OxmanWI
Member
Cigar vacuum leak test
For those of you that have lean codes or are troubleshooting an idle problem do a vacuum test first before you replace sensors or hoses. You can try the propane or carb cleaner trick to find a jump in idle. But here is a way you can pinpoint a vacuum leak with cigar smoke. This may not work for everyone, depending your set up. This method is a lot cheaper than building your own smoke machine or having to pay an auto repair shop to do a vacuum smoke test. Hope this helps.
First buy some strong nitrile gloves; these are some of the gloves used by law enforcement and EMT's for extra strength. Wrap the glove around your throttle body opening. You can use a rubber band to keep a tight seal, but I used a bungee cord to make sure it wouldn’t budge.
Next buy a cheap cigar.
Find a vacuum line that is located after the throttle body.
Light your cigar, take a puff of smoke and blow it into your vacuum line. You should see your nitrile glove blow up at the throttle body. Make sure you check your glove for leaks at the throttle body and the glove itself. By doing this you are creating positive pressure in the intake manifold. Where ever there is a leak in your system that is where the smoke will seep out.
In this picture you can see that the throttle body gasket seal are bad. This is where a leak is detected.
Now that you found your leak, replace the appropriate parts or hoses and enjoy your cigar.
Thank you,
Josh
For those of you that have lean codes or are troubleshooting an idle problem do a vacuum test first before you replace sensors or hoses. You can try the propane or carb cleaner trick to find a jump in idle. But here is a way you can pinpoint a vacuum leak with cigar smoke. This may not work for everyone, depending your set up. This method is a lot cheaper than building your own smoke machine or having to pay an auto repair shop to do a vacuum smoke test. Hope this helps.
First buy some strong nitrile gloves; these are some of the gloves used by law enforcement and EMT's for extra strength. Wrap the glove around your throttle body opening. You can use a rubber band to keep a tight seal, but I used a bungee cord to make sure it wouldn’t budge.
Next buy a cheap cigar.
Find a vacuum line that is located after the throttle body.
Light your cigar, take a puff of smoke and blow it into your vacuum line. You should see your nitrile glove blow up at the throttle body. Make sure you check your glove for leaks at the throttle body and the glove itself. By doing this you are creating positive pressure in the intake manifold. Where ever there is a leak in your system that is where the smoke will seep out.
In this picture you can see that the throttle body gasket seal are bad. This is where a leak is detected.
Now that you found your leak, replace the appropriate parts or hoses and enjoy your cigar.
Thank you,
Josh
