Cool Tool Tuesday: Combustion Leak Detector

So you’re thinking that you have a head gasket leak but you couldn’t tell after listening with a stethoscope. You wondering about buying a compression tester or leak down gauge but have never used one. The thought crosses your mind that there’s got to be an easier way. There is!

We found a couple of neat little combustion leak detectors that are priced below the cost of a leak down gauge and are simple to use. No turning the engine over several times to measure the dry compression and wet compression. No pumping up the compression. Once again we are going to use a worn out phrase to describe this cool tool: “So easy a caveman can do it.”

This simple tool confirms the existence of a combustion leak. Sorta like a pregnancy test kit for your car.

Check out the video of the compression leak detector in use:

The product featured in this video is sold by an international company named Sidchrome. There are other similar products available on the market and even one that you can order through Walmart called the UVIEW 560000 Combustion Leak Tester.

What we found to be most useful with these tools was the fact that they did not require any disassembly of the engine to perform the test. All you are required to do is take off the radiator cap and start the car. It just doesn’t get any easier than that to confirm what you may already suspect.