Leak Down Tester Recommendation
 

Can anyone recommend a leak down tester (911 and 964). Thanks, Keith.

With apologies to Warren, the Harbor Freight leak down tester is a poor consumer grade tool.
It claims to be a 100 psi capacity tool. The actual operating pressure is less than 20 psi. It is governed by the capacity of the down stream gauge. Full pressure of the second gauge is less than 20 psi.
It does give the user relative readings, but it does not compare to a real commercial shop device that gives repeatable readings with a reliable percentage of leak down.
If you are looking for a commercial grade tool, keep looking.

I got mine on fleaBay for <$50... Longacre brand :) I have looked at the HF product and it certainly is cheap... especially when it is on sale! BUT, if you were to simply replace the 2nd gage with decent one you would have a really nice tool IMHO... Its the middle part that makes the tool work, not the gages.

Interesting to note the pressure limitations... the range is not too important, but the higher the input/output the better your resolution for reading your results. Find a gage that goes to 100 (not 11 :)) It makes it oh so easy without having to do math in your head (mine hurts when that happens... does yours?).

You don't need a dual gage, but they are nicer. This assumes you have a regulator on your compressor... if not you need the dual gage or go get a regulator :)

Try and get a gage that comes with both plug sizes in case you want to use it on other cars or you twin plug and go with the common smaller plug setup.

Best regards,

Michael

An update to my previous post. I located a 100# gauge to replace the under 20# gauge on the HF leakdown tester.
Installed the 100# gauge and now I'm happy with my HF leakdown tester.
Interestingly the 100# gauge came from HF as part of a $9.95 fuel injection test kit.
The two gauges read exactly the same before flowing into a cylinder, thus are trustwothy.
The test results are identical to a commercial leak down tester I borrowed from a local Pcar shop.
I'm happy now.