Manager Forum

I read about a lot of techs removing 02s or cutting exhaust to identify if exhaust(cat) is plugged. I use a back pressure tester, drill 1/8 inch hole and insert probe and rev eng, works every time. If not plugged then put an 1/8 inch rivit in hole. Bob in sc

My tester screws directly into the O2 port so there's no holes needed. Just had one today with over 8psi at idle. Wow.

Are we insinuating that the old method of using a vacuum gauge and slowly increasing the engine rpms is not reliable or trustworthy? That's usually what I do and I have found it to be fairly consistent with the tester that I also have that threads into the O2 Sensor port.

Tim Martin wrote:Are we insinuating that the old method of using a vacuum gauge and slowly increasing the engine rpms is not reliable or trustworthy? That's usually what I do and I have found it to be fairly consistent with the tester that I also have that threads into the O2 Sensor port.

Of course those methods are still used, but what happens when you have twin cats on a v engine? Which one is it? I prefer a direct read for confirmation. It's a 5 minute test to confirm your suspicions. I hate being wrong.

ricmorin wrote:

Tim Martin wrote:Are we insinuating that the old method of using a vacuum gauge and slowly increasing the engine rpms is not reliable or trustworthy? That's usually what I do and I have found it to be fairly consistent with the tester that I also have that threads into the O2 Sensor port.

Of course those methods are still used, but what happens when you have twin cats on a v engine? Which one is it? I prefer a direct read for confirmation. It's a 5 minute test to confirm your suspicions. I hate being wrong.

Hey. You are proposing great ideas and I admit that I had not thought of a dual cat system even though I have tested them already as well. That is the value of this forum - to share ideas from all sides. I guess I am still old school stuff and even though I work mainly on current vehicles I still find myself tending to think by the things we did through the years.

I love my gauge. It can screw into an o2 port or it has an air hammer attachment to punch a hole in the pipe and some self tapping screws.

I have the OTC one. Love it!

There's times it would be nice to have a longer hose between adapter and gauge.

Yeah, it's about 3-4 feet long. Never seems long enough. LOL! But it's a nice braided steel hose.

I poke a hole and weld it. had a ford van plugged cat yesterday