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The mechanic at the shop on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie showed me his trick for finding a vacuum leak in 2 minutes
I was getting my truck looked at last month and the guy let me watch him work. He grabbed a cheap cigar and blew smoke around the intake manifold while the engine idled. Sure enough, the smoke got sucked into a cracked gasket near cylinder 3. He said he quit using carb cleaner years ago because it can catch fire and you miss small leaks. The whole thing took him about 2 minutes and cost me a $4 gasket. My check engine light had been on for 8 months and two other shops charged me $180 total to guess wrong. Does anyone else have a low tech trick that beats the expensive tools?
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karen27518h ago
My grandpa used the cigar trick on his 87 F-150 for years and he took it one step further. He'd hold the smoke right at the base of the throttle body and watch which way it drifted, that tells you if its a vacuum line vs a gasket without even touching anything. You can also spray a little soapy water on the suspect area first so the bubbles show you exactly where its pulling. One thing he always said though, do it with the engine cold or you risk the cigar ash dropping on hot exhaust. Takes like 5 minutes total and costs nothing if you already smoke.
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