Stupid newbie question
 

All the sudden I have two 240 s a 79 + + 86 I even called up ipd but cannot get a straight correct answer to the question of what size socket fits the oil drain bolt? They told me 17 mm over the phone and that's certainly not it! Thank you for everybody's answers I tried using a pump for oil changes on other vehicles and found out the hard way on my Suburban that part of the oil pan was much lower and completely miss getting 2 dirty quarts out

i usually end up using a crescent wrench on oil drain plugs. or go through my set of metric combo wrenches til I find the right one.

Re: drain plug size
 

Thanks I just found it out that it's one in even I have ordered the wrench thanks

that might actually be 25mm rather than 1", but the difference is pretty slight. I try to always use 6 sided wrenches rather than the more common 12 point, they hold the fastener better.

25mm for sure on '89 and later

1 INCH box end is what I use and it has worked perfectly on the couple of hundred Red Blocks that have passed through my hands.

"Crescent wrench" on an oil plug? Are you sure? Did it work? How many plugs have you stripped? Should be 100%!

google tells me the proper name is Adjustable Spanner, but mine are older Made in USA Crescent brand, and I've always heard them called Crescent Wrenches... if you're careful to adjust them so they fit snuggly, they do as good a job as an open end wrench., and an oil plug shouldn't be torqued on that hard, anyways.

my 2002 F250 7.3 diesel truck (14 quarts, eeek!), I've replaced the oil plug with a Fumoto oil drain valve, absolutely awesome (and its high up enough that nothing is going to hit it that wasn't big enough to take out the front differential and antisway bar first)... my 93 and 94 Mercedes, the factory approved oil change method is to use an oil vacuum down the dipstick, which is really neat and clean, and on that car, gets /all/ the oil (naysayers were asked to try a sucker, then drop the plug and see what came out.... not a drop).

I've gone to a vacuum extraction system. Don't need to put the car on the lift anymore . I would like to get a remote oil filter kit just to make that easier.

Back in the day we called them "monkey" wrenches because, well, only a guy who never did any serious mechanical work, and therefore owned just one adjustable wrench, he'd use on everything with disastrous results. I still own several of them, including a Snap on which I'd never use on anything I didn't want to strip.

I suppose some cars may be OK with having the oil extracted but definitely not all. Dropping the oil via the plug for me is still the best way to go. The mess is less and I don't have to think about residue which always remains--it is impossible to extract it all, it's simple physics.

a nice thing about the Mercedes W124 series (1986-1995 E class) with the M103 or M104 (2.6-3.2L straight 6) engines, the oil filters are accessed from on TOP, super easy to change. slightly offset by the M104 DOHC version using a fleece filter thats not in a cannister, so its kind of messy when you remove it, I remove the cap while I'm sucking the oil, then let it sit a good 30 minutes before pulling the fleece cartridge out and directly into a plastic bag to contain any oil drips. this reminds me, I'm overdue for changing the oil on my 93 300CE convertible.

the dipstick on the mercedes engines goes all the way to the bottom of the sump, and ends in a slight depression thats right next to the sump plug. you warm up the motor, let it cool til its not burning not (I wait til the oil pain is about 120-130F on the outside per my IR thermometer), then suck away, when you stop getting oil, even if you pull the drain plug there's hardly a drop left. afaik, the B230's are nearly the same.

now, I tried this on my F250 7.3L diesel V8, I couldn't get more than about 8 of the 14 quarts out with the sucker, oooops. thats why I installed a fumoto. I wouldn't do this on a low slung car where the oil pan is jsut about flush with the bottom of the car, for fear of knocking it off by scraping something, but on that truck, the oil pan is inches higher than the front differential or the front antisway bar, so it would be really really hard to hit.

this fumoto does fit all the B230's...
T-204 | Fumoto® Engine Oil Drain Valves

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...e2da53d2bf.jpg


picture shows it in the open position, that lever would be horizontal and pointing 'towards' the camera when closed.

Just an old wives tail . You get as much oil out with extraction as you do pulling the drain plug. Also to believe you will drain or suck the total amount of oil out of an engine at an oil change isn't possible. I see various car mfg. are also removing dip sticks for E-dip sticks and have built in suction tubes for extraction. That coupled with moving the filter to the top of the engine and inverting it so as to quick and easy removal. So I agree to disagree.

Yeah, they do it to cut costs, not because it's better! They are eliminating temperature gauges too, for their benefit, cost again, not yours!