Dr. David Fleming
10-10-2010, 10:53 PM
Does anyone regularly use a "engine cylinder leak down tester"?
This tool is used by professional engine builders to qualify the condition of the engine without invasive inspection. I heard of it by reading Smokey Yunick's books and he discribed it as able to identify ring and valve problems before they ever surfaced. The racers dream.
Considering the estimated 400 hour engine life of most Mercruiser Big Block engines I think I could spot any engine performance issues long before they begin to get expensive. Would be nice to measure the engine in its healthy stage and then as the hours go up actually observe any changes.
I bought one from Eastwood a couple of years ago but haven't quite got the knack of using it - mostly because I need to have some kind of degreed engine vibration damper (flywheel). Unlike the old days I don't know if my stock 502 MAG MPI engine has any timing marks? I need to figure out how to mark the damper so that the cylinders could be brought to TDC for the test. Some kind of degreed tape that could be applied to the damper? Then it would just be a matter of spinning the engine over and applying the tester to the cylinders.
Anyone got any experience with this? Seems like a lot of professonal mechanics have the leak down tester but I never see or hear of them using it.
This tool is used by professional engine builders to qualify the condition of the engine without invasive inspection. I heard of it by reading Smokey Yunick's books and he discribed it as able to identify ring and valve problems before they ever surfaced. The racers dream.
Considering the estimated 400 hour engine life of most Mercruiser Big Block engines I think I could spot any engine performance issues long before they begin to get expensive. Would be nice to measure the engine in its healthy stage and then as the hours go up actually observe any changes.
I bought one from Eastwood a couple of years ago but haven't quite got the knack of using it - mostly because I need to have some kind of degreed engine vibration damper (flywheel). Unlike the old days I don't know if my stock 502 MAG MPI engine has any timing marks? I need to figure out how to mark the damper so that the cylinders could be brought to TDC for the test. Some kind of degreed tape that could be applied to the damper? Then it would just be a matter of spinning the engine over and applying the tester to the cylinders.
Anyone got any experience with this? Seems like a lot of professonal mechanics have the leak down tester but I never see or hear of them using it.