Radiator pressure testers

[redfury]

Hey guys, I’m looking to buy a radiator pressure tester as it seems that I cannot live without one in my arsenal of home mechanic tools.

Topic

[college man]

if this kit will do what you need. than go for it.. looks like a nice kit. let us know if you get it. C8-)

[dreamer2355]

Thats actually a great price. I dont have any experience with that brand but let us know if it works out for you.

[J]

I have that kit- it works great. It’s the same one they were selling on the Mac truck for a while (and still might be).

[619DioFan]

I have several tools from astro pnuematic and they are very good quality. this is a nice set and a great price. I paid about 90.00 for my stant tester and it dosen’t have even half the adaptors. I would buy this in a heart beat.

[gaseousmercury]

I just got a brand new Matco with several adapters from ebay for under $75. There are definitely good deals on E-bay and new testers are listed every day. it took me a month or so to finally get one, but my budget was small. Let us know what you decide.

[redfury]

Cool,thanks guys! I’m staying away from the Pittsburg and central Pneumatic tools for now on unless I can specifically tell they will do the job I’m needing them to do. I was more concerned about the lack of reviews for what I had bought. I’m likely going to go with this set unless as suggested, I find a better deal on Ebay. Didn’t really even think to look there or even craigslist. I’ll keep you updated. I think pressure tester is a must have tool as you can eliminate a lot of physical problems from the diagnostics when trying to find problems.

[johnzcarz]

I work on a mix of car makes and it seemed that kits (at least in my price range) never had all the adapters i was looking for – and I’d be in the poor house if I had to buy them all separately anyway.

So I ended up going with one of the bladder type units that fits just about everything under the sun. Had it for a while now and it works great. A little more set-up than what you would have if you just had to screw on a cap, but it’s worth it in my case.

Here’s the unit from Snap-On:

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp … ir=catalog

Here’s the same one from the manufacturer for about $100 less:

http://www.amazon.com/Private-Brand-Too … B00396F804

If all you work on is 1 or 2 makes then this may not be the right tool for you. If you work on all sorts of makes/models then it’s worth a look.

[redfury]

Johnzcarz, I was looking at that kit potentially as well, but I’m concerned about that bladder being able to fit into the small opening in the Ford Explorer radiator I just installed. The opening is just tiny!

I’d really appreciate if you could maybe explain what the different fittings that come with it actually do, might be enough to help me pull the trigger on it. I don’t work on a lot of different cars and I usually buy domestics, but on occasion I have to deal with an import for a friend or neighbor.

At the very least, if you could tell me the smallest diameter the bladder fits in, that may be all I really need to know in regards to the Ford. I’m sure it’ll fit on my Chevy.

I just want to make sure that if I buy a kit, it’s going to cover the basics ( chevy, ford and Chrysler ) and be able to work with traditional radiator cap style systems as well as reservoir cap style systems like a lot of the newer cars seem to be going towards.

[johnzcarz]

Redfury, here is a picture of the bladder deflated – it’s about 5/8″. It looks a little bigger here because it’s stretched from use, but it’s rubber so it will squeeze down.

Amazingly you actually DON’T use any adapter (most of the time) to pressure test the cooling system (I think VW/Audi are the exception). Most of the adapters are only for testing the different style radiator caps. This shows a partial list for Ford:

The cap adapters look like this:

You actually attach to the adapters just like you would a radiator or expansion tank, inflate the bladder, screw on the cap and test it.

[Author]

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