I feel extra stupid now for all the times I burned my arm trying to find the source of that annoying exhaust tick: How to Diagnose Exhaust Leaks With a Shop-Vac | FCP Euro

 

Briliant

 

holding a rag over the tailpipe doesn't work anymore?

 

Not a fan of the heat. Besides, my arms aren't that long.

 

Works fine on a diesel with no cat and a single exhaust. Get the wife to hold the rag over the exhaust (if she's a PITA don't give her leather work gloves) whilst you spray the joints with water + washing up liquid. Or alternatively, you hold the rag over the exhaust but wearing leather work gloves whilst she crawls underneath with the spray bottle ............... sounds good to me

 

The shop vac is better. No fumes and no hot manifolds, pipes or cats to burn you. Plus, how are you going to use soapy water on a hot exhaust? It will just vaporize as soon as it hits the pipes.


I have a leak in mine in the y-pipe just below the manifolds. I still have a slight tick when cold after having the manifolds ground flat and putting in all new gaskets so that's the only place left. I think I'll try this out to confirm it.

 

You are spot on right 04duxlr. I didn't consider the heat in the exhaust and unless you find the leak within a couple of minutes the liquid will evaporate on contact. (I'll go to the dunces step in the corner and wear the dunces hat )

 

I felt pretty smart using this trick over the summer. The best thing about it is you can usually hear / feel the leaks. There is no way you can hear leaks with a rover v8 running a few feet away and the fan blowing air everywhere.

 

You could also find a way to fog/smoke it along these same lines and just look for the smoke rather than spray with soap in those hard to reach areas. Lots of smoker/fog DIY's on youtube....saw one guy use a cigar as the smoke source, LOL.

 

That's a good idea! Now if I just need to rig up an adapter to pull smoke from a bee smoker into the shop vac inlet side and send up through the tailpipe. or maybe a 3 way with a butterfly valve to inject smoke between the shop vac and the hose. Probably don't absolutely have to have smoke but, it would help.