Cylinder Leakage Tester

Can anyone recommend a good kit? Don't say Harbor Freight. I will never walk into that place again.

I want a quality tool, but I don't need shop grade that is going to get used to death.

I was looking at some of the ones on Tooltopia, but I'm not familiar with the brands they are showing.

 

I've bought Sealey VSE2020

You can see it here:
http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/Cylinder-Leakage-Tester-2-Gauge-Sealey-VSE2020

Works great for someone like me that uses it maybe 2 or 3 times a year

 

This is a very nice unit and similar to the one that is sold by Mac Tools....
http://www.tooltopia.com/otc-tools-5609.aspx

David

 

Ahh, David to the rescue. I was hoping you'd chime in. Funny, that was the one I was looking at. Order submitted. Thanks, man. I may be emailing you with some questions. My car has got me baffled right now.

 

No problem...A bit odd to see coolant as your past photos would appear to indicate. Although I've just witnessed first hand a QV with multiple cracks in both cylinder heads, I've never seen coolant around the valves....and would be doing some serious detective work before condemning the heads.

You can always reach me at [email protected]

Best,
David

 

I put a coolant pressure tester on the expansion tank and then pressurized it to 16 psi. It sat for an hour and the gauge didn't budge. I'm planning to send the oil off for analysis and do a cylinder leak down test and see if that tells me anything. It really has me confused that the car runs great. I'm planning to redo the coolant leak test with the car warm and see if the results change.

 

A leakdown tester in nothing more than a manifold, regulator and a couple of gauges. Even (matched)inaccurate gauges are fine as it's a percentage you're looking for.
I have used the HF set and am happy with it.
Nothing about a cylinder leakage test will help you find why coolant is in the intake tract.
I'd rather invest in a borescope to see if this coolant is there when the intake has NOT been dis-assembled.

 

Hmm...80psi of pressure in the combustion chamber will find any cracks in the water jacket and likely show bubbles in the expansion tank. If bubbles are found in the expansion tank, the coolant passages in the head may be compromised. Hopefully, his combustion chambers don't look like these QV heads...
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I'm not a prayin' man, but "please, God, no."

 

The best way to check it is to put the suspect cylinder at TDC, apply shop air (180PSI) to the cylinder and then put a coolant leak detector on the expansion tank with a little pressure (10psi). If you see the pressure rise on the coolant leak gauge, then you know where the problem is.

Brian Brown
Patrick Ottis Co.

 

bdc might be better

rgds,
Vincenzo

 

At what point are both valves closed at BDC? Kinda hard to pressurize the cylinder if a valve is open.