Vehicle in video is a 1999 Dodge Ram 3500 camper van with the 5.2L V8. It had a dead misfire from a shorted out spark plug wire. Replaced plugs and wires. No more misfire but has low power. We "KNOW" it has plugged exhaust but we still need to confirm it. We would not be doing the exhaust work on this so we'd want to confirm it as quick and easy as possible!
If you have access to ANY spark plug on the bank you suspect is plugged then this test only takes 5 minutes from start to finish. AT MOST! It's 100% definitive. No guessing.
You don't have to touch exhaust. So no welding up drilled holes or worrying about breaking bolts or O2 sensors. No requiring another person to run the vehicle while you look at a gauge. No worrying about hot exhaust melting something while you go for a road test. No road test period! No putting the vehicle on a hoist and lifting it...
All you need to do is:
1) Remove spark plug
2) Install pressure transducer
3) Setup labscope
4) Disable spark
5) Run at around 2500+ RPM
6) Quick look at recorded exhaust pressures
7) Install spark plug
8) Pack away equipment
9) DONE!
I've seen many false calls made with infrared temp guns. Opening up the exhaust and going for a road test is also causing the variable of false O2 readings from all that fresh air getting in.
The pressure transducer has a huge learning curve for all the nuances of cylinder leakage and valving events but checking for exhaust backpressure is about the easiest thing you can do! This will never cause a false call!
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