The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Mighty vac

I tried my mighty vac for the first time today. It sucks. Wait, that's what it's supposed to do. But it sucks too hard. While trying to bleed my brakes I kept showing bubbles in the line. I kept waiting for the bubbles to clear but they wouldn't. The instructions say tiny bubbles may appear from air seeping around the threads of the bleeder valve. These bubbles weren't tiny. I finally shut the bleeder valve and the bubbles kept coming. I guess they were coming in at the adapter that slips over the valve.

The instructions say pump it until a certain amount of fluid is in the bottle. I guess they figure by that time surely all the air is out of the system. I guess so as the brakes seem firm but I believe I prefer the old fashion method of bleeding, using a helper to pump.

I got one a while back for the same purpose... I didn't know what to think of the Mityvac when I tried it. I imagined it pulling a ton of fluid really quickly and cleanly from the bleeder screw, but what really happened reminded me of Phantasm II where they plunge a syringe into the Evil Old Man and turn on a pump and a bunch of mustard-looking stuff splats into a canister. It was kinda like that. But with lesser results. The hose that the fluid had to travel down was big, and the nipple that fits into the bleeder screw is tiny, so I guess that makes sense. In the end I gently put the Mityvac down and went back to my $3.99 one man bottle thing.