Hey guys,my biggest pet-peeve is leaky equipment. I like my stuff to be dry! I've spent the last few days chasing hidden oil/fluid leaks on everything from track hoes to trucks to curb machines. I was wondering if anyone has any tricks and/or secrets to locate those hard to find leaks. Thanks!
Well, I have nothing special to offer but the basics. First if it's a slow, hard to find leak wash everything with a pressure washer and try to see it before the machine rocks around and fans blow it all over making it hard to find. Next is dyes. For example Cat has a red and blue dye you put in hyd or p/t oils to make finding leaks easier and also being able to tell which system is leaking may narrow down the hoses/lines in question.
Like big ben said, clean it off. I use brake cleaner mostly. And always keep looking "up". Sometimes you'll think you've found it and it's actually a leak above dripping down on something.
I always keep a bottle of baby powder in the service truck. Wipe everything down good and sprinkle a little where you think it might be leaking. Great for finding small cracks in cylinders or hydraulic tubing.
Huh, I bet the baby powder is a good tip.
One of the local wrenches I know bought one of those snake cameras at Home Depot. It has a video monitor on one end and three or four feet of extension with a camera at the other end. He told he thinks the thing was well worth the money and they seem to be getting cheaper now.
I have a boroscope,got it at home depot,I think.Works pretty good.I do like the powder thing though.The dye is interesting, always wondered how well it worked.I like those siphon guns with mineral spirits to clean engines, a lot easier on wiring, etc. than a pressure washer.I'm gonna look into the dye. Some leaks are just so hard to find,even with a clean engine.Thanks for the sugestions!
That baby powder idea is good....what i have always done is after washing the area where the leak is i pick up hand fulls of loose dirt and chunk it in the area then blow it off with air. This gives the whole area a dusted effect....the same as the baby powder.
Napa has a reasonably priced UV leak detection kit, comes with a UV flashlight and some yellow goggles and they have the dye for any type of oil, good for finding those small leaks in a hurry.
Never thought of the powder but thats a great idea, allways did like JSR said with dirt, good thing it hasent come up lately mud balls wouldnt work. on another note the first thing that came to mind is 16v71 detroit covered with black baby powder :falldownlaugh
get about 30 feet of hose, 1/2" or so. Hook one end onto a gas engine car/truck, hook the other end onto the dipstick. listen for the sucking sounds to tell you where the leaks are. It is best if you can isolate the running vehicle from the one you are working on by keeping on in a closed garage (not the running one). You may need to plug oil fillers/breathers, etc.
You guys with the borescopes, how small of opening can you run them into, say like a half inch hole or inch hole, how small? Yesterday I was working on a dozer that had a cluster of oil lines that ran in a dozen directions, took all day to track one down that was leaking so I could replace it, I just couldn't see, had the whole machine dismantled to figure it out, where in home depot is located and whats it called exactly, I've never seen one there. Has anyone seen one anywhere that won't break the bank that'll be longer than three feet or so, like up to six to eight feet. Also what do you do when it only leaks when the machine is running and you can't do both at the same time, run the machine and sit out and watch it leak, this was my asking for a longer borescope, sit in the cab and run it, while watching the monitor to figure out where its leaking. A few years back we had a dozer that leaked oil, very small leak, drove me nuts trying to figure out where it was coming from, you had to run it for hours before it leaked enough to see it, but you had to dismantle the dozer partially to examine the leaking area, by the time in the working conditions, it was impossible to tell where it was leaking at all, a cluster of lines were all wet, but if I could set up a camera and watch over a period of hours from the cab, maybe we could see it drip or ooze out and eliminate things one line at a time kind of thinking, what does everyone else do in those cases?
Randy Home Depot has or had a couple brands , they're in the tool dept. I bought a Rigid it's color and has a 3' extension that comes with it. I think it will reach 6' + or -. They can be helpful sometimes. It's hard to get them in the right spot, it's impossible to see my screen in daylight. My screen is kinda opaque now as the front cover is plastic and I must have scratched it. It has been great a times and very disappointing a others. They also sell Milwaukee and maybe others. I'd try a couple out before buying.