Against all odds, most modern cars I work on are actually easier to do oil changes on than older cars. The main reason being that most now have the oil filter right next to the oil pan and they are installed vertically. A lot of older cars had the oil filter sideways on the side of the block. This meant reaching up in there, sometimes contorting around things, in order to remove the filter and a mess of oil to wipe off the side of the block, control arms, subframe, etc.
One downer to most of these modern cars however, is that the oil drain plug faces sideways instead of downward. I really don't get what the idea is here, it typically means being extra careful to catch the stream of oil with your drain pan. Today, I will be installing the ultimate fix to this problem! That is, a drain bolt with built in draining ability which means no more removal of the bolt in order to drain the pan. This particular design comes from Stahlbus and it has a built in check valve that does not allow oil out. In order to drain it, you twist in a fitting that pushes on the ball in the valve and allows the oil out through a tube and down into your oil pan. This means no more mess, ever!
I do have a slight fear that the thread length on this thing may be insufficient, so I will be monitoring it carefully over the next few weeks and I will let you all know if any problems arise.
