Schwaben Coolant Vacuum Refill + Air Purge Tool | Cooling Test and Refill Tool Review | Audi VW

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I explain the venturi effect that creates vacuum, assemble and install the tool, then demo a DIY cooling system test and complete the coolant fill. This air evacuation and purge tool from Schwaben will work on almost any vehicles radiator fill spout or expansion tank hole by using one of the many adapters, but I use it on my 2007 Audi A4.
Key moments:
00:00 - Tool overview
01:44 - How the venturi effect works
03:13 - Tool setup
05:36 - Drawing the vacuum
09:08 - Refilling coolant
The air source applied to the venturi adapter creates vacuum and draws as much air out of the (closed, hopefully) system as possible. The vacuum is held until the coolant source is opened which then fills the voids - regardless of direction of travel of the liquid; gravity doesn't matter now! The result should be that your engines cooling system is completely filled with coolant and there are no pesky air pockets in hoses, cores - anywhere.
I made use of the smallest, 35mm adapter neck for seating the vacuum gauge assembly into the expansion tank and after attaching my air source, do a simple leak test on the cooling system by drawing a -23 inHg vacuum and holding it for 2 minutes. Knowing that the coolant wouldn't leak out once it fills the system, I'm able to use the vacuum and fill the remaining capacity (total capacity of the 2.0L is 7.6L) of my car with the 50/50 premixed coolant I prepared.
With the maximum amount of coolant refilled into the system, it's only a matter of running the car with the temperature controls set to high and a moderate/low fan speed to allow the vehicle to warm up and have all passages (namely, any managed by the thermostat or heater core valves) flowing freely.
If the process is successful, your cars cooling system is free of air, the heather is blowing hot air easily, the the vehicle is able to manage it's temperature as the factory systems intended.
There are many brands that offer a tool like this, the notable ones being Airlift and Mityvac and all use the same principles, just with different quality of components and price tags. This Schwaben kit was purchased from ECS Tuning.

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4 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 83

@meseahunt 11 дней назад

gonna knock it out tomm, thanks for taking the time to make this 🤠

@TEXASMOFO 4 года назад

Thanks for making a very comprehensive tutorial. Great job!

@officerbigmac1891 4 года назад

Amazing video! Every detail on point, every question i was about to ask myself you answered ahead of time, we need more quality videos like yours! Thank you! Great video! 👍👍

@Caradonia 3 года назад

Excellent demonstration. Thanks! 👍

@chrisczarnik3439 Год назад

It’s the first time that how Venturi works was properly explained. Great video.

@jboada9419 3 года назад

Excellent step-by-step instructional video - hats off to you. Wishing you a Happy New Year.

@aleksandartan7057 3 года назад

Unbelievable video man. Great effort!👍🏽

@juanheredia4426 4 года назад

Great video and explanation. I’m gonna buy it soon

@schattej 4 года назад

Thanks for the video. Just bought this tool, needed to figure out how the valves worked. Did the trick and now my car is full of coolant.

@steverogers6442 3 года назад

Brilliant clear and will explain video..👍🏽

@TuanNguyen-tz7gi 4 года назад

Way better video than the one from ECS themselves. I'm getting ready to use more for the first time and this video really helped. Great Job!

@FigureItAudi 4 года назад

Thanks Tuan, I appreciate that very much! Good luck with your project.

@TuanNguyen-tz7gi 4 года назад

used mine for the first time. Followed ur video exactly and it worked perfectly. No air in the system. Great tool.

@DanTheManIOM 2 года назад

I came here looking for alternates to Robin...nice video...ECS has some cool tools there and they are somewhat close to me. Thanks.

@TheAutomotiveKid 11 месяцев назад

Awesome video! Only thing that I’d probably do on my end is to purge the coolant jug line until I see fluid all the way to the valve while vacuuming the system.

@SHT5029 3 месяца назад

In the manual of 1.0tsi, they say to do exactly this thing. Then close the valve for the coolant and other two minutes to vacuum. Then close the vacuum valve and open the coolant valve.

@akbychoice 3 года назад

Looks like the OEM brand one I bought.

@mikemonster349 3 года назад

Good video.I just got my fill system and though the tool comes with printed instructions your step-by-step video provided the detail I wanted. I picked this up to fill a Vanagon (18.5qts) after replacing the coolant pipes, it has a poor air bleed system with 2 heaters and many possible air traps so this should make the job a lot easier. I am assuming that you could have shut off the fill when the coolant level reached the mid point between Min -Max and that would have eliminated the need to remove any extra coolant to bring the level into spec?

@DavidChau88 10 месяцев назад

Just tried this tool on my A4 B9, same issue, 35mm too loose, 40mm too tight. I held on the 40 while creating vacuum and it seems to stay, but wants to pop out. had my hand on it the whole time. 37, 38mm would be perfect.

@kankk23 4 года назад

I lost very little coolant removing the supercharger from my car, probably a cup and a half. I bought this tool but I don’t know if can use it to get rid of whatever air is in the system since I still have coolant in the system. Can anyone advise ?

@josefelix4152 3 года назад

I use a similar one all the time and i usually see -24 and -25 on some Toyotas with smaller systems, and doesn't take that long, i believe you have a small leak , sometimes the leak is at the adapter it self.

@josefelix4152 3 года назад

But then again my atmospheric pressure might be different than yours

@pgreenx Год назад

If you have to run the engine until fans come and thermostat open then why do the vacuum process?

@frank3450 3 года назад

Great video. Very informative and detailed. Trying to see if my Porter Cable 6 gallon pancake compressor will work. What compressor are you using?

@FigureItAudi 3 года назад

Hey Frank - I've got the Rolair Bull. It's nothing wild but capable of 100% duty cycle.

@stevengao8345 4 года назад

thanks for this video, I am confused at that when you were using air compressor, isn't it push in the air instead of suck out/vacuum the air ? and before all these process, you already drain out all the old coolant, right ? thanks

@FigureItAudi 4 года назад

Thanks for watching! Yes, I had already drained as much of the coolant out of the system as possible before I did this process. This video is actually just a small part of a larger cooling system project I will be posting soon. I'm not sure what would happen if you tried to build vacuum in the system when it was still full....I'm guessing it would suck out a lot of coolant but I don't think it would be that effective. Schwaben themselves say the coolant should be drained before attempting to vacuum fill. I think the best way to answer your question about the compressor air and how the system gets bled is understanding how the venturi effect works: 01:44. The compressor IS pushing air, but when it passes through the venturi adapter, it creates suction in the tube BESIDE the path of air direction, which draws air out of the system and exits the same direction the compressor air is pushing. Does that make more sense?

@grilledchickenwrap 3 года назад

Can I use this to suck out coolant from car ? And then use it to put new coolant back in? I did not see you remove the coolant from the expansion tank.

@FigureItAudi 3 года назад

I don't want to mislead you so formally I'm going to answer: I don't know. But, I don't think so. I did not use this tool to drain my system; I used the petcock on the lower rad hose to do the draining. Now, I didn't do amazing in physics way back when, but I don't believe the air vacuum will be enough to do anything. Even in perfect vacuum (which is nowhere near achievable in this type of environment), the water would mainly pool and rest in [whatever] by gravity. The only evidence I can add is that although I had my drain hose set up and likely had some liquid left in the system, 0 came out during vacuum build. Not a drop.

@erzincanli 3 года назад

The gauge needle didn't come to zero because you didn't bleed the hose on the filling side. Antifreeze had to be sucked in with air up to the head of the valve. But except that nice review.

@josefelix4152 3 года назад

yes, when doing the vacuum open the coolant intake hose valve to pre charge the hose, and at the end when your near zero lift the coolant container over the reservoir hight, this will drop it to zero.

@juliohernandez7463 4 года назад

Great video and nice job buddy . I have a question what type of air compressor do you need to do this kind of work ? I have a craftman 3 gallon craftsman 135 psi compressor , you think this would work? Thank for your time and info 👍

@FigureItAudi 4 года назад

Hi Julio - thanks. I found the air compressor instructions from Schwaben to be a bit unclear but considering your compressor can run more PSI than what's needed - as long as it can maintain >90psi continuously, you'll be fine. Turn yours up to 90, stick an air pressure gauge on the hose, and let it run wide open to see if it can provide enough air for a few minutes straight.

@juliohernandez7463 4 года назад

Figure It Audi thanks for getting back to me 👍 i just did the test on the compressor and it holds 90 psi with the air gauge wide open . Any suggestions before I jump to do this job ? Thanks 🙏

@FigureItAudi 4 года назад

@@juliohernandez7463 Just make sure you have enough premix ready so the vacuum doesn't pull air. Otherwise, it's pretty much point and shoot.

@jontansgarage 3 года назад

Does the system actually need to be completely empty for this to work? Do you need to turn on the heater to open the valves and leave it open before starting this process?

@FigureItAudi 3 года назад

Hey Jonathan - Check out my answer to grilledchickenwrap re: introducing a vacuum when there's still coolant in the system. So, if that's the case, I think the answer is: no, but by knowingly leaving old coolant in the system, you're accepting that a full flush isn't being completed and if it matters to you, you'll want to check the freezing point of your mixture later to ensure what you've just put in hasn't thrown your coolant mixture out of whack. I'm guessing you're wanting to do a partial refill after doing some work that doesn't require you to drain the whole system. And yes, turn on the cabin heat and leave it running (with the car off, just with ignition on) while you're doing this.

@jontansgarage 3 года назад

@@FigureItAudi Thanks!

@OGChris 3 года назад

I have some questions over this I hope you can answer. 1. After draining all the coolant, do I turn on the car and set the heat to high? 2. Do I leave the car on while doing this procedure? If yes, do I keep the heat on too? 3. Is the expansion tank basically the coolant reservoir?

@FigureItAudi 3 года назад

Sure thing. 1. You only turn accessory power on - depending on what your car is like, that might be turning the key 2 steps towards ignition, or pressing the start button - but the car is off. You just need power on to run your cabin fan and operate the temperature controls. 2. Yes, same as above - keep it all like this untill the refill is done. 3. Yup. I know sometimes the reservoirs are slightly lower than other fill points in the system, so just hook up this tool to whenever you would typically fill the car with coolant. It might be the radiator, even.

@OGChris 3 года назад

@@FigureItAudi thank you, I really appreciate it!

@akbychoice 3 года назад

You don’t have the vehicle running during this process. You only have the key in the on position so the heater valves will open to allow all the cavities to be open.

@hirayaman246 Год назад

Interesting but 2 things : 1. this doesnt solve the close thermostat problem. If its close, it will only remove the air pockets outside the engine, and not in the engine, right? 2. when your vacum is complete and you open your circuit to fill with coolant, that tube had air 9:09 which should have been purjed, right?

@FigureItAudi Год назад

Interesting questions. It does solve the thermostat challenge, since the coolant can go backwards it's normal flow like through the radiator inlet and reach areas that wouldn't be accessible through a gravity fill. But you raise a good point about the air in the tube that sucks up coolant. I think ultimately it's not of much concern as the air will sit at the top of the coolant reservoir and generally bleed out over the first few drives. Every time I've used this tool, the coolant level in the tank has barely dropped after the vacuum fill, meaning it's still very effective.

@jimbrannlund4677 Год назад

@@FigureItAudi You can use the venturi to purge the air from the fill tube. Basically use that to draw up the fluid just before the housing.

@francismlilo3573 2 года назад

Used this on my 2010 B8. Followed fill procedure as shown (primed the fill hose). Car came to operating temperature after a while, but when i took it for a highway run my engine temperature does not stay @ 90, falls when I turn up the fan speed. Is that an indicator that I have a air bubble? What is the correct procedure to burp/bleed the air bubble out?

@FigureItAudi 2 года назад

Hi Francis - What had you do the coolant fill in the first place? Air in the system is more likely to make your car over heat. Chronic under heating is usually due to a thermostat (which in your case is built into the water pump housing) stuck open. But if I'm chasing the wrong lead there, you can always slide the top coolant hose where it passes through the firewall to heater core (for cabin heat) back a few inches and it should reveal a small bleed hole to remove air trapped at the high point.

@francismlilo3573 2 года назад

@@FigureItAudi Thanks for the reply. I have has the car for a few years now, so just a coolant refresh since I'm approaching 180K. I did the refill as per shop manual. After the vacuum fill, I opened the bleed hole, over filled reservoir using a no leak funnel had some coolant come out, flow was not strong though. Re-seated the hose, closed reservoir and ran the cabin fan speed at 6 and temp at HI for 30 seconds (for auxiliary heater, which i don't think i have). Afterwards ran Car 3min @ 2000rpm and let idle for 15min. Top coolant hose was Hot, lower one was a bit warm. ran the car for 2min @2000rpm and shut it off. this morning, I had a 12km commute to work, 7km being on highway (105km/h). Engine temp stays @ 90 degrees, when the fan speed is between 1-3 & temp @ HI. But the minute fan speed is past 5, engine temp drops to around 70. I checked the hoses and top hose is warm, but lower hose is stiff and cool to the touch. With that said, would i have an issue with the coolant temp sensor or the thermostat based on how the hoses feel

@DanTheManIOM 2 года назад

@@francismlilo3573 I was taught, put the fan /heater on FULL, then fill it and with system open (no lid on radiator) the air should find it's way out. Do you have a temperature gauge ? How is your coolant level ? I have a subaru that does not seem to heat up - I changed the head gaskets since they were leaking when I bought the car...I had another car, and bad thermostat, drove it 15 min at 100-130 km/hr and windhshield was icing over, no heat.

@DanTheManIOM 2 года назад

and 2 mi at 2000 or 3 min at 3000, might seem like a long time, but it is not.

@user-oy1uv7zz7r 9 месяцев назад

Do you have to plug the coolant tank drain hose?

@FigureItAudi 9 месяцев назад

Yes, other than where the vacuum port is connected, all other parts of the cooling system need to be air tight or a vacuum can't be achieved.

@538scott Год назад

Was your coolant completely drained from the car?

@FigureItAudi Год назад

Yes it was, as much as one reasonably can drain an entire system. No doubt there are always pockets of coolant in the block or low points in a number of components.

@Demonpixyb 4 года назад

I have a 1.8t AWM engine. I have replaced every hard part I could including the radiator, thermostat, water pump, overflow bottle, and sensors. I have removed the top and bottom rad hose to check for clogs and have blown air through the system a few times. I also flushed the heater core a few times. It seems like the thermostat just is not opening when the engine gets hot. I have been told I may not have gotten all the air on while bleeding it causing cavitation around the thermostat. Is that possible, and if so do you think this tool will help eliminate that problem? Thanks in advance!

@FigureItAudi 4 года назад

Hi Brad. So, is the core issue an over heating cooling system; the temp needle is going over the center operating value? Unless you got unlucky and purchased a fault thermostat and it is indeed not opening when it should, it sounds like you've replaced more than just the usual suspects. From experience, I've seen coolant temp readings seem like they're not rising at all, right until the needle jumps almost straight to operating temp. That's when a system is drained significantly, then refilled for a flushing process. Let's assume you do have a large air pocket trapped in the system for a moment. Usually the highest point of possible bleed off is through one of the heater core lines as it passes through the firewall. Do you know if there's a bleed hole there? Sometimes you need to pull back the hose to reveal it. Or, a bleed screw on a water line near the top of the engine? As for your real question...yes, I think it would work. The catch is that the tool (probably ANY tool) is not going to achieve perfect vacuum before filling, so to be realistic, a small amount of manual bleeding is still likely needed. However, with significant vacuum pulled - and even if your thermostat is completely closed - the coolant will be pulled in all directions into the system. It'll be a fight between gravity + vacuum pressure but the coolant would go up through the radiator and through the various lines against the direction fluid would normally travel - to an extent. All this said, if your thermostat really is stuck, fancy coolant filling really isn't going to be your long term solution, obviously.

@Demonpixyb 4 года назад

@@FigureItAudi this would be my second new failed thermostat in a row. I can't see being that unlucky. I have bled the system in the prescribed way through the heater core bleed hole, but at this point I'm being led towards a bad bleed and I can't think of what else it could possibly be. I'm just going vacuum bleeding will give me the best chance of either fixing it, or at least ruling out the bleeding from the possible problems.

@Demonpixyb 4 года назад

@@FigureItAudi also, yes the needle goes up but I've actually been watching on my torque app through the ECU for a more accurate temperature.

@FigureItAudi 4 года назад

Fair. For the price of this tool (other brands can get quite expensive, though) and the fact it can adapt to basically any vehicle, it's a great addition to the tool collection regardless.

@akbychoice 3 года назад

@@Demonpixyb hopefully you found and were able to correct the issue. I know on some vehicles it’s physically possible to put a thermostat in backwards and then they won’t open.

@Enonymouse_ 2 года назад

I run these off my shop compressor and I do not recommend you use a small portable, it won't have enough flow rate. You should precharge your coolant input hose before you do this.

@mrw1160 12 часов назад

If using a small portable the instructions say to use 90psi rated and mine goes to 110 so when it drops below a desired level of psi I shut it off and let it regenerateand continue making more vaccume in the system

@FD-dh2fu 2 года назад

What did you set the compressor psi too? The dial show 20 psi thanks

@FigureItAudi 2 года назад

The compressor was running a continuous 100psi.

@FD-dh2fu 2 года назад

Do you also see the heater lines compress like the main radiator hose? I assume it also pulls the air from the engine via the thermostat. Do you prefer to use the tool on the overflow tank vs the radiator?

@FigureItAudi 2 года назад

@@FD-dh2fu Any hose that carries coolant and is made of rubber will experience some sort of collapse - which isn't always a good thing. If a hose is in really bad condition, doing this might actually crack it and cause a new leak. Which might be a blessing in disguise. Yes: it will create a vacuum in all directions so even if the thermostat is closed (like it would be with the engine off), the air will just be drawn out from the other side of the thermostat from some other passage. Audi's don't typically have radiator caps but any access point big enough to fit the tool in will work.

@FD-dh2fu 2 года назад

@@FigureItAudi thanks. So weird I managed to get 24 psi on the gauge held for over 5 minutes no leaks and nothing came out other than air from the Venturi I had to take off the cables from the heater core and they still had coolant.

@FigureItAudi 2 года назад

Yeah! So that's a good point of clarity for people to know. This tool will NOT drain the system dry. In fact, it's not a good tool to use for draining, period. I'd bet that if you had the system open at some other location on the opposite site of the vacuum tool, that air movement might actually be beneficial to attempt to vacuum out coolant. By the sounds of your description, the tool is working as expected.

@crossblades1 Год назад

Wont the hoses get damage after its flattened out? Just curious

@FigureItAudi Год назад

A good condition hose won't be damaged but you're right to be cautious of damage on a car that you're not confident of the condition of various cooling system parts. An old hose that has a cracked inner ply might be weak enough to crack the next/outer layer once compressed. Use your best judgement!

@jonathanthompson3359 4 года назад

It seems that this kit does not allow for pressure testing. I find that to be quite disappointing. Thanks for the review.

@walterk1221 3 года назад

Well, son of a gun... you are not alone because I am quite disappointed that my tire pressure guage does not fill my tires. Seriously now: this tool does the job for which it is designed. It indeed does indicate presence of a leak but not location of a leak.

@jonathanthompson3359 3 года назад

@@walterk1221 let's not go the sarcastic route. I know it's RU-vid, but we can still have a reasonable discussion. I was disappointed because this kit cannot pressurize the system at specific pressures above atmospheric. That means that leak testing, under pressure, not vacuum, is not possible. Since the cooling system of ICE vehicles have to operate under pressure, I was hoping that the kit could actually test under those conditions. That's not the case. Another kit is needed.

@walterk1221 3 года назад

@@jonathanthompson3359 I am sorry that my humor appears to have annoyed you. But the tool is not sold/marketed/advertisted as capable of pressure testing, hence the very reason tools exist that are marketed as being capable of pressure testing. By your apparent logic I should be disappointed that one those cannot vacuum-fill a cooling system.

@pagepro211 3 года назад

why didn't you put the schwaben on the radiator opening? why did you use the expansion tank opening?

@jayhernandez6812 3 года назад

How is not sucking out coolant?

@mrw1160 12 часов назад

Because he drained the car of coolant first

@lakkchina 4 года назад

I personally don’t like this tool. You can easily create leaks because the negative high pressure you are creating.

@FigureItAudi 4 года назад

@lakkchina I had the same thought while I was testing the tool for the first time. My opinion is that yes, there could be risk in placing the system under vacuum and causing damage specifically to older rubber hoses that are deteriorating but not yet leaking, or if the hose connections were loose to where they mount. That said, if you tore a hose apart during the vacuum test, you'd also be identifying a problem that you would have otherwise missed, or found out in a worse way. Other than hoses though, I don't see a seal being sucked off a housing or any other parts that are at risk.

@crd1101 3 года назад

Good video. That being said, why is EVERYONE becoming an "up talker" these days? It's like fingernails on a chalkboard! I understand high school girls doing it, because it's a group-think process that goes along with their Valley Girl lingo, but for grown men to do it is curious. Most every sentence during his explanation ended in an upward inflection, so he might as well have been saying "do you understand what I'm saying to you?" at the end of every sentence. SOOOOOOOO annoying!!! Again, a very informative video, but it was painful to watch.