Cooling System Pressure Tester

2012 Fiat 500 Cabrio Lounge Review, Specs, & Pictures

Fiat is celebrating its return to North America with the 500 (preferred pronunciation is “Cinquecento”), a small city car that will compete directly with the Smart Fortwo and the Aston Martin Cygnet. It is the first Italian automobile offered in North America for less than six figures since Alfa Romeo left our shores in the 90s. The car pays homage to the original 500, which was mass produced from 1957 to 1975 with more than three million examples made (For comparison, Chevy produced a similar number of Camaros in its first 18 years). Fiat revived the car in 2007 and it has celebrated success with more than 500,000 Fiat 500s sold in more than 80 countries. That’s everywhere in the world except North America, which Fiat hopes will change with the 2012 Fiat 500 and 500C. Our test vehicle was the 2012 Fiat 500C Lounge. The “C” stands for Cabrio and Lounge is the more upscale option next to the Pop submodel. Lounge adds, among other things, an automatic transmission as standard and items like chrome trim, side moldings, and 15-inch alloy wheels to better accentuate the exterior design. Not that the exterior design needs any help in grabbing people’s attentions; the Fiat 500C garnished stares and gawkers everywhere it went. The retractable dual-layer cloth top resides between two parallel beams that connect the A-, B-, and C-pillars. As the top retracts, it automatically forms stacks that end in one of two positions: at the top of the rear window or all the way down to the top of the trunk lid. With the top fully open, the stacked fabric blocks the rear view, making the partially retracted option more appealing due to the unobstructed view out the back window. Rear visibility aside, it is an innovative approach to creating an open-top car without sacrificing the structural strength and safety of such a small auto. The top lowers at speeds up to 60 mph but the button is not a one-touch operation and requires constant pressure. The eccentric styling of the exterior turns to outright Italian flair inside. Our test car was equipped with the ivory and bright red interior that is only available with the Bordeaux convertible top on the 500C. It is an airy and quiet cabin with simple layout and well-organized controls. Compared to the Smart car, it is also better appointed, with premium leather lining the seats and steering wheel. Below the controls is a console-mounted shifter for both automatic- and manual-equipped cars.

Tool Review – Coolant Pressure Tester — revlimiter.net

While I continue to wait for all the parts I need to complete some upgrades while I have Sharka’s head off, I thought I’d do a quick review of the tool that made it all possible. This is the Mityvac MV4560 “Cooling System Pressure Test Kit.” And it’s a beauty.

I bought this tool totally cold, not based on any friend’s recommendation or anything. I googled for a pressure tester and found this little guy on amazon. It had great reviews, it was less than half the price of the nearest competing tool, and it was available for shipping that day. So I bought. 35 bucks and a few days later (and free shipping), I had a pressure tester in my hands. Minutes after that, I’d diagnosed Sharka’s head gasket to be bad.

Bucky, my emerald green NB, is acting as the test subject for the above shots. Sharka is in pieces and his radiator is… hmm. I don’t know where it is off the top of my head. It’s not in any position to hold pressure at the moment anyway.

So this is all you do. You fit the correct cap to your radiator and you pump up the little gun. To get it up to pressure requires fewer than 10 pumps, more like 5-6. You’re supposed to pump it up to the top of the colored pressure range on the gauge and see if it leaks down (I didn’t do that for this stunt photo because the instructions slipped my mind). You do this with a cold engine. If it leaks down, you check all around the engine for coolant leaks. If none are found, the Mityvac has instructions for testing with the engine running and then with the engine running and up to operating temperature.

In Sharka’s case, 1 psi of pressure was lost over the course of a few minutes. A verrrry slow leak. And no coolant could be found anywhere around the motor, so I went on to the running and hot tests. With the engine running, the pressure on the gauge immediately rose a couple pounds over a few seconds. And with the engine hot and being revved, I was rewarded with a fluttering needle on the tester. The cooling system was clearly being pressurized by a piston.

The Mityvac has one more trick up its sleeve. It has a couple of little blue adapters that you can screw your radiator cap into. Then you just screw the yellow cap onto the other end and pump the trigger to pressurize the cap. If the cap loses pressure early, you have a bad one. No guessing or saying “eh, that cap looks pretty old….” and throwing out a perfectly good cap. I confess, while trying to find the source of Sharka’s water leak, I bought 3 radiator caps from various sources. I think all of them nearly equaled the $35 I spent on this Mityvac.

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