Holy crap, has anyone ever had this happen?

B6/7 S4/RS4
#1

Changed my oil today by way of my Pela Oil Extractor as I have done many many times without issue. Today for some reason, the suction tube got wedged in the dipstick tube so hard that I had to literally use all my strength to pull it out. Got it out and finished the oil change and then started her up to take her for a spin. Immediately I noticed something wrong. When the car started, the cold start idle was higher than normal and then it started having a fluctuating idle, (up/down) before finally settling at about 800 as it should. I didn’t think too much of it until I was driving and noticed a small lack of power and the throttle response was definitely not as sharp. Anyway, got her back home and noticed a pool of oil in the garage and the car was now smoking. Looked under the car and noticed oil dripping from the belly pan…Great!!!

Threw her up on jack stands, ripped off the pan and started looking around. I couldn’t really tell where the oil was coming from until I remembered my little incident with the suction tube getting stuck. I followed the dipstick tube to the oil pan under the car and low and behold I see that the tube has almost completely pulled out of its insertion point on the oil pan. Obviously from my pulling on the suction tube, I almost completely ripped the sucker right out of there. This explains the oil leak as well as the strange idle since I’m sure that created some sort of a vacuum leak.

Anyway, here’s a pic of the tube (top center of the picture) properly seated and cleaned up once I got it back in place. So far so good, no leak and the car now runs perfect again. What a scare and a mess. Moral of the story, if you use a Pela and get your suction tube stuck (lol)…don’t try to pull too hard to get it out.

http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt21/sdkaliman/IMAG1723.jpg

#2

Glad you got it fixed, Strange to see it was wedged that bad. Never had this issue but have had mystery oil leaks before (recently).

#3

Sometimes if you do an oil change right after driving the dip stick tube is still extremely hot. Depending on which Pela you have, the suction tube can have a rubber sleeve over a flexible metal inner tube. Two things can happen, the inner metal tube starts to expand a bit and can get real snug inside your dip stick tube. The other scenario is even though the rubber sleeve is “heat resistant” it can get a bit slimy and stick to the inside of the dip stick tube. Both instances I speak of happened to me when I used an extractor on my last car, an E55. I ended up letting things cool before I went back to fight with it. Both times I think the trick was letting the car cool off a bit - the metal inner lining on the suction tube must have contracted back to the normal size since I was able to remove it easily after letting the car sit. The other time, I had a little trouble but noticed about 6 or 8 inches from the bottom of the suction tube the “heat resistent” rubber sleeve had melted a bit and a section was hanging off but luckily still attached to the tube. I would have been pissed if the melted rubber sleeve dropped into the pan.

#4

I always found it strange that those are just press fit in… I know when installing my headers we had a bitch of a time getting the dip stick to fit in right

good to see you figured it out, having a leak in the crankcase is an interesting situation. You may have had a vac leak all the way through the crankcase, through the PCV system into the inlet tube.

#5

Thanks man. I wish that was the case. I did the oil change early this morning before I had even driven the car so everything was cool.

Anyway, good to keep in mind for the next time though. In the past I’ve been able to really get the suction tube down into the pan to make sure I’m getting all the old oil. Today was no exception, but I must have twisted it into a weird position this time which got it stuck.

#6

Yup really strange design. Well at least I learned something new about the car today.

#7

how long have you been doing the oil changes this way? many a time Ive thought about doing it this way thinking that you should have a better chance at getting any sludge out. Have you found any positive results from this.

Scarry having the car run like that on top of having the oil tube get cought. Good work getting to the quick dignosous of the issue.

Im I understanding this correctly that the tube got cought in the pan and not in the oil dip stick tube.

#8

Do you have an S4 or a RS4? Also, have you measured how much oil you get out when you use the extractor?

#9

I’ve been doing oil changes this way for as long as I can remember and I’ve never had a problem. It seems to get all of the oil out and I do changes every 3-5K. As for sludge, can’t say one way or the other but since I do the changes at the 3-5K interval, not sure how much I would have anyway.

So here’s my experience with this process. When you put the suction tube into the dip stick, it gets to a point where it stops. At that point, it will pull oil for a while and then stop. If you’re watching the level mark on the Pela, you know there’s a lot more oil in there, so I wiggle the suction tube around to pass by whatever that obstruction is (I assume it just moving into the oil pan) and continue sucking. This is where it became stuck for the first time ever. I’ve done the oil changes when the oil was hot and the tube never got stuck, so maybe the tube being cold and not as flexible was the cause.

#10

S4 and yes, the Pela has measure lines on it. I usually get about 8.5 to 9 liters out which is about right. I also use the Pela to get inside the oil filter housing to clean out all of the old oil there as well. Also, there is of course an inlet inside the housing. I also stick the suction tube down there to get any residual oil.

#11

I think I know where musanoadsaba was going with his question. He, like many other RS4 owners know the Pela or any other brand extraction tool is not ideal or recommended for RS4’s. We have a series of baffles/doors etc in our oil pan’s that help ensure propper oil pressure/supply when we are pushing the car though turns and changing grades at high speeds. Which is all great but it won’t allow extractors to get all of the oil out. Small inconvenience imo when compared to the extra piece of mind that design provides.

#12

^On the S4 it really does work well. I’ve used it and then opened up my drain plug and only had a couple drips come out.

Also on the argument of “sludge”. . . if anyone is letting their oil get even close to a term resembling “sludge” they have other issues going on. Some argue the viscosity of the oil is thick enough to hold any particles/dirt/debris that is in the oil making it dirty in a state of suspension, so that when the oil extractor removes the oil, it really does remove everything. This makes sense to me, and I’ve never noticed settle or floating particles when doing my oil (regardless of the method).

Finally, I think you may be right NY07RS4, but it’d be interesting to test. I think the only good way would to use the extractor, then open up the drain plug. A lot of the E39 M5 guys use the extractor no problems, it’d be interesting to know if they have the baffle design at all.

Also, when I use mine, I let the car get to operating temp prior to using the extractor. It seems the oil flows much better this way, and while I’ve had it snag a little before, nothing like the OP dealt with. I usually go all the way till it stops, and then pull back a inch or two. I don’t want to create a vacuum effect against a wall or anything and figure I stick to what works for me. But as he mentioned, it is nice to get in the oil filter housing and get everything you can.

In reality, it takes more time then you would think as it isn’t incredibly fast, and you have to dump the reservoir once on our car. But if you don’t have any other work to do that justifies getting it on jacks, it is a clean easy way to tackle the job. It’s usually an every other or every third oil change for me, as I usually have some other reason to need to crawl under the car anyways.

#13

I like to extract half, drain half… neither my oil catch pan or oil extractor are large enough to hold all of the oil lol

#14

I ended up testing your suggestion maddog without initially intending to, lol. When I first got the car home I changed the oil after my first drive. When I used my extractor it only pulled about 6.5 - 7 qts out and I was confused for a second. I checked the oil level when I first got the car the day before and it was where it was supposed to be on the dip stick. Then I remembered what I had read while researching the car…baffles. Jacked it up and pulled the plug. Was happy to see roughly another 3 - 3.5 quarts flow out.

Agree regarding the oil temp for dlowing properties, makes things much easier when using an extractor. I also suggest leaving the filter cap tight and the dip stick seated so the extractor has a nice steady vacuum when pumped.

Beem - to your point I was lucky to have had the E55 prior to this car, that thing used ~10qts± as well so I had already invested in a 15qt capacity oil catch container. Admittedly the design sucks and I will be looking for a new style one very soon. The catch/top is almost 100% flat and very shallow. When that oil comes pouring out you have to be Houdini to have it actually stay ion the damn container. Can’t wait to put a lift in and use the nice commercial sized funnel into a 55gl drum. My neck and back will thank me too once I install it.

#15

What about using a Fumoto valve with the nipple so you can attach a rubber hose and drain the oil smoothly into the drain container? Used to do it all the time on my STI.

Anyone ever use a Fumoto on the S4 or RS4?

#16

Yes, you read my mind. I guess S4 oilpans are not configured this way.

Likewater, I pm’d you about an unrelated topic.

#17

No PM yet

#18

Hmm?? I am having trouble getting around AR. I may have sent a direct email instead.