Daedalus

For a long time MityVac was known for its hand vacuum pumps. My kit is no longer sold, but is most like the 8500. Besides brake bleeding, a vacuum pump can be used to test various things under the hood. Last week I diagnosed and fixed the EGR system on my truck using this thing. At the very least, it can be used as a vacuum gauge, which is an essential diagnostic tool for overall engine health. It's very useful, and a good concept, but using it to move fluid is a lot of work since each pump only moves a small amount of air.

Now their product lines have really exploded. For evacuators, I wanted multiple units so I wouldn't have to clean them out when switching fluids. These I bought a few months ago:
7300 and 7201.
The 7300 is an evacuator only, and uses compressed air to create a venturi vacuum (~22 inHg) to suck out the fluid. You run the air long enough to create a vacuum in the chamber, and then you can seal it off and disconnect the air hose. I use this for motor oil.
The 7201 uses a large pump (like a bicycle pump) to evacuate and refill fluids. I like this unit more than the 7300, though I did have some issues with the thing not holding pressure, which it needs to do when refilling (otherwise you have to keep periodically pumping). It held a vacuum just fine since the vacuum helps keep the seal compressed. After tightening down the cap repeatedly I think I have it fixed, though now I'm concerned the o-ring might not last long. They do sell replacements, and MityVac sent me a seal kit for free when I emailed them. This one I use both for draining and refilling trans fluid since refilling the trans is a little harder on most cars than refilling motor oil.

I also needed a brake bleeder so I got the 6835. For years I used the hand vacuum but it eventually got to be too much of a chore. The little cup doesn't hold enough fluid, plus my hand would get tired after doing the 1st caliper. This one's my favorite 'cause it made the most annoying job the easiest. Most 1-man brake bleeders let too much air in around the screw threads, but with a vacuum it doesn't really matter. Plus this thing has an auto-fill bottle for the reservoir so you can fill it up with clean fluid and then go to town on all 4 corners without having to stop. It uses a venturi vacuum on shop air like the 7300.

If I only had a couple cars I'm not sure I would have spent the money on the evacuators, but I thought about how much time they would save me over the long term, and I could justify it.

Other MityVac products I have are the 4525 cooling system test kit and the 5532 digital compression tester. Both of these are good products. Compression testers are nothing special, but the cooling system tester is a fairly specialized tool that's hard to substitute for. It's another tool I ended up appreciating a lot more than I thought I would. But additional cap adapters for it are freaking expensive.


BTW I used to buy most of my tools from www.thetoolwarehouse.net, but I have found much better deals recently from tooltopia.com, especially their daily and weekend deals.