cooling system air lift?

[joedodge]

So I'm thinking of gtting an air lift to refill cooling systems at the shop how do you all like them.can they be used to drain the system?

 

[kmkalf]

i have the snap on brand one and love it especially on the pita cooling systems where air is hard to bleed from. it is also good to test the system for leaks if it will not hold the vacuum. As far as i know they cannot drain the system

 

[joedodge]

That's the thing I want is the air bleed diesels are bad bout the air I didn't think they drained wishfull thinking lol

 

[firebox40dash5]

My boss bought one a month or two ago for the shop. I don't think either of us has bothered using it yet. He showed it to me, my first thought was "Man, that looks like a real PITA to set up, unless you REALLY need it."

I bought a Lisle coolant funnel, the one with a couple different rad cap adapters. It works awesome 90% of the time, fill it good, burp the upper hose a couple times, then fire the car up and let it warm up. It worked a lot better before an old F-150 hood fell on it a cracked the old American iron cap adapter, I had just been using that one on the funnel, and the adapters for the pressure tester.

 

[amlv20]

i like using the air lift on the new power strokes at work. vacuum the system and not worry about it.

 

[joedodge]

Ya i work on a lot of duramax and power strokes I may have to invest in one

 

[dirtbikedude]

I think they are one of the best cooling system service tools. I have the cornwell version. to drain i use my Cooling system pressure tester that runs on shop air. It will drain the cooling system on an international prostar (semi tractor) in less than 2 minutes

 

[Seanbev24]

My boss bought one a month or two ago for the shop. I don't think either of us has bothered using it yet. He showed it to me, my first thought was "Man, that looks like a real PITA to set up, unless you REALLY need it."

I bought a Lisle coolant funnel, the one with a couple different rad cap adapters. It works awesome 90% of the time, fill it good, burp the upper hose a couple times, then fire the car up and let it warm up. It worked a lot better before an old F-150 hood fell on it a cracked the old American iron cap adapter, I had just been using that one on the funnel, and the adapters for the pressure tester.

They're actually very quick and easy to set up. Plus, the vacuum pulls in the coolant much faster than you could ever pour it in by hand. I have the Lisle funnel and like using it for certain things, but the Airlift is much better for refilling a drained system.

 

[Lotek]

I had to buy one to use on Volt battery service, but I use it on everything now, used it the day before yesterday to verify that I hadn't cut the oring on a duramax thermostat bypass pipe in an ambulance...not a job you want to completely reassemble and pressure test hot to find that the o-ring is leaking, on top of which you can't even see that it's leaking while reassembled, which is the issue that the indy shop that replaced the water pump sent it to me for. Don't get me started on the engineer that thought this was a good design. The first time I slid the pipe in, the O-ring rolled over the lip and wouldn't hold vacuum, the second time it held 25" of vacuum and I knew it was fixed. Fast refills and not having to burp the system are a bonus, wish I had one years ago.

 

[RV77]

i have the snap on brand one and love it especially on the pita cooling systems where air is hard to bleed from. it is also good to test the system for leaks if it will not hold the vacuum. As far as i know they cannot drain the system

I bought the snap-on one also

 

[yogitech]

I've had mine for years, never an issue with air pockets... Awesome tool!

 

[joedodge]

Ya been there done that with the bypass pipe. The whole cooling system on the duramax is crazy lol. I think I'm gonna have to get one of these things and give it a go do you guys just fill a five gallon bucket and siphon from that?

 

[yogitech]

Ya been there done that with the bypass pipe. The whole cooling system on the duramax is crazy lol. I think I'm gonna have to get one of these things and give it a go do you guys just fill a five gallon bucket and siphon from that?

That's what I do, just keep the tube submerged and your good to go...

 

[Reality Sucks]

I have the matco Version of this , same as snap on. This is a very wise investment along with a coolant system pressure tester. Should be able score one for under 200 easy, check ebay for both and pay half truck price.

http://www.matcotools.com/catalog/product/MCR102U/COOLING-SYSTEM-REFILLER-UNIVERSAL/

 

[gpalmer77]

Best tool I have. Great for preventing air pockets in the heater core on hard to bleed cars. No more jacking up the front end.