Leak down Walkthrough?

[Silverstar]

Does anyone have a link for a walkthrough on leak down tests? All this talk of cracked ringlands has me paranoid.

 

Plus I have no money for mods right now, but cannot overcome the urge to do some work in the garage!

[rao]

1. Take the spark plugs out.

2. Screw in the leak down tester to the spark plug hole.

3. Put the cylinder you want to test at TDC (side center for a Subaru )

4. Connect your compressed air source to the leak down tester and regulate it down to the suggested pressure.

5. Wait the specified time and see what the air pressure is

6. Repeat for the rest of the cylinders.

7. Marvel that even though you read thea 100% of Legacy's have broken ringlands here, your are just fine

8. Put the spark plugs back in.

 

Technically you should have the engine warm, but no one does that because you shouldn't remove spark plugs when they are warn and you will burn yourself if you try.

 

If you want to do a compression test it is similar but you take out all of the plugs first and after you screw in the tester into each plug hole you hit the starter for a few seconds and see what the gauge reads.

[Silverstar]

The getting the cylinder to TDC was my concern. I bought some of those x-ray glasses, but if they don't work I'll need a backup plan.

 

Taking off all the accessories and timing belt cover to check pulley markings seems like a bit much. What's the easy way to do this.

 

I fully expect #7 to be the case (thank you Jorge!), but I figure it would be fun to do with all my up coming time off.

[rao]

You can guess at TDC or use a piston height checker or one of a dozen other ways to get close enough.