Dropped $340 on a fancy smoke machine to find vacuum leaks and it sat in my box for 8 months

Willow Rodriguez · 2026-09-30T14:45:05.670212+00:00

I bought one of those expensive smoke machines last spring because I kept chasing lean codes on older cars and thought it would save me time. I mean it works fine, nothing wrong with the tool itself. But here is the thing, 9 out of 10 vacuum leaks I find are still just a cracked hose I could spot with a $6 can of carb cleaner and my ears. Last week I had a 2004 Ranger in the bay with a P0171 and I grabbed the smoke machine first out of habit, ran it for 20 minutes, and the leak was a rotted elbow right on top where I would have seen it in 30 seconds with a flashlight. I did the math and I have used that thing maybe 6 times since I got it, so that is like $56 a use and most of those jobs I could have done faster the old way. Not saying smoke machines are junk if you do a lot of EVAP work, but for general drivability stuff on beaters it was a waste of my money. Anybody else buy a tool they were sure would be a game changer and it just sat there?

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Dropped $340 on a fancy smoke machine to find vacuum leaks and it sat in my box for 8 months | Auto Mechanics - Guest Forum