Leak down tester

Anyone had experience of using one of these, I just bought this for the hell of it.

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Im guess you,d use it to see i the bike was down on compression right?
well if it is, your still not going to be any the wiser as to if its the head gasket seal or rings.

or am i missing something?

PERCENTAGE OF CYLINDER LEAKAGE ENGINE CONDITION

Hi Cappy, just saw this on their site, helps understand how it works a bit better

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0% - 5% Engine in excellent condition. Most engines built for racing have 5% or less.
6% - 14% Engine in good condition. Proceed with tune-up or adjustments as planned.
15% - 22% Engine in poor condition. Will run, but performance will be down.
23% - UP Engine in very poor condition. Consider rebuilding engine before proceeding.

HELPFUL TIPS:
• Perform a leak down test to determine an
engine’s condition before a tune-up.
• Air escaping from:
Carburetor......................Intake valve leaking
Exhaust system..............Exhaust valve leaking
Crank case breather.......Piston/rings leaking
Radiator..........................Head gasket leaking
Adjacent cylinders...........Head gasket leaking

I take it the pipes screw into spark plug hole in top of head, kick over and hey presto...read out on the meter..?

So its a pressure tester then!

catuk wrote:

phil990 wrote:So its a pressure tester then!

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Aaah! Interesting!

Hi phil, I was a bit baffled as to whether it was the same as a pressure tester but apparently it's not. Seems like it could be a useful tool to have in the kit-box so to speak. Gonna dabble it with it when it arrives. I got it new from a guy off Ebay in the UK.

Made my own and used one when i was rebuilding a mates diesel Yanmar once, good tool. Confirmed the rings/cylinder were toast, when the head came off

I normally just wait until the engine starts burning oil or the power drops off.

Now what I have seen which is cool is a noise meter type thingy that they held against the cylinder head or the clutch cover and took a reading. On rallies they could actually tell if a bearing was on the way out. Long before the engine went bang.

While we are at it I would really like some method of knowing when the engine oil pressure is lost. A nice loud buzzer would do it...