smoke machine

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Sun Dec 18, 2016 8:46 pm

I'm in need of a smoke machine. The back story is, every time I fill up the mustang, I get a smell of gas out of the rear drivers side of the car. I've tightened up the gas filler tube band clamp and I've replaced the gasket over the fuel pump on the tank as recommended from some forums. Still no resolution to the smell issue. While under the car, I can smell gas near the tank filler tube, but I can't see anything and nothing is wet. The car itself runs fine and there's no codes, but this gas smell is getting worse.

I've looked on the interwebs and there doesn't seem to be much info on my particular problem. I've seen tons of "I think it's", but nothing concrete that I can use to find my issue.

My thoughts were to see if anyone had a smoke machine I could use. I figure this way I might be able to get a visual on my leak. Can anyone help me out please?

Art, if you're reading this, do you have a diagram of the connections to the tank? That would help me locate my issue knowing where the connections are.

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Sun Dec 18, 2016 9:49 pm

Rodney,
My puchase of a BMW product resulted in the need to build my.own smoke machine. Do you have an air compressor (w/ regulator) or some source of air? If so, the rest can be assembled for a few dollars.

Items you will need:
Pickle Jar
Two male air fittings
Vacuum hose
Vacuum fittings
Incense

I installed the two air fittings onto the pickle jar lid. Next, I ran the vacuum hose from one of the male fittings to a tee fitting I added to the Intake (or wherever you want). Next I wrapped 5-10 pieces of incense together and lit them all with a torch. I dropped them in the jar, and attached the lid. Quickly, I turned the air down to 1-2psi on the compressor, then connected the quick connect to the remaining male air fitting on the jar. Boom, homemade smoke machine.

I have used it several times to find pesky vacuum leaks on the E46 and eliminate SES lights.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:59 pm

Michael Westerfield wrote:

Rodney,
My puchase of a BMW product resulted in the need to build my.own smoke machine. Do you have an air compressor (w/ regulator) or some source of air? If so, the rest can be assembled for a few dollars.

Items you will need:
Pickle Jar
Two male air fittings
Vacuum hose
Vacuum fittings
Incense

I installed the two air fittings onto the pickle jar lid. Next, I ran the vacuum hose from one of the male fittings to a tee fitting I added to the Intake (or wherever you want). Next I wrapped 5-10 pieces of incense together and lit them all with a torch. I dropped them in the jar, and attached the lid. Quickly, I turned the air down to 1-2psi on the compressor, then connected the quick connect to the remaining male air fitting on the jar. Boom, homemade smoke machine.

I have used it several times to find pesky vacuum leaks on the E46 and eliminate SES lights.

It's that whole using fire issue to find a leak around a gas tank that's really got me thinking. I like the fact that youtube brings all sorts of stupid stuff up when you do a search, but I think I'm heading this route. Going to use a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and then fill it with as much dry ice as I can. I figure I won't need a compressor since the dry ice and warm water are going to create a low pressure of CO2 "smoke". I'm hoping if it's dense enough, it will survive the trip out the tube, into the tank and out the freaking hole I'm chasing. The up side is no particulate residue, but it won't smell as good as your incense! I'm hoping this idea works. At least there's no chance of a random spark being carried out the tube...

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2016 9:17 am

RodneyWright wrote:

Going to use a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and then fill it with as much dry ice as I can.

Have you ever purchased dry ice? For the cost of 'enough to fill a 5 gallon bucket', you will be able to buy 50 of Mike's smoke machines.

With just one block and some water, you can make enough smoke to fill your entire garage!

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2016 10:02 am

You could easily add some sort of flame arrestor to my setup if that is a concern. That being said the dry ice method might work as well.

My old pathfinder developed a fuel leak in the metal filler tube. A pinhole developed where a vent tube was welded to the main filler neck. I hope yours is as easy to find.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2016 10:44 am

I may be able to put a screen over the exit vent hole. Where did you buy the incense and which ones create the most smoke?

Matthew Ryan · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2016 12:29 pm

they make liquid smoke for model trains, I've seen a few DIY smoke testers that use that

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:49 pm

RodneyWright wrote:

Art, if you're reading this, do you have a diagram of the connections to the tank? That would help me locate my issue knowing where the connections are.

Rodney - PM me with your email address and I'll send you sniping tool pics from the 2012 FSM sometime this afternoon.

Dick

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:08 pm

So wallyworld sells incense, go figure. At 94 cents a box, I'm now well stocked with this smelly stuff. Picked up several different kinds in an attempt to see which ones put off the most smoke. Garage is going to be rocking in a few days. Just need to make sure I break out my black light before I get started on the smoke test. I have an old paint can and just picked up some clear tubing. Almost good to go...

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2016 5:35 pm

Rodney - Pictures sent.

FYI for illustrations of various Ford systems look at fordparts.com or for Ford and others look at http://www.tascaparts.com/

The Ford site works much better with IE vs Chrome (I have not tried Firefox) for my 2015 because the part numbers of various parts included in the popup illustrations are links to more info on those parts in IE.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2016 8:29 pm

Dick, those pics are perfect, thanks very much for getting those. So basically just 2 attachment points, vent and filler aside from the top of the tank access points for the pump. I've got what I need now. Just need to finish putting together the "smoker" and start testing. I'm betting I have a crack or hole in the filler tube.

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

Thought I sent a reply this afternoon, guess I forgot to click on "submit". There's also an opening on the top of the tank for the fuel level sensor, on the front right opposite the fuel pump access panel. Thanks to Dick for the parts URLs.

Lee Williams · **Joined:** Wed Sep 03, 2003 12:22 pm **Posts:** 75

Hi Rodney,

A bit late I guess since it seems you are stocked up on incense. But I have access to dry ice. We throw it out daily. NOT available the week between Christmas and New Years because we are on holiday, but most any other time, we have plenty. If you'd like to try dry ice, just let me know and I'll see what I can get.

I have an issue with evap emissions codes and the smell of gas with the Mazda3, so could benefit from your experience. Let me know how it goes.

If you do decide to go the incense route, let me know. I think I have some Iron Butterfly and Pink Floyd albums.

Cheers,

Lee

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2016 11:47 pm

Lee Williams wrote:

Hi Rodney,

A bit late I guess since it seems you are stocked up on incense. But I have access to dry ice. We throw it out daily. NOT available the week between Christmas and New Years because we are on holiday, but most any other time, we have plenty. If you'd like to try dry ice, just let me know and I'll see what I can get.

I have an issue with evap emissions codes and the smell of gas with the Mazda3, so could benefit from your experience. Let me know how it goes.

If you do decide to go the incense route, let me know. I think I have some Iron Butterfly and Pink Floyd albums.

Cheers,

Lee

in-a-gadda-da-vida baby.... yes sir, I'd like to get the dry ice please, would be the less volatile of my 2 options. I appreciate the offer! The incense I can return, but it's only 4 bucks, everything else I can still use. Let me know where/when I can pick up please sir!

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Wed Dec 21, 2016 7:48 pm

Thanks to Michael's suggestion on the incense, I made a quick smoker out of an old paint can....

I ran the smoke tube into the filler tube on the car...

This worked like a freaking charm. Had Pam standing by with a fire extinguisher and told her to pull the tube if any sparks rose up the tube. I turned the compressor WAY down, so just a slight amount of smoke was feeding out of the tube. I'm surprised by my finding. No smoke came out of where I though it would. I did remove both of the rubber grommets over the tank and smoke was coming up into the car via both holes, so that tells me I have a hole somewhere on the top of the tank. Probably self inflected when I lowered the tank to replace the upper control arm on the rear axle. May have had a stone lodged in there and it's punched a hole, or at least that's my speculation right now. Time will tell, have to drop the tank now. Here's hoping for a warm weekend over the next few weeks...

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