Smoke test question

[hpaulb]

I have never done this. What is the easiest way to do this. Don't have access to a smoke machine. Having a lot of problems with idle. Want to check for vacuum leaks. Initial inspection looks fine on all the lines i can see.

[John_AZ]

Maybe start with the "bubble" test for vacuum leaks:
vacuum system test.....soooo easy

or
Try starting fluid --carefully at vacuum junctions and see if idle fluctuates.

J_AZ

[tamathumper]

Buy this transfer pump from Harbor Freight for $7.

http://www.harborfreight.com/multi-use-transfer-pump-66418.html

Buy a pack of cheap cigars. Block off your intake at the throttle body, and plumb the transfer pump's "out" side to your intake plenum somewhere. Stick a lit cigar into the "in" side of the transfer pump and pump away. I usually put the cigar in a soda can to keep it from burning anything near it.

I've used it to find several small leaks. You can Google-search for "DIY smoke tester" to get more ideas.

[djnolan]

Originally Posted by tamathumper

Buy this transfer pump from Harbor Freight for $7.

Multi-Use Transfer Pump

Buy a pack of cheap cigars. Block off your intake at the throttle body, and plumb the transfer pump's "out" side to your intake plenum somewhere. Stick a lit cigar into the "in" side of the transfer pump and pump away. I usually put the cigar in a soda can to keep it from burning anything near it.

I've used it to find several small leaks. You can Google-search for "DIY smoke tester" to get more ideas.

[djnolan]

We three kings of pelican parts
Had a Porsche that had the farts.

When you reved it, it ran quite awesome
But what a rough idle it had...

George and John suggested a way
To test the engine for a few maladies

First obtain some stale cigars
Then pump smoke into the intake manifod
And this will tell you what ails the car

Smoke poured out the ailing engine
What more proof did we'e nee-ed?

First the oil cap was leaking like crazy
So add some saran wrap to seal it up tight

Then the real leaks began to show up
The ICV leaked around the con-nect-or

The throttle body leaked around the shaft too
And worst of all, an injector seal was leaking too

What a big mess we found

Pelican parts might be able to save the day
As luckily these problems were easy to fix

It was just finding them that took en-gin-uity'
And a credit card to order repair parts

Thanks to George and John for the tip
Our Porsche's are now all cured from the farts
What a great day it was

[dgcantrell]

Ingenious... I have one of those and it never occurred to me to use it in that fashion. Duly noted, sir...

[ideola]

Another excellent and inexpensive source for generating smoke is a party fog machine.