Emergency Purchase - Need smoke machine for vacuum leak

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Fordiesel69

Joined
Sep 10, 2005
Messages
2,339
Location
Erie, PA
Is there a cheap but good smoke machine that can inject the smoke to pinpoint vacuum leaks. Need to travel thursday to attempt a repair which means I need to order one right now. I can use other methods but if I am not successful I will need to use one of these anyways.

I hear Vevor is catching on making some nice stuff but was curious if there are others?
 
In store or online/Amazon?

Does HF have one? That would unfortunately be my first step if this was an emergent thing and having a tool in hand is a must occur situation. There tend to be lots of reviews on HF tools, FWIW.
 
Get one with a pressure gauge and one that lets you know how much baby oil is left. Don't get a SOLARY branded machine. The pressure gauge broke the first time I used it, and I'm not the only one. With respect to the oil level, you need an indicator there because too low and you will burn up the heating element, and too high oil level it won't heat up enough to smoke.
 
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Fordiesel69 said:
I know you were joking but would this work?
Click to expand...
Kinda. If you're really in a rush but have time to build one with readily available parts just go homebrew with a steel can or paint pot, soldering iron and pressure regulator.

Should be able to get everything at a hardware store.
 
I can't believe I'm advocating for corded anything as I'm a huge user of cordless tools, but I wish smoke machines were 110V. I just don't like pulling down the vehicle battery, and if the battery is weak I always wonder if smoke output suffers.

Even the high end units like OTC and Icon are 12V and I'm not aware of converters -- but of course you could cobble together your own.

I also don't follow the logic -- it's not as if most people are looking for vacuum leaks in a remote setting in the bush without alternating current receptacles readily available.
 
D60 said:
I can't believe I'm advocating for corded anything as I'm a huge user of cordless tools, but I wish smoke machines were 110V. I just don't like pulling down the vehicle battery, and if the battery is weak I always wonder if smoke output suffers.

Even the high end units like OTC and Icon are 12V and I'm not aware of converters -- but of course you could cobble together your own.

I also don't follow the logic -- it's not as if most people are looking for vacuum leaks in a remote setting in the bush without alternating current receptacles readily available.
Click to expand...
Cobbling it together wouldn't be hard, there's lots of 12V PSU available in the market. At least one of the OTC specs 15A current so I'd get a 20A PSU, OR if you have 110V anyway, hook up a battery charger in parallel to keep the battery from drooping or dropping too low.
 
Go to the dollar store and get one of those super soaker suction guns that kids use as a squirt guns and stuff a lit swisher sweet into the end of it and suck a ton of smoke into it. Then, connect it to a vacuum line and inject the smoke into the engine.
 
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