Homemade vacuum smoke tester

gookah

Zorg Guru (IV)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
Dec 7, 2011
Points
170
Location
Shropshire
Model of Z
2.8 Z3
I thought I would have a go at making a cheap version of a smoke machine to test for vacuum leaks

First of all started with a jar:
20200413_150559.jpg



then a soldering iron, this ones' a wood burning tool from Lidl at £6.99 but same idea
20200413_150603.jpg

I cut off the shroud so it would go lower into the jar:
20200413_150711.jpg



Then drilled a hole in the top and sealed it in with some gel superglue (don't use hot melt)
20200413_151043.jpg

20200413_152008.jpg

I then bought some tyre valves and fitted two of them:
20200417_143131.jpg

20200417_143050.jpg

20200417_145438.jpg


removed the valve part from inside one of them
20200417_145501.jpg


then fitted a hose to that one
20200417_145958.jpg




Then I put a microfibre in the jar and poured loads of Johnson's baby oil over it
shut the lid and plugged it in:
20200417_151327.jpg


Now connect a bike pump to the other valve and pump away to get the smoke out of the black tube:
20200417_151127.jpg


Cut a fingertip off a glove to fit the black tube end in and jubilee clip it on, remove the air filter and MAF and put the glove (wrist end) over the inlet hose and jubilee clip it on.
20200417_151201.jpg

20200417_151604.jpg


when you pump the bike pump the smoke pressurises and fills the vacuum lines (and glove!)
20200417_151745.jpg


then just look for leaks:
Inked20200417_151809_LI.jpg


I had one above that was coming from the joint by the jubilee clips.
so removed cleaned and refitted.
Checked also around the manifold vacuum plugs, the dipsick tube, oil filler cap, the manifold top, and all CCV hoses etc.





I had another puff of smoke from the middle of the rocker cover:20200417_160448.jpg

so had to remove it, clean off the old gasket and refit:
20200417_172626.jpg
the leak however was from the rubber washers under the centre bolts, so swapped them for new ones and now OK.

Quite pleased that there were not many leaks, and for less than £10, I found some I would never have been able to see.

The videos didn't turn out well so will have to take some more, There is a lot of smoke from this set up, and the videos show it much much better.
 
Last edited:

handsomejackuk

Zorg Guru (III)
Australian Zeds
The M44 Massive
Joined
Aug 8, 2016
Points
145
Location
t
nice one Gookah @colb made one a few months ago same sort of principal but with a large steel drum... his worked great i think @colb has modified and made a smaller one too... I need to get down there once lockdown is off and check my new installed rocker cover once i get the bits back.

I did think of making one myself using a vaping fag theres a few tutorials on how to do it that way too makes for a much easier solution too..
 

t-tony

The Legend
Deceased
Supporter
#ZedShed
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Points
226
Location
Torksey Lock,Lincoln, England
Model of Z
E89 Z4 23i Auto
I thought I would have a go at making a cheap version of a smoke machine to test for vacuum leaks

First of all started with a jar:
View attachment 139327



then a soldering iron, this ones' a wood burning tool from Lidl at £6.99 but same idea
View attachment 139329

I cut off the shroud so it would go lower into the jar:
View attachment 139331



Then drilled a hole in the top and sealed it in with some gel superglue (don't use hot melt)
View attachment 139333

View attachment 139367


I then bought some tyre valves and fitted two of these:


View attachment 139337

View attachment 139339

View attachment 139341


removed the valve part from inside one of them
View attachment 139343


then fitted a hose to that one
View attachment 139345




Then I put a microfibre in the jar and poured loads of Johnson's baby oil over it
shut the lid and plug it in:
View attachment 139347


Now connect a bike pump to the other valve and pump away to get the smoke out of the black tube:
View attachment 139349


Cut a fingertip off a glove to fit the black tube end in and jubilee clip it on, remove the air filter and MAF and put the glove (wrist end) over the inlet hose and jubilee clip it on.
View attachment 139351

View attachment 139353


when you pump the bike pump the smoke pressurises and fills the vacuum lines (and glove!)
View attachment 139355


then just look for leaks:
View attachment 139369

I had one above that was coming from the joint by the jubilee clips.
so removed cleaned and refitted.
Checked also around the manifold vacuum plugs, the dipsick tube, oil filler cap, the manifold top, and all CCV hoses etc.





I had another puff of smoke from the middle of the rocker cover:View attachment 139363

so had to remove it, clean off the old gasket and refit:
View attachment 139365
the leak however was from the rubber washers under the centre bolts, so swapped them for new ones and now OK.

Quite pleased that there were not many leaks, and for less than £10, I found some I would never have been able to see.

The videos didn't turn out well so will have to take some more, There is a lot of smoke from this set up, and the videos show it much much better.
Nice, cost effective bit of kit there Pete.:thumbsup:

Tony.
 

Rha

Zorg Guru (V)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Points
181
Location
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England.
Model of Z
Z4 coupe sport.
That’s a great bit of ingenuity Pete especially as you can’t really go to the shops for the bits you thought you had but didn’t. Makes thinking outside the box come into its own. Well done, when can you fit me in.( before Dave hopefully nudge nudge ;))

Roy.:)
 

t-tony

The Legend
Deceased
Supporter
#ZedShed
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Points
226
Location
Torksey Lock,Lincoln, England
Model of Z
E89 Z4 23i Auto
And get a Police escort . . . . :whistle:

Tony.
 

Dino D

Zorg Guru (V)
British Zeds
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Points
176
Location
Kent
Model of Z
2.8 Manual
This looks so mad and fun I might just give it go...
Wondering what else the smoke machine can be used for after the car is fixed :ymdevil:
 
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