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Airlift Coolant change fail

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by edthefox5, Oct 10, 2011.

  1. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    My 07 has pretty low miles but is going on 4+ years so I thought I would change the ENGINE coolant. Reading how many posters have struggled with this I thought I would be a smart guy and buy an Airlift which I have used before back in the day on strictly american cars if memory serves.

    I had hoped to just hook the airlift up and suck the bulk of the coolant right out without opening any petcocks. Yeah right...
    That resulted in about 1/2 pint of pink foam and collapsed hoses.

    OK so I'm in it now. I opened up the engine coolant 10 mm bolt under the exghaust mani and also dumped the rad too. Since the fluid was not that bad I did not drain the CHS. I thought I could suck out most of that under vacuum. Actually the coolant looked mint after I dumped it. The engine coolant loop is alot less hard on coolant then th Inverter thats for sure.

    I biggest problem with my Uview Airlift Kit Model 550000 although
    one of the most popular and versatile does not contain the proper adaptor to hook to our rad's. It has alot of rubber adaptors but none small enough to use the petcock compression system so the best you can do is hold it against the rad opening. Not good.

    After dumping everything I quickly reached 26 max vac on the vac gauge. Now while your holding the petcock unit up tight to the rad hole ( because it does not have the right adaptor) you have to swap out the compressor connector and swap in the fill hose assy. Not easy by yourself.

    See you vac down the system and hold it under vac. Then you close the petcock which seals the system under vac. Swap in the hose that is fed by a bucket of new coolant so when you open the petcock with the system under vac it sucks in all the new coolant it needs right to the top till there's no more vacuum. Very fast.
    That part worked great and filled it right to the top but it must have sucked in some air too because after I topped it off I had quite a bit of gurgling water under the dash.

    I suspect I should have either dumped the CHS tank too or at least engaged Pat's method of turning that CHS pump on briefly with a paperclip on the copper connectors in the relay box.
    Just not sure where in the process I should have done that but I think that's where the air came in. Trapped possibly in the CHS thermos.

    I was forced to go old school and jack up the car using the tow point on the front pass side as high as my floor jack went (to get the rad hole above the engine) and opened the rad cap & ran the car in inspection mode with the heat on till the thermostat opened up. When that happened it dropped alot in coolant level and I kept adding coolant till it topped off and then no more gurgling.
    Not to bad but I was hoping for a much more elegant swap.

    I know the airlift works good on American cars but with our cars with the added vac lock of the CHS system it's not easy to change the coolant. The airlift does help in getting 99% of new coolant installed instantly though. That worked great. I think if there was the proper adaptor so its locked down tight to the rad hole it may have worked 100% better. That and engaged Pat's CHS system. But now I know why there's been so many complaints of gurgling after a dealer change. It's a pain to change the ENGINE coolant on this car quickly and effectively even vacuum assisted.

    And its so easy to change the Inverter coolant on this car the airlift is really not neccessary.
     
    #1 edthefox5, Oct 10, 2011
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  2. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    This is interesting. I just purchased an Airlift 55000 based on threads on here, among them one of yours:)

    I just replaced the engine and inverter coolant on my car. I had no problem with either and no issues with air entrainment. Of course I did not try to suck the coolant out with the Airlift, I drained it first.

    I guess the only difference between the Gen 2 and 3 engine coolant systems is the CHS system, correct? I drained the radiator and then drained the engine block, pulled a vacuum on the system and refilled with coolant. After startup and warming to open the engine thermostat and the heater valve, I may have had to add 1/2" of coolant. No air issues.

    It would have been nice to have a radiator cap fitting to work with the Airlift but the wedge device that came with it worked fine for me. I was worried about the weight of the air compressor hose and then the coolant hose pulling it to one side and breaking the vacuum. The hoses pulled the unit hard to one side but I never lost the vacuum.

    Of course you do not really need the Airlift for the Inverter coolant but it made this very easy also.

    The Airlift device worked very well for me and made short work of changing the coolant.
     
    #2 jdcollins5, Oct 11, 2011
  3. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    IMO (unless you are a professional mechanic) the Airlift is the type of tool purchased by people who already own an air compressor, have it sitting around gathering dust, and are trying to figure out how to productively employ it so that they can justify the compressor purchase to their wife... :cool:
     
    #3 Patrick Wong, Oct 11, 2011
  4. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Hmmm...I must have let vacuum in while swapping out hoses. I was disappointed in not having the proper adapter for the Prius.That would have helped.
    What reading on the gauge did you get when you evacuated it? I had 26 almost max. And it made it really easy to fill it back up.
    It was not a bad airlock. All I had to do was bring it to engine temp. As soon as the thermo opened and the coolant level dropped I added a little and gurgling gone so I was close.
    I was really hoping that it would suck all the coolant out from the start so I wouldn't have to get under the car but it doesn't work that way. I have 2 american cars that it will work on really well so I still think it was worth it.
     
    #4 edthefox5, Oct 11, 2011
  5. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    I had 26 Max vacuum. I was really surprised at how quickly it pulled the vacuum. Yes, I would have preferred the proper adapter but did not have a problem with the wedge device. I kept thinking that the weight of the hoses was going to cause a vacuum leak but it never did.

    I did not even think about trying to suck the coolant out with the vacuum. I just drained as normal and then applied the vacuum. I thought it was worth the expense to be able to refill without having to bleed out air. Plus it makes the refill time really short. The longest time was switching coolant containers and being sure to do so before emptying first container and pulling air.

    I can understand what Patrick is saying but to me it was still worth the expense. (Men and their toys :)). I used it on my wife's 2007 Honda Accord also and it worked like a charm. I recommend it to anyone that likes to keep equipment that makes the job easier.
     
    #5 jdcollins5, Oct 12, 2011
  6. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    Step 1. Drain Coolant via draincocks.
    Step 2. Pull vacuum with AirLift.
    Step 3. Fill System (requires slightly over 1 gallon)
    Step 4. Actuate CHS pump via scan tool or manually via Patrick's method
    Step 5. Top off radiator.
    Step 6. Start engine, turn heater to max, take test drive.
    Step 7. Top off overflow tank.
    Step 8. Hook up impact gun to air compressor and rotate tires.

    I did Steps 1-5 last week when I did the engine water pump. Elapsed time was about 10 minutes. I did have someone to hold the AirLift when swapping out hoses. It's always a good idea to check the overflow after a complete thermocycle (steps 6-7). I agree 100% that the conical adapter is a kludge, but Matco does make two adapters for inverter tank and the radiator if you want to go all-in for another $45 a piece.
     
    #6 seilerts, Oct 12, 2011
    2 people like this.
  7. Spanks79

    Spanks79 New Member

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    I know this is an old thread but I have some useful info.

    An Airlift is not designed to suck out the old coolant, in fact it will not suck out the old coolant. It creates vacuum using a venturi effect which requires compressed air to flow thru the adapter and out the exhaust port. Once coolant starts passing into the exhaust port it stops (or slows down) the flow of air thru the venturi, thus halting any vacuum generation in its tracks.

    I use one of these almost daily, and, in my opinion, its the only way to change inverter coolant.

    On an empty cooling system it works great.
     
    #7 Spanks79, Dec 22, 2011
  8. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    I've found that having the two direct fit adapters (radiator and IC reservoir are different) from Matco helps immensely, but that adds another $100 to the tool investment.
     
    #8 seilerts, Dec 22, 2011
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