Air compressor size needed for coolant vacuum kit

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XB_Fan

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Apr 5, 2022
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Getting ready to change coolant out on my 2017 Camry w/2GR FE six cylinder.

Watching videos, it looks like it isn't a quick process. It involves hooking up clear tubing to a bleeder valve on the engine and keeping it at 2,000 rpms for up to 20, 30 or more minutes. The tubing goes back into a coolant funnel until it no air bubble show. Car care nut shows a video doing this.

I'd rather just buy one of those 50 dollar kits online and skip idling the car in my hot garage for half hour just to burp coolant from that bleeder.

I have a small hot dog style air compressor, would this be enough to power one of these.
 
FowVay said:
Your hot dog compressor should work perfectly. All that's required for those venturi vacuum systems is about 2.5-3 CFM and 90 PSI. I'm sure your compressor is providing close to double that amount.
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Thanks for the tip. It says on the compressor 1.7 scfm @ 90 psi. Bummer. :-(
 
The Schwaben listed above only states that it needs 90 PSI. It makes nomention of volume so maybe your compressor will work

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FowVay said:
The Schwaben listed above only states that it needs 90 PSI. It makes nomention of volume so maybe your compressor will work

View attachment 285212
Click to expand...

Good find. After looking around, I don't see where other models say anything other than the 90 psi capability. I think for under a hundred bucks this is something I'll buy. I have 3 cars I could use it on anyway. Thanks!
 
I have that exact tool and it works great. It's a bit freaky when you start drawing vacuum on the vehicle's system and you watch the rubber hoses collapse. But, it's what is specified in my Nissan so I use it.
 
XB_Fan said:
Good find. After looking around, I don't see where other models say anything other than the 90 psi capability. I think for under a hundred bucks this is something I'll buy. I have 3 cars I could use it on anyway. Thanks!
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Note that the Schwaben vacuum fill tool is backordered at ECS Tuning until August 1st. It may be available sooner from another seller and numerous other brands of coolant vacuum fillers are on Amazon. Stay away from the Robinair version since it does not hold vacuum well with only the cone adapter.
 
What coolant vacuum removal is recommended for a Toyota 2GR-FE V6 engine? Does the ECS fit the Toyota? Please post link.
 
I have one of the Schwaben kits. I have a fairly modest 8gal direct drive compressor. Though I don't have a CFM number, I found the tool did not use anywhere near as much air as I expected that it would. Plus, with the included valves, if your compressor couldn't keep up you could close them all partway through pulling the vacuum, let it catch up, and open them again. Personally - I would give it a shot with the compressor you have.

I also work on a 2GR-FE, although that isn't why I have the vacuum tool. The tool works so great I've told myself I'm going to use it on every car I can instead of traditional bleeding and futzing around. I'll have to dig through my records, but I'm fairly certain the Schwaben tool had an adapter that worked with a 2013 Sienna.

Note - Patrick mentioned 'removal'. This is a filling tool, not an extraction tool. It's not used for any part of draining.
 
FowVay said:
I have that exact tool and it works great. It's a bit freaky when you start drawing vacuum on the vehicle's system and you watch the rubber hoses collapse. But, it's what is specified in my Nissan so I use it.
Click to expand...
I know Nissans can be tricky to get the air out of the system. I think I had some trouble back in the day on an early 2000's Sentra.
 
Craig in Canada said:
I have one of the Schwaben kits. I have a fairly modest 8gal direct drive compressor. Though I don't have a CFM number, I found the tool did not use anywhere near as much air as I expected that it would. Plus, with the included valves, if your compressor couldn't keep up you could close them all partway through pulling the vacuum, let it catch up, and open them again. Personally - I would give it a shot with the compressor you have.

I also work on a 2GR-FE, although that isn't why I have the vacuum tool. The tool works so great I've told myself I'm going to use it on every car I can instead of traditional bleeding and futzing around. I'll have to dig through my records, but I'm fairly certain the Schwaben tool had an adapter that worked with a 2013 Sienna.

Note - Patrick mentioned 'removal'. This is a filling tool, not an extraction tool. It's not used for any part of draining.
Click to expand...
I'll just do as you say and pause it in order for the compressor to catch up if need be. I know on the videos, the coolant is sucked out of the jugs back into the radiator very quickly.I was surprised at how fast it went through a gallon of coolant.
 
Craig in Canada said:
I have one of the Schwaben kits. I have a fairly modest 8gal direct drive compressor. Though I don't have a CFM number, I found the tool did not use anywhere near as much air as I expected that it would. Plus, with the included valves, if your compressor couldn't keep up you could close them all partway through pulling the vacuum, let it catch up, and open them again. Personally - I would give it a shot with the compressor you have.

I also work on a 2GR-FE, although that isn't why I have the vacuum tool. The tool works so great I've told myself I'm going to use it on every car I can instead of traditional bleeding and futzing around. I'll have to dig through my records, but I'm fairly certain the Schwaben tool had an adapter that worked with a 2013 Sienna.

Note - Patrick mentioned 'removal'. This is a filling tool, not an extraction tool. It's not used for any part of draining.
Click to expand...
Gotcha, there are some some tools that do both.
 
XB_Fan said:
I'll just do as you say and pause it in order for the compressor to catch up if need be. I know on the videos, the coolant is sucked out of the jugs back into the radiator very quickly.I was surprised at how fast it went through a gallon of coolant.
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I'm just taking a guess, but there's a possibility you misunderstand how it works and that's causing more concern (maybe not, but I'll elaborate in case it helps anyone). In a nutshell, you substitute the cap with the tool and connect it to the drained system. You then use shop air to pull the vacuum in the system. Once the gauge reaches your desired level of vacuum you close all the valves. You can then watch the gauge for a while to see if any vacuum is lost. This wouldn't catch all leaks, but it'll catch a lot of big ones if there are any. Some leaks only happen under heat and positive pressure.

When you're ready to fill, you open the valve to the container of coolant and it is pulled into the system by the vacuum. You do not use any air during the refilling. It just takes a few seconds. Optionally, for even better results, you can purge the air out of the hose to the coolant container before pulling your final vacuum.

All that being said, I feel like a modest amount of airflow pulls my 2/3 drained BMW F10 system to full vacuum in 10 seconds of operation? Maybe 15? It's been a while since I used it. Faster than I thought and much less shop air than I thought going through the venturi.

Patrick0525 said:
Gotcha, there are some some tools that do both.
Click to expand...

Absolutely (y). The Schwaben one I believe we're all discussing is fill only.
 
Getting all the air purged from my 2014 Nissan Frontier 4.0L was always a challenge using traditional methods, until I got a generic Amazon vacuum service kit which worked like a champ after a simple modification.
The air compressor coupling was different from typical Western equipment, a common issue with Chinese air tools. Simple fix I thought, just swap the connector out. Unfortunately the fitting snapped clean off almost immediately, leaving behind a very small hole. I decided to simply delete the venturi and adapt the tool to use my cheapo Harbor Freight A/C vacuum pump instead.
It worked fine, I was just extra-vigilant on monitoring the vacuum gauge to prevent damaging cooling system parts, which I assume is a possibility. That's probably why they use air-powered venturis for these tools as they are less likely to over-suck the system (not a phrase I thought I'd be using today). I have no problem using my vacuum pump as long as I'm careful. I'm bringing this up because it is an option for those with no or under-powered air compressors. Those vacuum pumps are pretty cheap, especially if you can find a used one.
I'll never go back to "burping" a radiator again, this is by far the most effective way to refill a cooling system I've used so far.
 
Vacuum pumps hate large amounts of water vapor. You are only able to pull 29 or so inches of vacuum at sea level which is equivalent to 13 or 14 PSI...Any modern cooling system in good shape can handle that easily.
 
clinebarger said:
Vacuum pumps hate large amounts of water vapor. You are only able to pull 29 or so inches of vacuum at sea level which is equivalent to 13 or 14 PSI...Any modern cooling system in good shape can handle that easily.
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True, except some of these components are only designed to handle that much pressure internally. Excessive vacuum has the potential to damage things like water pump seals, sensors and other parts not meant to deal with high negative pressure, that's why these kits come with gauges marked with a "safe" zone that shouldn't be exceeded.
 
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