We're here every day giving advise to less experienced people in need of assistance. Always proclaiming OEM Kubota parts, chemicals, procedures, lubes, etc.. that being said when I see a page in a WSM that states using a fluid evacuator is an acceptable (or better than removing a drain plug) method of changing oil, I'll be convinced.
Until then, guess I'll remain old school.
That's fine with me. Everyone has their opinions.
But I can tell you from a tech standpoint that evacuating saves time, saves a lot of aggravation, saves space, saves a lot of things.
Think about it, at least from a tech standpoint. I get a repair order for an oil change on, say, ZD28F-27. Pull it into the bay, lift it up, reach in there with a 14mm (I think) wrench, attach it to the drain bolt and turn lefty. It was not tight. Keep turning. The plug is not moving outward, it just spins. Stop right there, because the threads in the pan are stripped. Now I have to go call customer and explain to him that I cannot proceed with the oil change because the drain bolt is stripped and the pan would need to be removed in order to repair it properly (get all the shavings out). Customer says "I ain't never had no problem with it, you must have turned it the wrong way and now you owe me an oil pan". Just cost the dealer or shop a couple hundred dollars. A fluid evacuator? Never touch the pan. Don't have to lift the machine up to gain access to it. So it saves the customer a little money although the drain bolt will still be stripped. But if we don't touch it, how do we know that?
Or another scenario. Some equipment has the drain bolt directly above a frame rail or even a belt drive. Loosen the drain bolt, oil runs all over the frame, down onto the belt. This is more common than you think. Not much you can do about it either. You do the oil change, go wash it off the best you can (which is usually a lower powered pressure washer if you're at a dealer), and they spend a little time washing the area off. You can't get it all off, impossible since oil runs under the engine and into little nooks and crannies that you have no control over. Send it out, a couple days later the customer is back madder'n a wet hen griping about an oil leak and that the idiot grease monkey didn't tighten the drain plug or whatever. Again, fluid evacuator, suck it out of the dipstick tube/hole, no mess to clean up, no customer madness, takes a little less time, costs the consumer a little less labor. Win win.
#3 flat rate. Most techs work on flat rate labor. So for instance, the same ZD28F, might call for 0.5 hour labor for an oil change which should be close to actual, if you do it the old fashioned way, assuming it's clean and the drain bolt ain't stripped out. With an evacuator, you can stuff the tube down into the hole, let it suck the oil out while you're still working on that Grand L propeller shaft seal that you have split. Then it comes time to finish the job which requires little if any cleanup time, so it takes you 0.25 hour and you charge 0.50hr. You (the tech) just made a little money. Of if you work on actual time which very few do anymore, you just charged the customer half as much labor by evacuating oil as opposed to draining, and you got more out too.
#4 sometimes a component that requires a fluid change is impossible to get to, such as, well ZD28F deck gearbox. You have to remove the deck to get to the gearbox, and then drain it all over the top side of the deck requiring washing afterwards. With the extractor, you leave the deck on, stuff the tube into the top of the gearbox, suck it out, refill, done. No washing, might have a drop of oil left on the deck shell that wipes off with a towel. Outboard motors are notorious candidates for this type thing, but more so because the drain bolt is on the leg and when you take it out, oil runs all over everything making a huge mess. So you suck it out, zero mess, and if you're smart when changing the filter there is also zero mess. Takes a lot less time, saves you and/or the customer some aggravation.
I own an older Mustang (Ford) that has a 2.3L 4 cylinder. I do all my own work including some limited body repairs if needed, so when it comes time to change oil, do you think after putting in 9 hours+ at work, physically working on stuff out in the heat with mad customers and a jerk for a boss, that I really enjoy doing anything at home? Not at all! In fact I'm about ready to start paying someone else to do it. BUT along comes the Mityvac MV7300. Hmm. I wonder? Yep...stuff the tube down the dip stick hole, a long way down, til I hear it hit the bottom of the pan. Suck it out. I just turn on the air and walk in the house, grab a glass of sweet tea, sit down, pet the cat, talk to the girlfriend, start the grill so I can cook some fish or whatever, eat, whatever else, while the evacuator sucks the oil out of the pan which takes about 10 min on that car. Then Go out, remove the air supply and tube from the dip stick tube, reach in from the top, unscrew the oil filter, screw a new one on, and pour in 5 quarts of fresh oil. The only other thing I do is throw a puppy training pad underneath to catch a little dripping from the oil filter change since they put the filter on the side of the block (horizontal) so it makes a little mess. Start it up check for leaks, let it sit there a while after shutting it off, while I am eating dinner and having a glass of tea, go back out & double check the oil level is good, back it out and I'm done working for the day. Evacuator saves lifting and then supporting the car, also saves having to climb under it after laying on my back working on junk at work on a daily basis. I like what I do but it gets old after 30+ years.
On ATVs a lot of times you have to remove skid plates to access drain bolts. Well if you don't remove a drain bolt, you don't have to take the skid plates off, saves a lot of time there. On RTV-X1100's, that big center skid plate weighs about 40-50 lbs once it's full of mud/dirt/junk that they're known for, and when you take it off, that dirt falls right in your face, you eat some of it, gets into your eyes, ears, everything, just a pain in the neck....all to get to the drain bolt. Or you can stuff the tube down in the dipstick hole, walk off & do something else for a little bit, come back, refill, replace the filter with a new one (from the top) and enjoy. I prefer to work smart, not hard (if possible).
In none of these situations does the WSM ever state that use of an evacuator is mandatory or even suggested. So yeah, you can do it the old way just fine, makes no difference to me, but I value my time and my customer's time and money spent such that if I can save him a dime and/or make his life easier, I'll do my best to do so. Yeah for 10 years or so I did the old way and at the time we hired on a new tech who had a evacuator. I thought what is he doing? He had two mowers in there working on one and sucking oil out of the other. The more I watched him work, the more I realized that my stubbornness paled to his knowledge of the tool and how well it worked, so I invested, later built my own. Have not looked back since. To each his own, respectfully.
