Simple oil change turns into vacuum extractor debacle... help!

[Thor Sanchez]

2014 S4. Doing my 2nd oil change myself with my Topsider vacuum extractor. First time I did this ~6 months ago no problems whatsoever.

Today is a whole different story. Sucked the oil out, everything seemed fine. Changed the filter, again no problem. Then I started filling with new oil, put in 6 liters. Got the bright idea to pour the extractor back into the old oil jugs to see exactly how much I'd need to refill. It was less than 5 liters. Uh oh. Obviously I hadn't sucked all the old oil out. And I'd already refilled more than I took out.

Pull the dipstick, and yep, over the max line. So I put the extractor tube back in the dipstick tube to suck some oil out. Pushed it in a little too far, in retrospect. Pull it out and... it's stuck. I twist, and pull, and it's not moving.

Go online, see this isn't entirely uncommon. Twist, pull, let it cool down it'll come out, or so the story seems to go. But for me, no good. I pulled so hard that it started stretching the plastic tube, and no movement. Stuck a wire down the tube to try to straighten it out, and nothing.

So... any suggestions? Can the car be driven with a piece of plastic tubing somehow lodged in the oil pan or is that a terrible idea? Is my only recourse to drop the pan and figure out what it's stuck on? How big a job is dropping the pan?

How in the world does a 30 minute oil change turn into this?

[RyanJon]

Oh dear!

Is it possible to try and manually turn the engine over very carefully (I'd suggest lightly in each direction as 1 was may loosen while the other will tighten) while someone puts a slight pull on the pipe?

[DGVR6]

yes it's a terrible idea to drive around with a plastic tube stuck .. You're not even sure what it's caught on.

My suggestion would be to push it in even further. Push in and out until it dislodges .. I don't see any other solution, unless you're dropping the pan.
Did you use a mechanic wire?

[DGVR6]

Oh dear!

Is it possible to try and manually turn the engine over very carefully (I'd suggest lightly in each direction as 1 was may loosen while the other will tighten) while someone puts a slight pull on the pipe?

Good idea.. Only way he can do that is by turning the crank or going under the transmission and turning the flywheel..

[Thor Sanchez]

yes it's a terrible idea to drive around with a plastic tube stuck .. You're not even sure what it's caught on.

My suggestion would be to push it in even further. Push in and out until it dislodges .. I don't see any other solution, unless you're dropping the pan.
Did you use a mechanic wire?

I just used a long piece of fairly heavy gauge wire.

[Thor Sanchez]

So I see this DIY for changing the oil pan. Doesn't look impossible, but not fun either.

From the pictures between steps 6 and 7 it does look like there are quite a few baffles(?) that the hose could have become stuck on.

[DGVR6]

If you have access to a borescope you can probably remove the oil sensor and see wassup before dropping the pan.

[AudiTechS4]

weird i work at a dealership and use my oil extractor everyday . never had it not come out.

[tba]

Use the wire and bend the end to form a small hook. Feed it through enough so that it should pop out the end of the hose and then pull the wire back. The hook on the end will catch the end of the hose and pull on it, hopefully dislodging the stuck portion of the hose.

[amz]

Suck the oil out, and get a bore scope in through whatever you can. It's probably caught on something fairly benign, but if its caught on a sensor (like the oil level sensor) and you give it a good yank...you might not even know you've broken something until it's too late.

Better to take a bit of extra time and get eyes on what it's caught on.

[Thor Sanchez]

Suck the oil out, and get a bore scope in through whatever you can. It's probably caught on something fairly benign, but if its caught on a sensor (like the oil level sensor) and you give it a good yank...you might not even know you've broken something until it's too late.

Better to take a bit of extra time and get eyes on what it's caught on.

Any idea where to loan/rent a borescope? Doesn't look like Autozone has them as part of their loan-a-tool program. I don't know that I want to buy one just to satisfy my curiosity then have to pull the oil pan anyway.

I've mostly convinced myself that I'm going to pull the pan tomorrow. I'm off work, and the wife is too, so she can watch kids and her car will be home to run errands.

Anyone have an opinion on using Audi-specific silicone gasket/sealant as opposed to something like this? I'm an hour and a half from the nearest dealer.

[u2nelson]

Man that sucks..I have to admit I had something similar happen on my S5. I had the tube in there and trying to make sure I got it all, I pushed the tube in a little farther and it caught on something, probably the same thing you have. I had visions of disaster, but by working the tube in and out it finally let go and came out. Since then I use a smaller tube and once it hits bottom I don't push it in any more. You probably have already tried it, but I just kept pushing and pulling until it let go. Good luck, I feel for you, this has got to be a major PITA.

[amz]

Any idea where to loan/rent a borescope? Doesn't look like Autozone has them as part of their loan-a-tool program. I don't know that I want to buy one just to satisfy my curiosity then have to pull the oil pan anyway.

I've mostly convinced myself that I'm going to pull the pan tomorrow. I'm off work, and the wife is too, so she can watch kids and her car will be home to run errands.

Anyone have an opinion on using Audi-specific silicone gasket/sealant as opposed to something like this? I'm an hour and a half from the nearest dealer.

I ordered one off ebay for $10, but it took 2 months to arrive lol. Try posting in your local section, reach out to your local Audi group, or check boxing day sales? They're pretty useful things to have around.

[xtremepsionic]

I did the same thing the first time I sucked the oil out. The tube got stuck.

Push it in more with a twisting motion, then try to pull it out with a twisting motion. Eventually the tube will come out.

[Thor Sanchez]

I dropped the oil pan. The suction tube was looped down and back and up into the top pan/baffles. I got it out easily with the pan removed.

The procedure, as with all things car, was 334 times more involved than the DIY implied. The top three torx screws holding on the oil cooler are all but inaccessible. Must be accessed blind. The step that says "now that you have all the bolts off the oil pan it should drop down with a little prying" was off by a factor of a million. I bent the flange of the pan trying to pry it off, then had to make a wedge out of a 2x4 to finally pry the thing off. That gasket sealant must be using some kind of exotic atomic forces. I think I've bent the thing back to it'll be fine.

The re-assembly is about at the 60% mark. I have three bolts on the back that are giving me trouble, it's a bad angle and I don't want to strip them but they don't want to go. And those @#@(% torx screws on the top of the oil cooler are still looming.

Oh, and I took a chance and used generic high-temp silicone gasket sealant instead of the Audi part. Otherwise I'd be ordering online and waiting, or driving 1.5 hours each way to the dealer. It says 24 hours to cure, so I'm contemplating leaving the rest for tomorrow when it's supposed to be 20 degrees warmer.

Nothing like a 12 hour oil change. And I'll have to do it again reasonably soon since the thing that started this was the realization that I hadn't gotten all the oil out in the first place and I don't have an extra 7 liters of Liqui Moly lying around.

[pdqgp]

Sorry about all your trouble but I'm glad I simply stick to the standard way of doing it. Takes me about 20-30 minutes start to finish and clean up doing it by myself.

[jomama229]

I dropped the oil pan. The suction tube was looped down and back and up into the top pan/baffles. I got it out easily with the pan removed.

when you were suctioning, did you undo the oil fill cap? not sure how tightly the tube from the extractor fits in the dipstick hole, but you could have created a vacuum inside the oil compartment when pumping oil out, thus possibly causing the tube to get pulled into/towards the pan. just a thought for future jobs.

[Thor Sanchez]

Sorry about all your trouble but I'm glad I simply stick to the standard way of doing it. Takes me about 20-30 minutes start to finish and clean up doing it by myself.

I love the idea of the vacuum extractor. First time I did it was all great. But now... I don't know, it'll be hard to stick that tube back in there!

I did go back out and get everything put back together, including the crazy torx screws on top of the oil cooler. Will let the sealant cure overnight, torque all the bolts tomorrow, and pray for no leaks!

[Thor Sanchez]

when you were suctioning, did you undo the oil fill cap? not sure how tightly the tube from the extractor fits in the dipstick hole, but you could have created a vacuum inside the oil compartment when pumping oil out, thus possibly causing the tube to get pulled into/towards the pan. just a thought for future jobs.

Yea, it was undone. The hose wasn't tight in the dipstick hole, pretty sure it wasn't a vacuum problem. Actually, after it stuck I disconnected the tube from the vacuum system so that couldn't have been it.

[Dr GP]

Next time, just take it to the Valvoline quick change! http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...il-change-shop

[Bludool]

Glad you got it corrected. I am sticking with the old fashioned drain plug. Been doing it that way for 30 years. Works pretty well. Until you strip a drain bolt....lol....

[Thor Sanchez]

Finished up this morning. Got everything back together, torqued everything down, and... sheared off one of the bolt heads on the back of the oil pan. I don't even know if you can get a drill and a tap in there to fix it, it's at a bad angle. For now I'm just going to leave it and monitor for leaks. Ran the car for a few minutes and didn't see anything leaking at all. Will re-change the oil to get out the mixture of old and new oil as soon as I can get some. I'll have to check again for leaks then.

Also ended up with an extra hex head bolt. I went over everything. I think it has to be from the belly pan, but can't figure out where. I put back all the torx and quarter-turn hardware and there is a hole with no bolt, but this doesn't fit. I don't know...

[Usa]

Happened to me before, its like a chinese finger trap... you actually want to push the tube FURTHER and then you can pull it back safely.

[kr3w45]

Happened to me before, its like a chinese finger trap... you actually want to push the tube FURTHER and then you can pull it back safely.

That sounds terrifying haha. Sorry to hear what happened OP. Working on Audi's, when one thing goes wrong it always tends to snowball.

[Thor Sanchez]

One more update. No apparent leaks a day later. But I did find something interesting about the car - I took off the belly pan and was going to leave it off for a few day for better access to look for oil leaks. That's not going to work, it seems that leaving it off leads to this loud, very disconcerting slapping/buffeting sound at maybe 30+ mph. Probably from other trim that relies on the belly pan hardware to be secured. Put it back on and the sound is gone. Lesson learned, have to have belly pan on.