Smoke Diagnostics Machine

[ukflyboy]

Hi all,

I've had a rough running problem with my car which has been going on far too long now and has rendered the car undriveable (dedicated thread on it in the TVR forums). Having already replaced the manifold intake and fuel rail gaskets, we want to make sure there are absolutely no leaks elsewhere in the system; does anyone have any experience with smoke diagnostic machines such as the Smoke Wizard? They seem a very robust way of determining where any leaks are on the intake side and should enable us to rule out excess air getting into the system.

People have suggested in the past to just spray a bunch of carb cleaner around the engine and listen to the engine note but I've not had great success with that (couldn't really spray it into where there was a previous leak) and the engine isn't actually running well enough at the moment for that to be achievable. If anyone knows where I might be able to hire one of these machines or if there is someone in Oxfordshire with one that might be able to help then I'd be VERY grateful!

[stevieturbo]

I've never had a leak that couldnt be found...where I've even considered buying such an item.

Most who own them say they're great and I can see some value in them. But for the price...how the hell are people not able to spot leaks without one ?

And why are you adamant that an air leak is your problem ?

Surely if you've had it all apart, had a good look around when putting it back together etc...it should be pretty obvious if there is or isnt any chance of leaks somewhere ?

[227bhp]

Yes they're very useful (but expensive) tools, some Dynos have them so try ringing them. Also try your regional section of PH.
We recently had a boosted car which was leaking like a sieve, a few minutes on one of these and we found various leaks.
The oddest ones were when I pulled the dipstick and smoke came out of there, it turned out a one-way valve on a crankcase breather to plenum hose had turned into a non-valve so the boosted air was going into the crankcase and out of another breather or the dipstick. Another was again a missing one-way valve so the boosted air was actually going into a vac reservoir which drove the heater controls and out the other side, we would never have found these with this machine.

Edited by 227bhp on Tuesday 7th May 12:51

[Steve_D]

A quick google will point you at a number of DIY smoke machine builds.
Smoke cartridges are readily available so the cartridge in a plastic pot looks like a way forwards.

Steve

[GreenV8S]

ukflyboy said:

(dedicated thread on it in the TVR forums)

Link?

[ukflyboy]

Thanks for the input folks. To clarify, I'm not in any way adamant that a leak is the cause, but it would be nice to absolutely rule it out and know that everything is nipped up pretty airtight. I've seen the home made jobbies, but thought I would see if there was a dedicated one floating around out there that could be borrowed/hired. They are expensive, which rules out buying one for (hopefully) just the one use.

GreenV8S - it's on my S3, pretty sure you've commented on it in our forum. I'm going to knock it back to the top for fresh input shortly.

[GreenV8S]

I've not used a smoke vacuum leak detector, but I can see how they might be useful to detect leaks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYCh13TXGkg shows "how to make a vacuum smoke leak detector for cheap" and it looks like a relatively simple DIY project. If you try it, I'd be interested to know how you got on.

[stevieturbo]

So what exactly do you mean by rough running ?

All the time ? only under certain conditions ?

What are mixture readings on each side of the engine ? Are all cylinders firing when this is occurring ?

Is ignition system healthy ?

Have you done any actual diagnostic tests to try and pinpoint where a problem may lie ?

[voicey]

I have a home made smoke machine built from an old ammo can from my Army days, a thick wire wrapped in gauze (socked in baby oil) and an old air regulator. The wire is attached to an old car battery and produces loads of smoke. Low pressure air enters the box and exits through a hose. There's no way I'd pay big money for a commercial smoke machine.

I use it a lot to smoke out the EVAP systems on 360 and F430 spiders as the pipework is hidden under the roof cassette. I also use it to test the exhaust manifolds on every F430 that comes into the workshop (they have a major design flaw).

[GreenV8S]

Sardonicus said:

stuff

If you structure your text with sentences and paragraphs it makes it far easier to read. Are you aware that whole post contained just a single full stop?

[Sardonicus]

GreenV8S said:

Sardonicus said:

stuff

If you structure your text with sentences and paragraphs it makes it far easier to read. Are you aware that whole post contained just a single full stop?

All sorted I was trying to be helpful whilst chasing up parts that had yet to arrive so time was against me its OK though as next time I wont bother

Edited by Sardonicus on Thursday 16th August 10:56