mityvac, MB diesel owners hero.

[davidhoward]

Originally Posted by Ganaraska

I made my own vacuum pump. It's ten times better than a mityvac for one tenth the cost. I made it originally for bleeding brakes but it has many other uses, such as siphoning liquids and testing MB vacuum systems.

You must like doing things the hard way...

Mity Vac from Sears: $69 with case and adapters etc...
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00947835000

or $34 if all you want is the pump...
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...pecialty+Tools

and while your at it, $12 for the Mity Vac fluid transfer pump is also a good idea...
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...pecialty+Tools

Let's see 1/10 of $34 is $3.40 (it's hard to believe you can build much for $3.40)

[kip Foss]

Harbor Freight has Mityvac for about $30 all day long.

[Dave Horvath]

I never owned one.
Just a good gauge and a handfull of golf tees.

[JimmyL]

Originally Posted by whunter

For all new diesel Mercedes owners.

Must be raining in Detroit today........

[whunter]

How is the weather in Texas?

[300SD81]

Just picked up my first MityVac from Harbor Freight Its one of the brass ones too.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92474

[whunter]

Have you used it yet?

[tobybul]

Originally Posted by Benster Tom

Whunter, What's a reasonable price on the MiniVac's?

AZ sells them for $29.99, Sears for $34.99 and btw, Sears has a decent vacuum gage kit for $19.00. Got mine from NAPA for a bit more before I saw one in Sears last night. Went to pick up a set of feeler gages preparing for the valve adj job on the D's.

[pawoSD]

Harbor Freight sells one thats completely metal in construction, has a vac gauge, a bleed/release valve, a brake bleeding containter/kit, extra tubing, and several connectors, for like under $20. Its very sturdy/well made. They had the mityvac brand ones too, but they were like $30, and look flimsy in comparison(all plastic). The metal one we got works great!

[Hatterasguy]

Oh really? When my plastic one dies I'll go for the upgraded model.

[Jadavis]

I was going to post about how I got a vacuum pump from a science site. I use it with a vacuum flask, funnel, and filter paper to do patch tests on my fuel to see how dirty it is.

It is the same pump...

http://www.onlinesciencemall.com/Sho...id/0/SFV/30852

The sample set up is this one...

http://www.onlinesciencemall.com/Sho...id/0/SFV/30852

I need to add the vacuum gage to it.

-Jim

[Kynetx]

Originally Posted by Ganaraska

I made my own vacuum pump. It's ten times better than a mityvac for one tenth the cost. I made it originally for bleeding brakes but it has many other uses, such as siphoning liquids and testing MB vacuum systems.

If you want to make your own electric vacuum pump here's how to do it. Start with a small refrigeration pump from a fridge or air conditioner. Mount it to a wooden board for a base. Add a tin can to hold the mayonnaise jar. The mayonnaise jar is your vacuum reservoir and catch can for liquids. Run a piece of 5/16 clear plastic tubing from the pump intake to the jar lid. Run another tube off the jar lid to whatever you want to vacuum. In order to do this, you will have to solder 2 tubes into the jar lid. So pick a jar with a metal lid, and save some of the tubing when you salvage the pump.

To wire it, take the fridge cord and wire it up. Get one of those lamp switches that goes in the cord, and put it on near the plug. This is your control switch.

Now when you need vacuum you can attach the hose, plug it in and flick the switch.

When bleeding brakes I put the pump on the floor near the master cylinder so I can hold the switch and top up the master cylinder at the same time. Connect the hose to the bleeder valve, and open it 1/4 turn. Then turn on the pump until the fluid comes up the clear plastic line. Once the brakes are bled I switch off the pump and go and close the bleeder. When I pull off the hose the residual vacuum prevents the fluid from spilling.

With this device it is possible to bleed the brakes in 1/2 hour, solo, and not get a drop of fluid on the floor.

Now if you want to use it to test vacuum systems it might be handy to add a T fitting and plug in a vacuum gauge. But this is not strictly necessary if all you want to do is find out if something is working or not.

If you have an old fridge or air conditioner, or can find one, and you have a tin can, a board and an old mayonnaise jar you should be able to build one of these for practically nothing.

This is brilliant. I'd love to see a writeup or at least a few pictures. I have an old mini-fridge that I could cannibalize for parts. Don't worry, the freon is gone.

[oldsinner111]

I use my turbo boost vac gauge to rouble shoot vac problems when engine is running.