Went to buy a new mower today and the salesman at Northern told me the mower didn't have a drain plug underneath anymore. I asked how to change the oil now and his reply was "tip the mower over and drain the oil into the grass." I said, "No, seriously how do you change the oil?" He responded that he was serious. I told him that dumping oil on the ground intentionally was illegal to which his response was "well, don't tell the government you did it." I took my business elsewhere
I have a Toro self propelled mower and the only way to get the old oil out is the same way it went in, thru the top. You have to tip the mower pretty much on its side according to the manual.
We have a pump with hose to suck the oil out of our boat motors in Canada when we change it. Works pretty slick.
Well it is oil, after all. Seriously though, one of those would come in handy. I'll have to check into it.
It does have to come out of the place you put it in, but you can use a pump OR drain it into a pan for proper disposal. Ended up buying from Sears with a guy that said that it's best to drain it into a pan ensuring it didn't get into the ground.
