ok,

they say necessity is the mother of invention. Hillbilly tech is her illegitimate cousin.

on my mustang i had codes popping for a vacuum leak. since they are so fun to hunt down i looked at the "smoke test" option. needless to say after i looked at the price of an "official" tool i called in the hillbilly tech dept.

now this is a one off tool, but could easily made into a handy mainstay in the garage.
this is to show how simple this tool is, others can be found in the same homemade ideal.

***since this involves fire..use at your own risk***

i took these things from around my house:
food jar
quick connect air tool coupler
nut to fit the coupler
air gun
compressor
lighter
smoke bombs
pop can
tin foil
sealant of choice

take the lid off your container and make two holes, one for each fitting.
(size will vary depending on what you use)

insert the hose fitting in one and your choice of air delivery in the other. i took the tip off the air gun and put it on bottom of the lid then put the threaded end of air gun through the lid and then tightened it.



skip this if using metal container:
take pop can and remove the top and bottom of it.
take enough tin foil to line bottom of jar with a small pad 1/4" thick or so
insert pop can into the jar
this portion will keep the jar from heating up and cracking, mine did in version 1.

seal the holes in the lid on the bottom of the lid, the air will want to escape so it will push up on the sealant.

now the fun part.


you should have something like the pic above. a container for the smoke and an air inlet and outlet.

now connect the outlet to a vacuum line on the engine, any will do. however, make sure it is going to the engine.

like so.

make sure car is off, set your air source to 20 psi (based on what i read).
verify the psi for your application.

with the device connected to the vac line, apply your source of smoke. for this instance i used cheap old smoke bombs.

now if your a smoker then take a couple of drags and connect your mouth to a vac line and blow. (at own risk)

close lid and then let the air in, do several shot of smoke. i did three before my leaks showed themselves. one other reason i used smoke bombs is for the color, easy to spot coming out. i also applied this tool to another line to double check for leaks. several tests can only help find any and all leaks.


well i hope this helps someone, like i said not a new idea but i thought it deserved to be shared.

 

ha! bet it works good

 

Now that is just genius!!!

 

friggin awesome! ^5...ill be making one tonight for sure....my mystery leak will be short lived i think....cheers

 

lol awesome. so uh....where was the leaks?

 

Oh...yeah the leaks. I had one on the fuel pressure reg and one on a bad vac cap.
luckily it was just lines and not gaskets.

 

You've been watching too much of the Red Green show I like it! Bring it along when we check your OBD system!

 

can do...yeah i have a redneck streak in me as wide as a roll of duct tape.
i am going to fab up a metal version when i get some free time. there is a local salvage shop around here that sells alot of odd things...sure i can fab up something.