what are the best coolant tools?

[Spike00513]

I'm looking at buying a pressure tester and vacuum filler, for automotive use

the pressure tester is to pressurize the system maybe up to around 20psi with a hand pump, as you may know
to help find leaks

and vacuum filler, using shop air to quickly refill a cooling system with coolant after emptying it to perform repair work, such as replacing a water pump or radiator.

Does anyone know what's best to buy?
I noticed Matco, Mac, Snap-On, Cornwell, and even Harbor Freight now all appear to use the same design pressure tester. Maybe it's sourced from the same manufacturer; I don't know the name.

However, Cornwell tells me (at higher new price I bet) that theirs has 1 year warranty only, not lifetime as you get with hand tools.
Hopefully it's a simple enough design and rebuildable.

I wonder what the other truck brands are; I plan to ask.
Meanwhile, Harbor Freight's is only 90 day warranty, though the cashier said he's never seen one get returned, implying good working quality.

But vacuum filler, I'm unsure what to buy. Obviously there's a price difference when you compare say Snap-On to Harbor Freight, or Schwaben from ECS that I hear fails after 6mo.
Again, unsure of warranties.
They also seem different in design.
Some screw into the cooling reservoir for example with a stant-style cap; some people say that design is better, others say it doesn't matter.

Whereas the other design uses a rubber cone that seals up when you push it on and start vacuuming.

Probably two must-have tools these days to do any sort of work relating to cooling systems, a big part of a car that tends to have issues after 100k miles. Or even just regular maintenance cooling flushes.

Curious to know what everyone thinks

 

[Fedwrench]

Look for a Uview 550000 airlift. That model has brass fittings for longer service life and they were the originators of the sir lift type vacuum fillers.
As for pressure testers, stant is pretty good but, you'll need adapters. AST makes some very nice adapters even if a little pricey.

 

[Bogie1632]

The Astro 78585 is a nice all (mostly) in one kit. Pressure guage, vacuum fill, plenty of adapters, reasonable cost. Warranty I believe is 1 year, but it's a pretty good quality product and they have very good customer service.

V/R
Bogie

 

[cvairwerks]

Bought one like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078RJT13X/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Was less expensive than buying the three adapters that I needed to go with my Mac Tools one.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Astro pneumatic kit. They make an add-on adapter which lets you pressure test with shop air as well. Or power drain a system with a tiny petcock and large capacity. The empty spaces are for late model Ford/Gm, LR/Jag, and the newer VAG design coolant bottles. Additional adapters are $15-$20 a pop.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042KOK28/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JBJTA9W/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Looks like knock-offs or rebrands are available for about half that. Peruse amazon and see if you're willing to gamble on them. Astro has pretty good support when needed IME. There appear to be a few small changes between them and the astro kit just looking at the Amazon pictures, unless production has been changed and the venders simply didn't add new pictures.

After ~5 years I have added some fuel injection hose clamps around the fittings of the coolant sucking hose used when vacuum filling, and replaced the sealing o-ring I lost for the largest metal adapter with one from a headlamp bucket.


It has a learning curve: Vacuum, shut off vacuum, prime filling line, re-vacuum, fill. Ignore the gauge for vacuum, max it out to peak vacuum you can pull if you want all the air out. The only car I feel it ever did a poor job on was a porsche cayman with zero coolant in it. IMO the size of the tool was not large enough for the volume of air we're talking about with a mid-engine mounted coolant bottle and the radiators at the front. I just popped off the return tubes on the radiators up front, primed them until coolant came out, then vacuumed.

 

[Spike00513]

Look for a Uview 550000 airlift. That model has brass fittings for longer service life and they were the originators of the sir lift type vacuum fillers.
As for pressure testers, stant is pretty good but, you'll need adapters. AST makes some very nice adapters even if a little pricey.

Thanks!
I thought Stant was just the style, but yes, I hear the AST adapters are very good and I've known them to be a high quality tool brand in general.

I was guessing somebody originated the vacuum design but didn't know who.
Good to know it's Uview because otherwise I was scared looking at their items on Amazon because I never heard of them before, leading me to assume it may not be the best quality

funny enough, the cheaper economy (plastic?) version UView refiller looks exactly like the junior Blue-Point tool; they're probably the same but a different color.

Astro pneumatic kit. They make an add-on adapter which lets you pressure test with shop air as well. Or power drain a system with a tiny petcock and large capacity. The empty spaces are for late model Ford/Gm, LR/Jag, and the newer VAG design coolant bottles. Additional adapters are $15-$20 a pop.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042KOK28/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JBJTA9W/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Looks like knock-offs or rebrands are available for about half that. Peruse amazon and see if you're willing to gamble on them. Astro has pretty good support when needed IME. There appear to be a few small changes between them and the astro kit just looking at the Amazon pictures, unless production has been changed and the venders simply didn't add new pictures.

After ~5 years I have added some fuel injection hose clamps around the fittings of the coolant sucking hose used when vacuum filling, and replaced the sealing o-ring I lost for the largest metal adapter with one from a headlamp bucket.


It has a learning curve: Vacuum, shut off vacuum, prime filling line, re-vacuum, fill. Ignore the gauge for vacuum, max it out to peak vacuum you can pull if you want all the air out. The only car I feel it ever did a poor job on was a porsche cayman with zero coolant in it. IMO the size of the tool was not large enough for the volume of air we're talking about with a mid-engine mounted coolant bottle and the radiators at the front. I just popped off the return tubes on the radiators up front, primed them until coolant came out, then vacuumed.

I wonder if that's caused by Porsche's tending to have that huge pipe thing (looks kinda like an exhaust) running under the car connecting front and rear cooling system parts

 

[RedneckWelder]

We use the original style Uview ones on heavy equipment at work because vacuum filling is OEM mandated for engines with EGR coolers because an air pocket in them can cause failure which can in turn cause catastrophic engine failure.

 

[joshmodelskidoo]

I got one from Home Depot website that’s the same as this hf one. https://www.harborfreight.com/radiator-pressure-tester-kit-63862.html
It works but only uses about 1/4-1/8 of the pump to build pressure. It still works but i rarely use it. Probably used it 3 times. Anyway I don’t recommend it.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I wonder if that's caused by Porsche's tending to have that huge pipe thing (looks kinda like an exhaust) running under the car connecting front and rear cooling system parts

Agreed that's the cause of the issue. It's a massive system, and likely needs a larger venturi and air supply to be able to **** that down easily.

I'm sure the tool could have done it, but it was inconvenient and I had easy access to prime the system. Then it did its job quickly and easily.

 

[Spike00513]

edit: cancelled order on uview airlift.
Upon closer look, it does not have enough valves. It starts by sending a pocket of air into the cooling system, which defeats the entire point of the tool.
The only way to resolve that is by filling a bucket or jug with coolant and then submerging the tool hose inside to prime it. I don't know anybody who has time to do that unnecessarily extra step, that should have been accounted for by the design of the expensive tool.

Whereas the type from Matco, Mac, Cornwell, and Snap-On has more valves, supposedly so you can prime it and get the air pocket out, with simple twisting of the valve(s). No dunking hose in a bucket needed.

just haven't picked which truck brand to go with yet. It's probably Cornwell-->Matco-->Mac-->Snap-On, in order of cheapest to most expensive, ranging from $210 lowest to $280 highest or around there.

And they seem to have similar CFM flow ratings, in terms of speed/how fast they fill.
But it looks like Snap-On claims to have the fastest CFM.
such as 2.6 vs 2.0 on Cornwell's (MSM300CRA)

one mechanic told me he bought the Cornwell because it's the same design but cheaper.
So I don't really know how much that CFM rating matters.
Since some of you are suggesting it might be more important on a big system diesel with EGR cooler.

for pressure tester I picked up the Harbor Freight one and ordered an AST adapter that will be used to work with both the pressure tester and vacuum filler (gonna buy the filler later after deciding which one to get)

 

[Strouty]

I was going to be buying a tester kit as well. I noticed the Astro and the knock off, anyone buy the knock off one yet? It stinks, because I just bought a vacuum filler a while back, just out of return timeframe, looks like these kits will allow you to do both. I think for now I am going to go cheap and see what happens, I am just a DIY chasing a leak right now, if I become a pro, I may decide to upgrade later.

 

[Strouty]

I ended up buying this kit, it appears to have the extra cap adapters that Astro charges extra for. I also read enough reviews of both that I am pretty confident it is the same kit. I also think that the vacuum fill aspect will probably not work correctly, but in the end, the adapters seem to have decent reviews and I don't think you could buy them all for that cheap. If the hand pump dies, I am sure you could use anyone's pump, or even a tire inflation tool.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085THXC12/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Strouty]

Took a while to get the kit, then took a while to find time to use it. I would say it is a great buy based on the one cap I used, it seals very well, the pump works great and the case was halfway decent. I haven’t used the vacuum setup yet, looks kind of flimsy, but the caps and hand pump are worth the price alone.

 

[Showkey]

edit: cancelled order on uview airlift.
Upon closer look, it does not have enough valves. It starts by sending a pocket of air into the cooling system, which defeats the entire point of the tool.

Think your confused on the airlift.............mine has been in use for years, it’s the gold standard for vacuum fill.

 

[sberry]

If I had to do this all over again would look for a mentor that did it cheap and simple to start with. Make up that fitting when you come to it. Calvan, Lisle, that stuff at parts stores, Napa and some even less for the semi pro so to speak and after a guy gets something that works then use it.
I shopped for some tire equipment a while back, debated fugged around and then walked out and saw what we could find and came up with something that works as good as the tire man uses. There is something he can do,,,, but,,, I dont need to do that.
First piece on the list is a good filler jug, dedicated to it. Then I like a vac tank, a drain pan, a couple buckets. Like Stroutty I work on my own stuff mostly, 20 minutes longer 2x a year dont matter. If you are turning scale a couple times a week easy and fast is better. If I bought the HF see what you can use out of it. Find something dont work fix it.

 

[afm]

Harbor freight has a new Maddox vacuum filler. I bought one, and the fit and finish is great (fewer expose fitting junctions than other budget brands). It works very well, and the kit includes all the rubber rings and cones you'd ever need.

It's currently $59.99 with a coupon (PN: 64985).

 

[EAG8999]

Bought one like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078RJT13X/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Was less expensive than buying the three adapters that I needed to go with my Mac Tools one.

I just got a similar one to this. I’ll test it out in a couple of weeks.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[regguy1]

Harbor freight sells one that's made in Taiwan, I bought on a couple years ago, it's very nic quality and with the 20% coupon very reasonable https://www.harborfreight.com/radiator-pressure-tester-kit-63862.html

 

[vssjim]

I have the original Stant tester with Stant/AST adapters for some models but I bought the Astro master set and pretty much use that more because it fits everything and is a good priced right.

 

[noid]

Harbor freight sells one that's made in Taiwan, I bought on a couple years ago, it's very nic quality and with the 20% coupon very reasonable https://www.harborfreight.com/radiator-pressure-tester-kit-63862.html

Also got this one a few years ago, its been a great kit.