Mityvac any good?

Have to bleed brakes on a couple cars and wife isn't interested in helping me all that much. Was looking for a sub $50 brake bleeder and found the Mityvac. Anyone have any experience with one or can recommend another that I could pick up at a local store? (Northern Tool, Harbor Freight, ect..)

Here it is at HF. http://t.harborfreight.com/mityvac-vacuum-pump-39522.html#pr-header-back-to-top-link

I have one, it works okay.

I have the one from HF, never had much luck with it. I would build a DIY pressure bleeder before buying a MityVac.

I have used the HF bleeder to do the motorcycle's brakes and the car's clutch twice (once because I changed the slave cyl, other time for master). I don't have any frame of reference bleeding any other way, but the pressure bleeder worked as it should have.

I have one. It's better than nothing, but I spent less than $50 and built myself a pressure bleeder from a hardware store weed sprayer and a collection of brake cylinder reservoir caps. Works way better.

Unless they have a cap specific to your MC (in which case they are awesome), I recommend using something like this instead (it's what I use these days): http://www.longacreracing.com/products.aspx?prodid=7659 Not as fast as the Mityvac, but less likely to leak around the MC lid.

I built my own pressure bleeder from a garden sprayer and a spare MC cap. $15 total.

http://faculty.ccp.edu/faculty/dreed/campingart/jettatech/bleeder/

Eventually I bought the fancy threaded aluminum cap from GarageJournal.com, so it is now a $40 solution.

The mityvac method really requires that your bleed nipples are sealed at the threads (there are some nice thread sealing compounds available for this) or you might just pull air through the threads and not very much fluid. They can be handy for reverse bleeding systems if you reconfigure them to provide pressure instead of vacuum as well as testing for vacuum leaks, etc.

Vac bleeders are terrible. Buy a buddy some beer and bleed it right.

In reply to turboswede:

I have been meaning to build one of those for a while. I need to get off my butt and just do it.

I've never been able to seal the bleed nipple threads well enough to get a vacuum bleeder to work. I'd vote for a pressure bleeder. For an off the shelf solution the Eezibleed has worked for me if I run it at a low pressure. You may have to get to make/modify a master cylinder cap to adapt it to your car.

The Mityvac is still a useful tool for testing components or looking for leaks.

pappatho wrote: I've never been able to seal the bleed nipple threads well enough to get a vacuum bleeder to work. I'd vote for a pressure bleeder. For an off the shelf solution the Eezibleed has worked for me if I run it at a low pressure. You may have to get to make/modify a master cylinder cap to adapt it to your car. The Mityvac is still a useful tool for testing components or looking for leaks.

Didn't have that much luck with a Mityvac bleeding the brakes on my C10 myself. I decided instead to try gravity bleeding the brakes by leaving the fitting at each wheel open for about 15 minutes each with no touching the brakes and had much better results.

One easy bleeding product that does seem to work well, at least for me, is Speedbleeders. Only drawback is this approach requires fitting everything you use them on with its own separate set.

Got the Mity and it isn't terrible.

Small container was annoying at first till I realized the container would be full before your master cylinder would be empty so once I realized it was a fail safe I was ok with that.

The hoses they give you aren't snug enough (diameter too large). Luckily I had some from another project that fit tight inside the hoses they provide and give a better connection to the bleeder nipple and canister.

They will pull air threw the screws of the bleeder, that will be a problem with all vac bleeders. Solution is to pull the bleeder valves (brake fluid will leak out so have a catch can and something to clean the brake fluid up ready), clean them, then use plumbers tape/ thread seal tape and wrap it around the screws about ten times. After that I had no problems bleeding the brakes at between 5-8 in of pressure.

Would have been easier with the wife but she declined to help and any friends would have been weeks due to my wonky work schedule. This wasn't a bad alternative. I'm just glad I had better tubing and the plumbers tape already.

Useful tool, but not for brakes. I use it for changing shock fluids and other such things, where I actually need and use a vacuum.

Using a vacuum pump to pull fluid invariably sucks air around the threads of the bleeder. So you get a tube full of air bubbles from this, and no ability to determine if any air is coming from the brake system itself.

For brakes, ~2' of clear tubing and a can has worked consistently better than anything else I've ever used, including pressure bleeders. It's a free Speedbleeder, as the fluid itself acts as a one way valve.

Good enough to get the vehicle drivable till the wife or kids get home.