Hey everyone. I was watching Paul's video on blown head gaskets and using a 5 gas analyzer which is very cost prohibitive. So I went browsing to see i they make a more affordable gas detector and I stumbled upon this tool at home depot. Im curious if it will come in handy at detecting HC's in the coolant. And its affordable. Im going to try testing it on my truck which is a known negative for blown head gasket and going to try and find a car with a known blown head gasket. We'll see what the results end up being. It said it measures less than 50ppm and 10ppm is when you want to call it a head gasket. It does not give an absolute measurement, just a tone but I think it will be a valuable tool in speeding up a diagnosis. You can just use it really quick and hopefully be able to conclude whether it has a blown head gasket and not spend a fortune. I'll let everyone know when I get it
My shop has one of those five gas analyzers, so I'd LOVE to buy one and compare it to the five gas on a known bad head gasket. If it works, it'd beat the heck out of those goofy blue water block testers!
Nice! I read about how the solutions measure CO and CO2 but also have a higher failure rate so I wonder if measuring HC is a better indicator. One theory i have is you need combustion in a cylinder to have CO and CO2 and if you have no combustion whatsoever you are pumping raw gas essentially. So my theory is that you need combustion for the solution to work. ill be the sacrificial guinea pig :0) and do some experimenting
i wonder if you could also use it to diagnose a misfire to see if its spark or fuel... another guinea pig experiment. Gonna try and find a beater car to do it on
oh wow it can also detect refrigerant. So it can be used for a AC leak but that may also prove to be a variable. You could possibly accidentally diagnose a refrigerant leak as a blown head gasket. something to be aware of
nick.elias wrote: i wonder if you could also use it to diagnose a misfire to see if its spark or fuel... another guinea pig experiment. Gonna try and find a beater car to do it on
I like that idea! I can justify a new tool more easily if it has multiple applications.
Tool just came in! I need to let it charge and then tomorrow I'm going to test it on some cars. Very curious to find out how it will react. I'll let you all know the results. Still gotta find a known bad
nick.elias wrote: Tool just came in! I need to let it charge and then tomorrow I'm going to test it on some cars. Very curious to find out how it will react. I'll let you all know the results. Still gotta find a known bad
Usually, when I buy a tool to do a specific job (after having done that job multiple times), I don't see that job again for months :lol:
nick.elias wrote: Tool just came in! I need to let it charge and then tomorrow I'm going to test it on some cars. Very curious to find out how it will react. I'll let you all know the results. Still gotta find a known bad
Usually, when I buy a tool to do a specific job (after having done that job multiple times), I don't see that job again for months :lol:
Here's hoping you have better luck!
Very true... as long as it is accurate I think it'll be worth it. If I ever suspect a blown head gasket it can be a go to tool. Hopefully it will have multiple uses
Noah wrote: Great! Which one did you go with?
Waiting to pay down some Christmas bills before I start buying myself new toys!
It is the general tools gas detector model no. NGD268
OK so I tested my truck with the tester and surprisingly it came back as positive for a blown head gasket through the coolant! I tried some experimenting. I also found a positive result when I opened the oil cap and also the windshield washer fluid reservoir. So that was a bit discouraging. Next I tried fresh new coolant and there was a slight rise but nowhere near as much as in my coolant reservoir. Next I tried a bottle of fresh motor oil and nothing but used oil showed a considerable rise so that's probably because there's some intermingling going on between gas and oil in an engine. Last I tried a bottle of windshield washer fluid and it went off the charts. So windshield washer fluid will give a false positive because it is a volatile and combustible gas which is mainly alcohol
. I'm wondering if because coolant is a type of alcohol that this device might not be specific enough to detect HC's or it may just be dead right about the head gasket.Also could higher temps cause enough vaporization to detect the coolant. Maybe at lower temps it will give better results. I'm going to try testing it with the engine on my truck ice cold tomorrow and on my sisters new 2016 Camry at operating temp. If it also tests positive on the camry then this tool is most likely not specific enough. If it tests negative I will find more cars to test. My truck has been having a misfire which I posted in another thread so hopefully it is not a blown head gasket. Well hopefully find out soon. I'll keep everyone updated
Keep us posted.
I hope you'll eventually be able to use this tool for definitive proof of a head gasket failure.
And I hope your truck doesn't have a bad head gasket!
Welp i got good news and bad news. And the good news is this tool is beginning to show that it works. I tested it on 2 of my sisters' cars. A 2010 honda accord with 100k and a 2016 toyota camry. No detection at all in the coolant tank. And there was detection when i opened the oil cap and the windshield fluid reservoir so this is beginning to look like a viable affordable tool and the oil and windshield washer fluid are variables to be aware of. I need to find a known bad gasket now. Im going to take my truck to a shop with a 5 gas analyzer and have them check it out. Ill keep everyone posted. Then im going to take it to the dealership and show them the results
nick.elias wrote: Ar first i thought it was coming from my pump but the belt and tensioner were also wet. No coolant in my reservoir. Bringing it into the dealer thurs
Oh WTF man! I'm really sorry dude, that's not kind of news you need to bring in the new year. Do you think this explains
the misfires you've noticed before
, or are there two separate issues?
Still, I love the testing you did on multiple different cars. I'm thinking about all the time I spent using leak down testers to find blown gaskets, when I coulda been using something like this!
EDIT: I just remembered that my shop has several customers with these 5.0L's, gonna keep an eye out for this
nick.elias wrote: Ar first i thought it was coming from my pump but the belt and tensioner were also wet. No coolant in my reservoir. Bringing it into the dealer thurs
Oh WTF man! I'm really sorry dude, that's not kind of news you need to bring in the new year. Do you think this explains
the misfires you've noticed before
, or are there two separate issues?
Still, I love the testing you did on multiple different cars. I'm thinking about all the time I spent using leak down testers to find blown gaskets, when I coulda been using something like this!
EDIT: I just remembered that my shop has several customers with these 5.0L's, gonna keep an eye out for this
Not sure if the misfire is related. It explains why first thing in the morning it has a dead miss and then it smooths out and has a intermittent miss. But what has me puzzled is why there was good compression in all the cylinders. I had 150 on the money in every cylinder. And it was a random misfire. You would think a head gasket might cause companion cylinders to misfire
Guys like paul says, he tries to find as many paths as he can that lead him back to the same destination, so i stopped in at the nearest NAPA and got a block tester as well. And results were positive as well! Im convinced this tool works now. Im going to keep both on my arsenal just in case. Also my neighbor has the same truck and he had the same results!!!! I wonder of FORD moght have a big recall in the future
Topic Author
I need to let it charge and then tomorrow I'm going to test it on some cars. Very curious to find out how it will react. I'll let you all know the results. Still gotta find a known bad 
I'm really sorry dude, that's not kind of news you need to bring in the new year. Do you think this explains
the misfires you've noticed before
, or are there two separate issues?
