-Mart. I have done both in the past. Just park out of the way. Let it drain while you're shopping. Only take a few minutes to finish up when you get back to the vehicle.

 

How is pumping the oil out through the dipstick not "working on a car" in your apartment's eyes as you said in your OP?

 

OK. You guys are completely missing my question. Maybe that's my bad for how I asked it. Forget I live in an apartment, is there and danger to using vacuum pumps to change oil/trans fluids in our Cherokees?

Interestingly enough the city my auto zone is in forbids ANY work being done on cars in the parking lot BC of an ordinance. No raised hoods, including the testing of batteries and alternators. Punishable by hefty fines for the individual and the store.

 

OH, you live in NC....for a minute there I thought you lived in Russia.

 

How the hell are you going to pump out the oil through the dipstick without raising your hood?

 

Umm to the OP when changing oil on an in board out board you use a pump like you are describing. So in answer to your question above no it will not hurt seals.

 

No harm will come from using a pump. It just doesn't do as good a job since you can't get at the sludge and crap sitting on the bottom of the pans.

Any friends/relatives with a garage or driveway you can borrow?

 

Ya.. Using a pump will be lame. They take a LONG time and they really don't work unless you babysit it. And it's loud.

Oil change at the car parts place parking lot works. Self-Service carwashes work in a pinch too.

Swapped a driveshaft in a carwash one winters evening.

 

We did that at BMW, it sucked(ha). We did it because it was quicker than taking off the belly pan. Oh yeah, our machine cost 16 grand!

 

Theoretically it won't hurt to use the vacuum pump.

But as I said earlier, why get yourself into trouble in your community?

Go out in the country or something to do it.