Gotta love common problems that are never a real issue but when they do become an issue its kind of a big deal...

I always change my oil using something that looks just like this

I believe mine is 16 qts

What happens is when you remove the drain plug, it falls onto the container and from there slides its way into the hole causing a slow down in the oil draining into the container.
This always happens and is never an issue since I can just simply reach in and pull the plug out. Due to working in the kitchen my hands can withstand heat rather well so its never an issue. One of those, meh, its annoying but x many times a year over x many years its never been a problem........ til today.

It was time to do my first oil change on the Mercedes, I jacked it up and removed the lower engine cover, slid a tarp under the car and slid the oil container under the oil pan.
First thing that caught me off guard was the oil drain plug, it was tiny, 13mm, I started to remove the oil drain plug and noticed that it's very long, about twice as long as any drain plug I've ever seen, hmmm, cool I guess, so I remove the plug and it drops onto the oil container, as always it went into the hole, so I grab the plug and..... no go, oh ****! so after having my whole hand under hot burning oil (not too too painful) I have to switch hands, stick the 2nd hand in there after about 5 seconds of having it under the oil I gave up. Jumped up grabbed my wash bucket thankfully it barely fit under the engine, just enough to catch the draining oil. I ran around the back side of my car (drive way is not level at all, it slopes down to the street) I lay down as many paper towels as I have handy, about a half roll just to catch it, then run inside to the kitty's bathroom and grab the 40lb samsclub size kitty litter, run out side open it up and its nothing but lumps of wet litter and crap.... #@$@$# so I run back inside only to find out kitty litter is on our list of things to buy so I run upstairs grab 2 more rolls of paper towels and start to slop up as much oil as I can.

I wouldn't have minded this so much if it happened on any other car, but the Mercedes holds... 8.5 QUARTS of oil. After removing the wash bucket there was less then 1 quart in the bucket, the oil container had maybe 3 quarts in it. I figure there was at least 4 quarts of oil on my WHITE driveway.

As for the drain plug, turns out it was the prefect fit, the sucker wedged itself into the drain hole, even after it sat for awhile and cooled down I still had to use plyers to pull it out of the hole, there was no chance of getting it with just some latex gloves on, I will NEVER use that style oil container again, I should have said that 3-4 years ago but..... gotta learn the hard way I guess. For here on out I will use either a shallow bucket or the oil containers with the mesh/plastic screen tops

I put the car back together, did the filter (love top side filters) and added oil, slowly backed the car down the driveway and parked it off my driveway, I slopped up all the loose oil to the point of it being nothing more then a wet feeling stain, then fired up the power washer, it helped a lot but clearly its still discolored, tomorrow I plan on picking up some soap and a good scrub brush, giving it a good round of scrubbing then another round of power washing.

 

sucky

 

Damn, what a PITA

 

That sucks.

 

try bleach too that'll help

 

Damn, that blows.

 

Stupid Germans.....

 

You need a solution of trisodium phosphate "TSP" and a large wire brush.



Have fun.

 

HEY I've had oil stains on my drive way before from my friends car leaking oil, I did some research and found an easy way to remove it. Find yourself at a hardware store such as Ace or pepboys should have it as well. Buy a bottle of Super Clean Multi-Purpose Cleaner Degreaser for about 7 bucks. "http://www.superclean.com/index.php" Spray that on the stains and be generous about it and let it sit for about 5 minutes, power up your washer and it should wash it right off. If not repeat the process. It took me about 30 min to clean my drive way and keep in mind I had stains as big as the size of like a 15" laptop and that took it right off. Hopefully this helps at all. It worked for me so give it a shot and save yourself some time and strength by scrubbing it with a brush lol.

 

I was changing the oil in my passat one time and the filter on the 1.8t I used to get at it from the top of the engine bay, arm down through and screw it on, had to do it by feel. Well one time my gasket fell off without me knowing, started it up and backed down the driveway, oil spewing the entire time. 5 quarts of synthetic too I had to put the old oil back in to drive to the store to buy another $45 worth of oil lol

 

I used to use one of those oil drain pans too. I had filled it up and needed to take it to an oil recycler. I lifted into the back of my car and the cap on the neck came off and emptied into the back of my car. At least it wasn't on my driveway.

 

Dang that sucks! When I do my oil changes, I slide this large metal pan under the plastic oil recepticle. If there are any splashes or mishaps, it's the first line of defense before the oil can get anywhere else. It's also handy for dropping oily rags and tools when you're under the car. Picked it up at Pepboys for about $15...

 

just fyi, you can buy a 5 qt jug of mobile 1 synthetic oil at walmart for $22. i'm 99% sure thats an everyday price.

 

Well, if nothing else, it makes for a great story. Made a great morning read. Thanks for that!

 

Fumoto valve would solve that problem.

 

wow, thanks for the tip, I'll head there when I start doing my own changes again, autozone FTL I think I was paying like 6-7$ a quart at the time

I would rather that sh*t on my driveway! lol

 

The autozone's around here always have a sale of some sort. I only use german castrol, so I hit and miss the sale. They nomally have a synthetic deal where you buy 5 quarts of synthetic, and a certain brand of filter, and its 28 dollars. This last weekend it was castrol synthetic and k&n oil filter...exactly what I use. Score!

So if your not picky about what type of synthtic, I would keep tabs on the specials at autozone...you can save some cash.

 

Jeff that wouldnt have happened at my shop (inside joke between us ).

 

Brake cleaner will clean up those oil stains no problem. Whenever I see brake cleaner on sale I buy a box (12 cans) that stuff is like gold.

I don't have a single oil stain in the garage, and I have spiled many times.

 

just another reason to use a fumoto valve...