Vacuum Leak - Smoke Test
 

Hi guys,

I have a vacuum leak in my E30 but I don't know where it is coming from. Are there any shops out there that can do the smoke test to determine a vacuum leak?

Have you tried checking all your lines yet? Seeing as it's an older car it probably wouldn't hurt to replace all of them anyways since the lines are pretty inexpensive!

you could also do the messy way and spray a liquid that is very rich in fuel or even use propane.

spray around, your car will stall out if its close to the vacuum leak.

See, the thing is, it's only apparent when it's cold. When the car gets warm, I'm sure the vacuum leak is still there but not as noticable.

What's wrong with the shops at BCBimmers?

^
I only know of two - Al and Poon's and The Euro Shop. I've contacted Al so far and need to make an appointment with him. But otherwise, I just want to keep my options open.

Then there are Nixon and CG

Honestly for a car that vintage, you mind as well spend $40 bucks or so on a fogger and find it yourself. especially considering you will have to pay at least 3 shop hours to hunt down and fix the leak. Just be happy that the drive bay is relatively huge, that you can at least see where you are going;)

your car will run better if you use propane, and propane isnt messy

i meant the liquid spraying part was messy.

and if you throw too much in there it'll stall out. trust me i've tried on my car lol.

+1. This method has worked for me before.

Where can I get a fogger locally? I've seen them used but was under the impression they are more expensive.

Kev

No but check out Harbor Freight, they have some stuff for propane etc once a while.

Are you sure its a vacuum leak? If so how did you come to that conclusion? Theres a ton of possibilities for a vacuum leak manifold gasket, manifold cracks, vacuum lines, vacuum booster etc.

The ECU/DME is throwing the worst code possible for E30s - code 1222, which denotes some kind of nastty vacuum leak. It is hard to start when cold. It runs rich like crazy. Idle (when cold) is a little wonky. Throttle response is terrible to the point where you can't even rev match properly without hammering the throttle. My gas mileage is getting worse and worse everyday. Wouldn't surprise me if I failed AirCare.

any luck finding your vacuum leak?

Just got back from Los Angeles, so no. Haven't had time to take a look at it. Seems to be getting only worse though. :)

Well, I did the smoke test today. Turn's out - the DME was faulty and as well as a leaking injector. There was some seepage at the throttle body plate but nothing major. FML. :(

Update.

Adding to injury - we found that the fuel filter was installed backwards.

FML.