FloTool 5060TSMI Topsider Extractor Multi-Purpose Vacuum Oil Change Pump for 4-Cycle Engine, ATV, Boat, Large Vehicle, 8-Quart, Blue

Awesome product! Never again will I have to raise, remove belly pan, remove oil plug to drain the oil from my 2000 VW TDI! Simple, quick and clean. It makes oil changes/car maintenance a love affair again. This product is so much better than the plastic versions available at department stores and is....made in the USA.Oil and filter change finished in about 15 minutes. I would recommend this product especially to those whose engine oil filters are located on the top-side of the motor. VW TDI Mk IV owners (as well as top-mount oil filter autos) who do their own oil changes - this is a must have.P.S. - What I call "belly pan" is not the oil pan - but a plastic shield covering the underside of the engine and acts as a sound dampener on VW diesel motors. Also, put a little grease/ petroleum jelly or oil on the o-rings/gaskets! This will help ensure the vacuum/seal. Before using the pump I read the reviews posted here. I followed the instructions to the letter. Additionally; I put petroleum jelly on the gaskets, insured a proper fit to the siphon & pump handle ports on the reservoir, tested the integrity of the vacuum/suction before use.Then I proceeded wth my oil change and was careful when using the pump: 1. Hold the pump cylinder with one hand; 2. the other hand for the pump handle. You will feel the resistance build while pumping as the vacuum increases - so use good judgement on knowing when to stop pumping. I pumped it 30 times then I felt the vacuum was sufficient - it was. The device worked perfectly! But the reviews here do have a point - it is fragile at the caps (pump cylinder & hose) - so use caution. Be careful, follow the directions and it will work fine. It was worth the $50 I paid for it.

A while back, I had this guy's little cousin, the LiquiVac. I used to use it for all my small engine stuff because it is so much easier to change oil over pulling a plug or tipping a machine on its side. Well, I went searching for another because that was 20 years ago and who knows what happened to that thing in that time. I have moved at least 4 times since I had it and I literally have no idea where it went!Well, I was going to get another when I saw this. It is about the same in capacity - 8 quarts. But, it is so much heavier duty! The pump tube is metal and not plastic like the LiquiVac. And the tank is solid metal as well. It is just as easy to use as the LiquiVac too! In short, it makes my life so much easier to service all my small engine stuff from my rider to my push mower.My hats off to the customer service of Hopkins Manufacturing, who makes this and the LiquiVac. My Topsider was missing the black insert that allows the small tube to fit into the larger tube, I wrote them an email and within a few days, I had the insert in my mailbox and I was up and running!I have only used it with my rider and push mower so far, but I am looking forward to using it with my wife's Caravan someday as that is a cartridge up on top of the engine and it would be so awesome if I don't have to crawl under it anymore to change oil! i guess we will see, I have heard I might need a different tube to do that, but Hopkins can help with that as well! Thank you Hopkins for this wonderful product and your awesome customer service!

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. This time I lost. Before buying this tin slag I read reviews and came away generally impressed. There were quite a few folks that had some good things to say about this. I even watched a you tube video of some other jeep enthusiast who used the device over and over. He was quite diligent in his "pseudo" transmission service. He vacuum the fluid out with this Topsider then filtered it through a coffee filter then poured it back into the fill spout of his jeep. Over and over until he was satisfied he had virtually flushed his transmission. I was impressed yet a little concerned over some of the other reviews. Namely the reviews that said this thing is junk and doesn't create a vacuum. Honestly I thought it odd that some folk had such a great experience with this product but the folk whom didn't ALL had the same problem. Just didn't create a vacuum. This was one of those purchases I immediately regretted after proceed to check out. It was like the earth stood still while the gods of fate moved around boxes in the warehouse until they were sure that I would be the sucker to receive the bad can. Literally, I could hear fate whisper in my ear. "Hey dummy, hows it going? You looking forward to your Topsider? hahaha, of course you are. Good luck with that." As soon as I realized it was a true hahahha and not an innocent heheheh I knew I was doomed. Granted all this happened in a fraction of a moment. In just the time it took for my brain to register yet another one star review about this thing not creating a vacuum. By the time I received the email notification from Amazon that my order was processed, I was already shaking my head with total clarity. I knew precisely my spot in the universe at that moment. I should have cancelled the order right there but in that moment, that intimate moment where I was being strong armed by fate, I became insane, thinking I would get a different result than the last sad sack who wrote the last 1 star review. Nope, my result wasn't different. It just doesn't work. The o rings are made too thin and flimsy. The have zero sealing capability because they cant withstand the pressure of twisting on the pump and separate cap. Poor design. In my case I have taken the dissatisfaction one step further right to the pump. This thing cant even find a seal on a beach let alone in a plastic bag and good lord forbid it find a seal in the tank. Yup fate handed me a broken pump and a poor excuse for a product. Yes I placed the oil drops in the oil hole. yes i pumped enough times yada yada. I was temporarily insane. You might even say I was the sucker in this transaction. Simply stated, in my experience this will not work. I went shopping for a "sucker" and found out the only sucker in the house is me. Sucks to be me.