# Ariens Deluxe 30 First Oil Change



## mighty_warrior (Feb 9, 2017)

I got a Ariens 30 Deluxe this year. Went to go do the first oil change after 5-10 hours of use and for the life of me cannot figure out how I am supposed to get the drain cap off the drain tube. The tube is far too short to get any wrench or vice grip on to hold while I twist the drain cap off. I figure I can just twist off the whole tube out of the engine block but would prefer not to do that. Anyone have any ideas on how to get this cap off? Pictures of the oil tube and cap below also a link to the model in question. Thanks.


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Ariens 921032 Snow Blower - Consumer Reports


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## CO Snow (Dec 8, 2011)

Looks like you're trying to use the flat area on the tube. Forget about that and move closer to the drain cap. Looks like you can get vicegrips on that with the jaws pointing towards the frame. If needed, the "needle nose vicegrips" might slide under the tube with their other jaw on top of the tube to hold the tube securely, then put a wrench on the cap.


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

Can you put a screwdriver under the pipe and raise it a little to allow you to unscrew the cap?

What I would do, unscrew the whole tube and replace it with a longer one to avoid this problem again.


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

You can get those tubes from a decent hardware or plumbing supply place. Bring the old one with you to make sure you get the right threads. I think the newer engines use some metric version and you don't want to try and stick an NPT thread in a metric hole in the block.


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## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

Very poor design by mfgs. Sounds like the engine and snowblower mfgs. never spoke to each other until the final assembly.


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## chrisexv6 (Feb 4, 2014)

My 926LE is very similar. Since I usually change the oil at the end of a season (fuel tank is empty), I just tilt the whole unit back and attempt to loosen the drain cap. if the whole tube starts turning, so be it, the tilted back angle prevents too much of a mess from the oil coming right out of the block vs the drain tube.

I think one could adapt something like the Briggs quick change oil setups (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Briggs-Stratton-Oil-Drain-Valve-5401K/205448589), but Ive never bothered.


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## LouC (Dec 5, 2016)

Keep in mind that while you want to drain for the first few changes to get break in wear particles out. After that I would use a vaccum oil changer that I use on our inboard boat and most of my 4 stroke equipment. Fast and no mess.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

CO Snow said:


> Looks like you're trying to use the flat area on the tube. Forget about that and move closer to the drain cap. Looks like you can get vicegrips on that with the jaws pointing towards the frame. If needed, the "needle nose vicegrips" might slide under the tube with their other jaw on top of the tube to hold the tube securely, then put a wrench on the cap.


I agree. My oil drain tube has the flats in the same inaccessible place. I used a locking pliers to hold the tube and a wrench to remove the cap. After the first oil change I put a small O ring down inside the cap which seals it to the tube end with low torque required. No leaks in 3 years and cap is easy to remove and replace without a locking pliers now.

Lifting the bucket a little will help remove more old oil. Easy no mess oil changes.


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## djc11369 (Feb 17, 2014)

RIT333 said:


> Very poor design by mfgs. Sounds like the engine and snowblower mfgs. never spoke to each other until the final assembly.


I very highly doubt Ariens has much to say about the engine other than where they want their decals and what shaft size they need. The rest of the "features" are standard to reduce cost, it wouldn't be possible to foresee every installation issue that the end manufacturer has and it's their responsibility to design around it. LCT supplies a "package" and Ariens fits that package on their frame.


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## Blackstar (Dec 27, 2010)

JLawrence08648 said:


> Can you put a screwdriver under the pipe and raise it a little to allow you to unscrew the cap?
> 
> What I would do, unscrew the whole tube and replace it with a longer one to avoid this problem again.


That's what I did...


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## mighty_warrior (Feb 9, 2017)

Yea I am probably going to just pull the who drain tube out of the engine block at this point and then replace it with a longer tube. Thanks for all the suggestions.


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## Barooch (Mar 27, 2015)

Changing oil on a snowblower is so common that you would think Ariens would make it easy instead of a potential problem ! Makes you wonder about them, and they are one of the better ones. I had the exact same problem on my Deluxe 30. The O-Ring solution sounds good.


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## GeorgePowell (Mar 17, 2019)

same problem with my 30 efi. Impossible to get a wrench lined up on the flat spot on the tube to change oil. It would not be hard to for them to add another inch...


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

Use locking pliers or grind a 14mm inexpensive wrench to fit. You could always make a tool to fit out of piece of scrap metal. 
Folks gripe about Toro having drain out the side of the engine towards the wheel but getting a couple of wrenches on it is easy. 
I own both brands so no brand favorite here.


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

skutflut said:


> You can get those tubes from a decent hardware or plumbing supply place. Bring the old one with you to make sure you get the right threads. I think the newer engines use some metric version and you don't want to try and stick an NPT thread in a metric hole in the block.


a very rock solid point and important point, 

techs and briggs used USA standard NPT, these made in china items many times use BSPP (BSP, parallel), BSPT (BSP, tapered), metric parallel, and metric tapered. 
match the thread and play safe they look alike but bspt has more threads than a npt


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

real world today in a repair shop many don't drain the oil, they use oil suction tanks though the dip stick tube to change oils, it's cleaner and way faster . prevents the possibility of a oil spill on the floor


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