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Review on πŸ”§ MASTERCOOL (81490) R134A Valve Core Remover Installer - Yellow Gold, 6.8 Inch (Standard 5mm Valve Cores Only) by Tyler Kota

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Good tool but not for JRA valve cores

tool = good. I = bad. The bottom valve on my 2006 Toyota 4Runner was leaking, so I decided to do the job myself. I'm not an AC specialist so I couldn't tell a JRA valve from a standard 8mm valve by a hole in the floor. I wasn't sure what my car had so I just bought a valve kit and this tool and hoped for the best. I don't even have to tell you the climax, do I? Come and find out, my valve on the low pressure side is a JRA valve (which I think is also called a high flow schrader valve) which is too big to go through this tool. I had read other reviews that said the Mastercool 5831 works with JRA valves (it's $30 more expensive) so I ordered it (thanks Revain same day shipping!) and it worked like a champ. In principle, the kit 81490 works for "thin" valve inserts, but not for "thick". I will not scold the tool for my ignorance in car air conditioner repair. It's well built and I'm sure there will be no problem fitting the valves it was designed for. I have not used this tool but it is all metal and made just as well as the 58531 which worked great. You don't know what you have and don't want to make the same mistake as me? I think you could just buy the 5831 kit and know that it will work with all types of valves. If you don't want to spend more money than you need, make sure you buy the right tool for your valve type: I found polarbearinc.com/Webstore/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=80 to have pretty good descriptions stock of the different types of valve cores that exist. If your research tells you that this tool suits your needs, you'll be happy with it.

Pros
  • Super for me
Cons
  • I will write later