I dropped $300 on a fancy coolant flush machine and it's been a total headache

I know everyone says a dedicated machine is the only way to do a proper flush, but I gotta disagree. I bought a pressurized coolant exchange unit about eight months ago, thinking it would save me time and do a better job than the old spill-and-fill method. Honestly, it's been more trouble than it's worth. The hoses are a pain to hook up on some newer cars with weirdly placed fill necks, and I've had it leak twice, making a huge mess. It also doesn't play nice with some of the European models I see in my shop, where you really need to run the engine and bleed the system anyway. For the money, I could have bought a good vacuum filler and been just as fast, if not faster, on most jobs. I'm starting to think the old-school way, with a bit of patience, gets the air out better. Has anyone else found these machines to be more hype than help on a lot of common vehicles?

4 comments

4 Comments

fiona_west211mo ago

Oh man, @the_elliot, you're right about the quick-connects. But the BIGGEST headache for me is the electrical side. My unit has a little pump and it freaks out if the car's battery voltage is even a little low during the cycle. It'll just stop and throw a code, leaving me halfway through a job. I've had to hook up a charger just to run the stupid machine.

the_linda2mo ago

Sounds about right. My own coolant flush story involves more spilled fluid than a toddler with a juice box.

the_elliot2mo ago

Tell me about the leak issues, were they from the machine's own fittings or did the hoses just not seal right on the car? I've heard some guys say the quick-connects on those units are junk.

avery_jackson2mo ago

Ugh, tell me about it. Honestly, I saw a whole thread where a guy took his brand new unit apart. The leaks were almost always from the cheap o-rings inside the machine's own quick-connect fittings. They'd get pinched or just wear out super fast. The hoses were usually fine, it was the metal connectors on the unit itself that were the problem. Some guys said swapping those factory o-rings for better quality ones fixed it right up.