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Can we talk about how everyone says you need a smoke machine for vacuum leaks?
Everyone on here swears you need a $900 smoke machine to find a vacuum leak, and I think that is a bunch of garbage for most jobs. Last month I had a 2006 F-150 in the shop with a lean code on bank 1, and instead of dragging out the smoke pro I grabbed a can of brake cleaner and a propane torch with no flame. Ten minutes of spraying around the intake gaskets and I found the leak at the number 4 runner, cracked gasket, $12 part. The smoke machine took 40 minutes to set up and pump last time I bothered with it, so for a simple top-end leak the old school way still wins. I am not saying toss the smoke machine, it earns its keep on evap systems and tiny pinholes in hard to reach spots. But telling new guys they cannot diag a vacuum leak without one is how you turn a 15 minute job into an hour long one. How many of you still keep a propane bottle in the top drawer for this exact reason?
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coleman.seth10d ago
a $900 smoke machine" seems like a wild price to argue about when a $20 can of brake cleaner and some common sense does the job on most top-end leaks. Not really seeing why this has to be some big debate.
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