Antifreeze Change

[padroo]

Has anyone ever heard of or used one of the Air Lift Antifreeze tools to change coolant in their car or truck.

While I was in Pa. this summer I talked to my niece's husband who is a Chrysler mechanic and he told me how easy it was to use an Air Lift.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002SRH5G/?tag=atomicindus08-20

to change the coolant in cars. One of the big advantages of it is trapped air and is really fast.

Basically it puts a vacuum on your cooling system, ***** all the air out and then draws the new coolant into the system eliminating all the hassle of bleeding the trapped air out of the system.

I changed my coolant in my Prius last year and it took a long time to get the
air out of the system but I din't have the tool yet.

I have to change the coolant in several vehicles shortly and bought the tool to do the job. I used it to change the coolant on the Prius inverter and it was really quick but it is a small system but is know for trapped air also.

 

[Empty Pockets]

I've never heard of the system. Sounds like a good deal. There's nothing worse than having to burp the system after replacing coolant.

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[csargents1546]

As a tech I swear by the air lift. I use it on a daily basis for cooling system repairs. It is also a plus since it will show a loss of vacuum if there is a leak. Depending on your air compressor depends on how much vacuum you can pull.

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[GYPSY400]

I used one for the first time the other day.. my coworker told me it was a necessity when filling a diesel with an egr cooler. Works pretty slick!

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[vavet]

Yes..great tool with one caveat. If your cooling system is already weak...as in you already have some hoses that are,old and brittle or a radiator near the end of its life, it could induce a failure. The components were never intended for vacuum, only pressure so they'll be a little weaker in that direction.

Despite this, I wouldn't hesitate to use one on my own cars. If I'm that close to failure, I want to know.

 

[padroo]

It's really strange to see all the hoses flatten out.

 

[Richard Cranium]

My friend has one kind of like this in his shop, He flushed my radiator for me and used one like this except his had a big tank of antifreeze on it.

 

[krux]

As a previous tech I did not care for the hoses going flat. They were never intended to be flat by the manufactor. The again a lot of places use tap water and you should be using distilled.

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[theoldwizard1]

Unless you are a professional and going to be using it a lot, it is not worth the money.

Get a Lisle 24680 Spill-Free Funnel

 

[kaffine]

When I was a car mechanic I had one and used it frequently. They worked great too many of the cars had bleed valves on the cooling system that wouldn't seal again if you used them.

For personal use I would only get it if my car was one that had issues with trapped air in the cooling system. If my cars didn't have issues or were easy to bleed then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[AndyCBR]

I have the airlift and it is great for my Goldwing and my wifes minivan with coolant lines to the rear.

You wouldn't believe the procedure in the FSM for changing the coolant and getting the air out of the system afterwards.

Also it helps get out as much coolant as possible while draining if you pull a vacuum a couple of times and drain again.

I like mine but I like any tool that makes a job easier.

 

[padroo]

I have the airlift and it is great for my Goldwing and my wifes minivan with coolant lines to the rear.

You wouldn't believe the procedure in the FSM for changing the coolant and getting the air out of the system afterwards.

Also it helps get out as much coolant as possible while draining if you pull a vacuum a couple of times and drain again.

I like mine but I like any tool that makes a job easier.

That's the first time I heard that tip, good idea, thanks.

There are cheaper versions of the one I ordered but I bought the pro version.

 

[RWorth]

I don't think I would bother with that system unless I owned a car that gave me **** every time I flushed it.The small fleet of vehicles I have now don't give me trouble, and most vehicles wont. If I was back turning wrenches for a living I'd have a flushing system again so it wouldn't be necessary.

 

[Super Mech]

I have an Airlift and hardly ever use it, more of a pain in the *** than anything else IMHO. I use the Lisle spill free funnel and it works perfectly.

 

[Showkey]

Pulling a vacuum on the system like cooling or brakes is the way factory fills the systems very quickly with no need to bleed or purge.

So the tool does works but it is a some what of luxury ...........but we are in the garage so tool purchases take on a different decision process.

The up side to the tool will test the system for leaks before the coolant is put in and it will test every aspect of the cooling system including the head gasket.

If you own one the car or bikes that is known for air locking or difficult or near impossible to purge then the tool is the perfect solution. If you work on a lot of vehicles the time saved is well worth the price of admission.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Pressure testing is the best way to leak check a cooling system, just like an HVAC line set. A vacuum can hold o-rings and suspect hose connections tight, so no leak is indicated. That being said, the Airlift system is a great tool for filling systems with air entrapment issues.

Tommy

 

[theoldwizard1]

Most Ford products do not require either. With their remote mounted reservoir tanks, air bubbles quickly come to the top. Run for 5-10 minutes with the cap off, top off to the HOT mark and you are done. Double check the COLD level the next morning.

 

[CJM8515]

Most Ford products do not require either. With their remote mounted reservoir tanks, air bubbles quickly come to the top. Run for 5-10 minutes with the cap off, top off to the HOT mark and you are done. Double check the COLD level the next morning.

Thats pretty much how Ive been doing it for eons. Drain, flush with water and fill back up. Let run with cap off for 20 mins to make sure and check in morning.

 

[nbpt100]

Thats pretty much how Ive been doing it for eons. Drain, flush with water and fill back up. Let run with cap off for 20 mins to make sure and check in morning.

I hope you flush with distilled water?

Sounds like a good tool if you are a professional as time is money. I don't see the value in it if you do a coolant change once a year or even less.

I share the sentiment of a few posters who have concerns of it causing damage to an older car's system. Sure it is good to know about weak points but I like to learn about them before it is catastrophic. This sounds like it could potentially blow a hole in a radiator or heater core. Radiators and heater cores usually go slow and they will drip for a long time before blowing. This way you can keep driving the car for a while and plan ahead to get it fixed. Rather than operate in emergency mode.
My 2 cents.

 

[CJM8515]

Distilled water that's funny. I've worked in dealers and Indy shops and chains. They go and grab the garden hose to flush it. The coolant is already premixed most of the time.

 

[ptschram]

I love mine and there is a valve on mine so I don't flatten hoses-also, I tend to fill at least partially, and then use it to **** out the air bubbles.

I've sold out of them overtime I've had them on the truck.

I have several guys who will tell me of specific vehicles that can't be filled/bled with one.

 

[sberry]

I like the pump vac/pump tool. Its simple. I want another just for oil. About 100$. I was going to jump on the ship with Old Wiz but I looked at the price. Its not bad. Easy to store.

 

[c39er]

I have an airlift tool too but now find my self using the Lisle cooling system funnel more as I can watch for bubbles being purged out while Idling and revving the engine during warm-up being 100% sure of no trapped air.

 

[roc_on_the_rocks]

"..I hope you flush with distilled water?..."

Distilled water to flush the radiator? Haha.. that's a good one

 

[GYPSY400]

Distilled water that's funny. I've worked in dealers and Indy shops and chains. They go and grab the garden hose to flush it. The coolant is already premixed most of the time.

I flush with tap water..but fill with distilled.

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[Schurkey]

Thats pretty much how Ive been doing it for eons. Drain, flush with water, DRAIN AGAIN, and fill back up.

FIFY.

Of course, this means draining the radiator AND using the block drain(s). Many folks don't know about block drains, so when they "drain" the system, there's still a gallon of water trapped in the block. This water screws-up the antifreeze-water ratio. Yet another reason to NOT use "premix" coolant when doing a flush.

Let run with cap off for 20 mins to make sure and check in morning.

That, and a bigass Lisle funnel works well for vehicles where the rad cap is higher than the rest of the cooling system--like old cars and trucks.

If the rad cap isn't the high-point, you'd better hope the system has bleeder screws. You'll need 'em. My Luminas and Monte Carlo have bleeder screws; and they fart and bubble at coolant fill time. When they pee coolant without bubbles...I close the bleeder screw.

I flush with tap water..but fill with distilled.

Wisdom.






Yeah, I've considered a cooling system vacuum tool. Watched one being used to fill a power steering system so that it was air-free and didn't whine. When I find one on Craigslist, or at the pawn shop for a reasonable price, I'll likely pick it up.

 

[matt_i]

As a previous tech I did not care for the hoses going flat. They were never intended to be flat by the manufactor. The again a lot of places use tap water and you should be using distilled.

I agree with you on the distilled.

I disagree with you on the hoses going flat and here is why: I worked, for 10 years, in a vehicle assembly plant, and this concept, scaled up, with better vacuum pumps, (not venturis) is how the cooling system is filled in a car, truck or van. When your time to do this job on a moving line is less than 2 minutes, *all* the hoses (on every single vehicle) get sucked down to flat, and then the system is isolated to check for leaks, if the integrity check is successful, then the coolant is released into the evacuated system, filling it fully.

 

[sberry]

It doesn't hurt the hoses.

 

[nbpt100]

Distilled water that's funny. I've worked in dealers and Indy shops and chains. They go and grab the garden hose to flush it. The coolant is already premixed most of the time.

I am not surprised. Time is money and distilled water costs more than city water. It is all about the money!

I had a Ford tech tell me when a customer comes in for a radiator flush he only drains the radiator through the petcock and refills with premix. He does not worry about what is in the block or heater core. He said it is "good enough" the way he does it. He was very honest in telling me this but I am not sure how honest he or his service writer is with customers.

 

[Matt M PA]

I bought one a few years ago after seeing technicians friends use one at their shop.

With the early Vipers, it's a help to use a system like this as the radiator is not the high point. There's a de-aeration tank on the inner fender where the "Radiator" cap is placed.


I used mine on both my modern Fords and both Vipers. I also want to get one of those Lisle funnels....

Finally, when I bought mine, the store told me that there were two versions. I bought the metal version, but there was a less costly version made of plastic. The plastic one is what my friends use at their shop.

 

[GTA Matt]

I've been using mine for 13 or 14 years without issue. It's actually a blue point that is all brass. I've noticed with some of the newer airlifts, you have to switch hoses between the shop air fitting and the coolant fill hose. On my older unit, it has both hoses attached. You can pull a slight vacuum, prime the fill hose, then pull a full vacuum on the system and fill it. What my coworkers with the new metal airlift have done is drilled, tapped and added a fitting to the side. Just makes it faster and more user friendly. There are some cars where it is absolutely necessary to use.

 

[padroo]

It took me several hours last year to get the air out of music 2008 Toyota Prius and after I was done I checked the coolant level and still had to add to the resevoir. I don't want to go through that hassle again.
The Prius cooling system isn't like normal cars.

 

[redmondjp]

I have the airlift and it is great for my Goldwing and my wifes minivan with coolant lines to the rear.

You wouldn't believe the procedure in the FSM for changing the coolant and getting the air out of the system afterwards.

On minivans with rear heaters, my mechanic friend taught me this trick: use two sets of hose pinch-off pliers on the rear heater coolant loop to keep the coolant from draining out of the rear system. Then drain the radiator and block, and refill. Then you only have to get the air out of the front system, which isn't that big of a deal.

I bought an airlift off of Craigslist but haven't tried it yet. I have one of the yellow Lisle coolant funnels also - it works well.