06 X5 3.0i p0174 p1093

[workingonit]

Smoke testing, done wrong (at first)

1) Homemade tester: I made my own tester using a sauerkraut jar, a wick, and a (now)$10 soldering iron. I used a (now)$10 fuel/oil siphon pump to supply air. It worked for just a few minutes (total time over three tries), but produced a low volume of smoke and the soldering iron failed. I didn't find any vacuum leaks using it.
Attachment 83714

2) Seeking Professional help (for smoke testing, not psychiatric): While getting my wife's '98 GMC's tires replaced, new rear brake cylinders and hoses replaced, and brake fluid renewed & bled, I inquired about smoke testing the X5 at both shops. I was quoted $150 at one, $160 at the other shop. I declined.

3) Having fun buying a tester from Amazon: I perused Ebay and Amazon for months, trying to find a cheap, but good-working "professionally constructed" smoke tester, before I bought one (I was trying to get one for around $75 (but of a certain design I liked...). https://xoutpost.com/1234590-post14.html I bought one of them (AKWH) from Amazon, but it and its' replacement arrived broken; my recouse was to buy the original it was a clone of (Autoline Pro) for $102 (down from $120 for Black Friday), and negotiated a further discount from Amazon for the time and effort I spent on the phone with customer service and boxing-up & shipping the defective clones I sent back. https://xoutpost.com/1235012-post23.html I still haven't actually used it yet, something is alway coming up to prevent me from doing so, but it looks great!