Product Review - Lidl oil pump £12.99 in store now

Ok I purchased one of these with my beans this week at Lidl, I thought I would try it and do a write up.
My intention is to use it for gearbox Etc oil changes on the Jimny, however it only claims to be for engine oil, diesel and heating oil.

I have used a garden pressure sprayer pump in the past, it works well, but is a pain if you need to change between oils as the oil has to be in the pump, not in the container supplied.
I also have a Sealey Gearbox "syringe thing", it's not working for me as most ends up down my arms.

So the big unboxing, this is what you get:



It looks well made enough, you get 1 meter of inlet pipe and 2 meters of outlet, with jubilee clips to fit them on. The first negative is the power cord which is too short even when stretched, it going to need extending to get it under the vehicle or you are going to need a loose spare 12v source.
The supplied pipes are easy enough to shape and position, so that's a positive.

So I simulated a gearbox fill with the correct grade oil, the oil was stone cold and as thick as it's going to get. I also included about a 1 meter lift to the pump outlet pipe and timed it's performance to move 100ml of oil.

It self primed in about 1 minute, that is to oil at the end of the outlet pipe.
It took 1minute 20 seconds to move 100ml of oil, so that's about 15 minutes to fill an empty gearbox.
The maximum run time (before cool) is 30 minutes, so it's within this time.

So PROS
It's dirt cheap at £12.99 (3 year warranty) and Machine mart sell what looks like the same manufacturers item for £35.98
It will transfer Jimny standard grade gearbox oil etc all be it a little slow. This could be made quicker if you warm the oil first.
It can be used to drain items as well, now the power steering oil change is easy.

CONS
The power lead is too short, I am going to extend mine.
It's slow, so if you don't have time on your hands find a different method.
I don't honestly know how long it will last. But then my other devices (garden pump and Syringe) have not outlived me.
The first 2inches of oil in the outlet pipe looked gray in colour, I expect it's first time run manufacturing debris, so discard this.
It makes a noise, like a tyre inflator.

So would I recommend one? - that's up to you to decide, just saying what I have seen.

But looking forward to my next "EP shower" free gearbox refill :laugh:
Mike

Excellent review Scimike

If it doesnt last 3 years - keep getting a new one until it does :laugh:

i have also bought one but toooooo slow for a dif to fill more than half an hour

Yes mine was slow, I calculated about 15 minutes to fill the gearbox with my oil viscosity.
However I noticed that the latest version of this pump is supplied with different size plastic pipes, a reduced inlet pipe of ID 3mm and a larger outlet pipe of ID 8mm. The pump connection on both inlet and outlet are about 8mm, and older units just have the larger pipe supplied for both. I assume this is an improvement to allow the smaller pipe down a dip stick tube to allow you to drain engine oil.

Any how I fitted a larger pipe to the inlet and it now pumps 100ml of the same oil in under 20 seconds compared to 1minute 20 seconds for the smaller inlet pipe.

Give it a try before you throw it away. Not saying it will make it fast enough, just less slow!

Mike