Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 9:25 am Post subject: 996 Coolant Change - Superb Time Saving Tool
My 6tt suffered a bust lower coolant hose and lost enough coolant to mean it was undriveable and so was a DIY fix in the garage.
I read of the trauma and time taken by folk refilling the coolant system by topping up the tank and bleeding it by tipping the car over several hours and in some cases several days.
A trip to the OPC to get some parts and coolant lead me to research the vacuum fill tool that the tech in the dealer discussed.
Sceptical of it's worth I drained most of the system to effect a complete coolant change and hooked up the kit. 3 minutes to draw a vacuum and collapse all the coolant hoses with lots of gurgling and burping from the pipes.
It took less that 5 minutes then to suck 18 litres of coolant from a bucket and fill the system. Over the next few days the level remained stable, no signs of airlocks, no drop in level.
I'd encourage anyone thinking of this to buy or borrow the kit. It's superb.
Tempted to drain and refill again just for the fun of it... _________________ 1966 912
1996 993 C4
2002 996 Turbo
MisterCorn Long Beach
Joined: 08 Jan 2011 Posts: 6608 Location: Nottingham, England
Joined: 21 Mar 2015 Posts: 5951 Location: Brighton
Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 8:12 pm Post subject:
From personnel experience .. erm .. no .. it doesnt pull a very good vacumn .. i bought one .. used it twice and it pretty much packed up .. you need a very good vacumn so 25 on the gauge .. this never reached that .. pipe bores are too small .
For a one off though .. yup .. but as said it didnt last long . _________________ .
Those cheap ebay ones are utter junk. The caps are actually pretty good but the main unit is plastic rubbish. Mine fell apart on the first use. They then sent me another which also fell apart so they sent me another and refunded me most of the cost (which shows are cheaply produced they are).
I then did it the old fashioned way. If I decided to try again I'd buy the Draper one and use the caps from the cheap kit. _________________ 02 996 C4S
93 Skyline R33 GTS-t
91 CRX vtec turbo
01 986 Boxster S
356D Newbie
Joined: 26 Jan 2015 Posts: 33 Location: Scotland
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 3:44 pm Post subject:
Stoo.c wrote:
Those cheap ebay ones are utter junk. The caps are actually pretty good but the main unit is plastic rubbish. Mine fell apart on the first use. They then sent me another which also fell apart so they sent me another and refunded me most of the cost (which shows are cheaply produced they are).
I then did it the old fashioned way. If I decided to try again I'd buy the Draper one and use the caps from the cheap kit.
Yeah. Buy it right or buy it twice etc...
The Draper one had all the right bits for the 996 including the cap. It seemed loose on initial installation but tightened up perfectly and held vacuum for over 20 minutes whilst I mixed the coolant. _________________ 1966 912
1996 993 C4
2002 996 Turbo
MisterCorn Long Beach
Joined: 08 Jan 2011 Posts: 6608 Location: Nottingham, England
This is the one I got, I knew it was not expensive and came from eBay.
I paid £32 for it, it is all metal construction. From a quick look on eBay it looks like they have changed the design now. No doubt to save money.
The old design is still available. I don't know how long it will last, I have used it once so far. I will be using it again when I get around to filling up the coolant on my C4. With the front centre radiator design as it is the vacuum will be important for filling it.
MC
Hatchetf15 Newbie
Joined: 06 Mar 2018 Posts: 5 Location: Nashville
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 12:28 am Post subject:
+1 for the Draper. The cost is relative...less than one hour of OPC labor. I was impressed with how fast I could get 18L to fill at one go with no fuss. I thought the job would take 3 hours, but only took one hour full-empty-full, with two 5 gal buckets available for the job. _________________ ‘02 3.8L 996 C2; ‘06 955 TTS
This is the one I got, I knew it was not expensive and came from eBay.
I paid £32 for it, it is all metal construction. From a quick look on eBay it looks like they have changed the design now. No doubt to save money.
The old design is still available. I don't know how long it will last, I have used it once so far. I will be using it again when I get around to filling up the coolant on my C4. With the front centre radiator design as it is the vacuum will be important for filling it.
MC
Yeah that looks infinitely better than the rubbish they sent me by virtue of it being metal and so a bit more sturdy. All the connections flew apart sending springs everywhere before I even connected it all up _________________ 02 996 C4S
93 Skyline R33 GTS-t
91 CRX vtec turbo
01 986 Boxster S
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