Re: A4 belly pan is Satan's work!

[rramirez@salestar.com]

     Steve,
     
     be happy it's well attached.  95+ BMW M3s regularly lose theirs 
     because they are flimsily attached.  They break off if you sneeze on 
     it and BMW won't replace them.  Most of my fellow bimwads just leave 
     them off (I don't know if I ever had one on my 89 M3 but it's 
     definitely gone now.)
     
     As far as suggestions, I'm not sure if you can access the oil filter 
     without taking the belly pan off but there is a product that sells for 
     about $50 that sucks the oil out the dipstick hole.  it's well known 
     in the BMW world because it's sold by one of the bigger mailorder 
     places, BMP Design (www.bmpd.com, I think)- I don't know who else 
     sells them.  It's a canister with a pump that you can use to create a 
     vacuum and then a tube that you slide into the dipstick tube.  It 
     takes a while to suck out all the oil but it's not "active" time, you 
     could go do something else.  I'm sure that if you were inventive, you 
     could devise something similar for less money.  It may not be perfect 
     but it's probably a decent alternative.
     
     good luck,
     
     rob
     sorry for the BMW mentions- but they're still my first love...
     
     >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
     P.S.  If anyone has come up with a trick to making this easier I'm 
     open to
     suggestions.....