WHY Smoke Test Is Better Than a High Pressure Test

I LIKE using a smoke test to find a leak a lot better than using a high pressure test. If your Turbo has a boost problem a high-pressure test is normally what you do. I have found that any hard to find leak is useful to start with a smoke test.The pressure test can be pretty scary because if you have any of your plugs lose they can pop out at you. At the very least I would put a towel or something over the plug so if it doesn’t pop out and come come flying out at you. I also find that a smoke test is very visual. If there is a leak that smoke will start to come out. Then you can really see where it’s coming from. Then after you tried to fix it, you could puff some smoke and see and verify that you have the problem fixed. These are some of the reasons I prefer the smoke machine over a high pressure test.

To plug the hoses we are going to use old food can because the are the perfect size. Then put the hose clamp over the hose to make it air tight.

As you can see, there is already smoke coming from multiple places. We will go ahead fix and those leaks and test it again. If we had compressed air it would be so much harder to find these leaks. The smoke shows you visually where your leaks are. I also like this smoke test better because with compressed air you have put 20psi of pressure into the system and then put your face up to it to hear if it leaking, I sure do not want it to explode while the face is there. With the smoke test there is almost no pressure.

Now put the car back together and you now have a leak free system. Now you can it out for a test drive to see if everything works!!