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Use a Vacuum to Change the Oil Drain Plug without Changing the Oil

Have you ever needed to change a drain plug or a drain plug seal ring, but didn’t want to change your oil? This post shows you how by using your shop-vac to pull a vacuum on the oil fill tube which will hold the oil in your oil pan even when you remove the drain plug.

Shop Towel and VaccumYou will need a clean shop towel, folded in quarters; a shop vac hose adapter that’s slightly larger than the oil fill tube opening; and assistant  to hold it in place and operate the shop vac.  In this case, I’m working on a Porsche 996.  The 2.5 inch hose adapter fits over the fill tube and is taped to the end of the shop vac hose. It is very important that the hose adapter not move or you will lose the vacuum holding the oil in the pan.

Listen to the tone of the shop vac once the video starts.  You will hear the tone change when the drain plug is removed, but the oil will not start flowing as long as the vacuum stays on.  To change the drain plug seal ring, you just need to keep the vacuum running and you have time to remove the plug, change the ring, and put the plug back in.  Wait until it’s is hand tight before you release the vacuum.  In this video I’m actually going to dump the oil for an oil change (using Driven DT-40), but I wanted to show you how it works and that there really is oil in this engine.  Enjoy.