There've been a number of threads on the virtues of the power bleeder, and I'm convinced I need one, and I'm in the process of buying one... There are two of them appropriate for the 245 on Nick's site:

European Power Bleeder $50
Black Label European Power Bleeder $65

The difference between the two? "Custom-machined aluminum cap and deluxe swivel fitting. Comes with an extra length of high grade poly urethane tubing..."

Anyone used the deluxe Black Label model? Is it worth the extra $15?
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1992 245 w/M47 transmission, 225k miles

I bought a garden sprayer from home depot(smallest one they had could potentialy hold a gallon of fluid or more) and a couple of metal fitting as well while I was there. I had the gentleman sell me some that would fit on both sides of the res. cap as well as attach the sprayer hose. I drilled a hole in a spare res. cap, eliminating the vent hole in the cap, and sealing the fittings to the cap with nitrile o-rings and teflon tape. The shortcomings of my design, which I borrowed from the tools section of the faq, is that the hose has to be rotated with the cap as it is screwed onto the res. This isn't a big deal for me as the cap only turns a couple of revolutions anyway. Also, I dont have a pressure gauge on mine, but I just dont pump it up alot and I have had great results with it. Total investment approx.$15 and 45-60 minutes.
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Sir Remulon VonDilderquat III 84 244GL

Okay, I *love* the Motive PowerBleeder. I've used a lot of devices in the past, starting with the hand-held MityVac, through that thing (name escapes me) that was pressurized by a spare tire, ..., and finally this Motive PowerBleeder. This is the best I've ever used, a far, far improvement over anything earlier, and everyone who works on their car's brakes should have this over anything else! BTW, I've used it a lot already (four cars, flushing fluid annually) over the two (or three?) years that I've had it.

But for the version sold by IPD, it has one shortcoming -- the hose is too short, and I think other folks on this list who do 240s would agree. I.e., the most comfortable place to rest it (when it's attached to the M/C tank) is to sit it on the battery (or ABS unit, if '92-3). But because the hose is short, it's under some tension, and when the tank is almost empty (it's no longer heavy with fluid) it tends to fall over on its side -- when filled, however, there's no problem. If the hose was longer, it wouldn't be stretched as tight (the hose develops a "coil" when it's stored, and tends to wind up) and wouldn't as readily pull the tank over.
I plan to eventuall replace the hose with a longer one, so the tank won't fall over when the tank runs low.
But certainly, some increased length of the hose is *not* worth $15.

And also, I have no trouble with the cap -- again, I don't know why they're even bothering to offer an aluminum one.

As for the swivel, I can't imagine what that's all about.

Just academically speaking, from the description, the hose is not only longer but more pliable than vinyl. The swivel, obvious to anyone who's used this contraption, eliminates the need to pre-twist the short vinyl hose to compensate for the turns needed to tighten the reservoir cap. I'm with you on the aluminum- must be someone dropped the other on the concrete and busted it all to smithereens, Ken.

In light of the details you describe....

1) not just longer, but more flexible (less stiff).
2) a swivel so that I don't have to pretwist the hose to put the cap on.

... I guess I'd go for the $15 upgrade. It's all because of that too short, too stiff, vinyl hose -- the only drawback.
And maybe the aluminum was necessary because of that swivel mount?

Anyway, I guess that including all this would make the PowerBleeder perfect! :-)

Regards,

Thanks for the responses... I ordered the basic model. I was considering making one, -- as per (http://www.bmw-m.net/TechProc/bleeder.htm), -- but I took the lazy way out.

I didn't get the fancy model because I was worred that the aluminum cap might corrode over time. It looks from the picture like they anodized it, but if it got scratched, etc...

I can add an additional length of tubing with a swivel connection for less than $15.

I'm looking forward to trying it out this weekend =))
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1992 245 w/M47 transmission, 225k miles

Ooh that sounds like perfection I'm gonna trade up for sure.