Using automotive inspection and leak detection tools to your advantage

Leak detection and inspection tools and equipment have gained a lot of traction in the last couple of years, much like every other category of tools and equipment when it comes to technological advancements. In the shop environment, it’s easy to get lulled into that “This is how we’ve always done it,” mentality. The great thing about today’s technology is that it brings tons of opportunities to increase efficiency and simply do a better job for our clients. When it comes to inspections or leak detection, these opportunities matter more than most people realize. I would like to discuss the hardest type of leak detection we deal with, as well as noise/water leaks, A/C leaks, and some great inspection tips we have in our shop.

Technology-driven tools for vehicle inspection

A small A/C leak can be one of the hardest things to detect. On top of that, many technicians fall into the routine of just checking boxes on inspections rather than actually looking for potential future issues with the vehicle. They check the same items they’ve always checked and often ignore the bigger picture. At our shop, we’ve gone out of our way to integrate more technology-driven tools, far beyond the basic digital vehicle inspection process that, at this point, most successful shops already use. Adding those tools has completely changed how we approach both inspections and leak detection.

Cellphones

On top of tools like the Ultra S2, the reality is that every technician today has a cell phone, and almost every shop management system worth anything has the ability to upload videos directly into the inspection report or ticket. Even if a shop doesn’t have a standardized digital vehicle inspection process, videos taken during inspections are incredibly valuable. They show the customer exactly what we’re seeing and add credibility to our recommendations. Processes are what make our shop live and breathe, and the ability to show problems in real time with video makes the process smoother for everyone.

Tools and tips for leak detection

When we move past inspections and start looking at leak detection specifically, that’s where it gets really interesting. The key here is having both old school and new school methods available. Nitrogen is one of the most common tools for detecting leaks, and it still works extremely well. Filling a system with nitrogen and then pairing it with the INFICON Whisper Ultrasonic Leak Detector tool makes detecting small leaks much easier. The Whisper tool can pick up the tiny noises made as nitrogen escapes, and you can even output the data into an oscilloscope. That creates a digital representation of the leak that can be saved, measured, and reviewed later. This allows you to show exactly how much of a leak there was, when it was fixed, and to keep proof instead of just saying, “It was here, now it’s not.”

Thermal imaging cameras

Thermal imaging cameras can also be used to detect leaks, but the truth is that most leaks that are big enough to show up on thermal imaging are big enough to be found by other methods, like nitrogen or even just soapy water. So, while thermal imaging has its place, it’s not always the most efficient or reliable option.

Using bubbles to spot the leak

Speaking of soapy water, there are products on the market that make using soapy water to create bubbles where a small leak is much more effective. One of them is called Big Blu. It was designed originally for natural gas leaks. Without getting too technical, the product makes soap “thicker” so that it stays in place and reacts to small changes in pressure better than your standard Dawn Dish Soap. In practice, what that means is that the bubbles cling better to surfaces, and they’re much easier to see. When a leak is present, the bubbles stay around longer, making the detection process much easier and more reliable. It’s a simple solution, but one that works surprisingly well.

This process may sound a little fancy, but it’s far more effective than the old-school method of flooding the car with a water hose and trying to guess where the water might drip in. Often, the spot where the water drips is nowhere near the actual leak. And if you’re chasing wind noise, water may never show anything at all, since a wind noise problem doesn’t always let water leak through. The ultrasonic method removes the guesswork and pinpoints exactly where the problem is. It’s cleaner, faster, and more reliable.

Conclusion

What all of this adds up to is that leak detection and inspection tools have taken major steps forward in recent years. The advancements aren’t just in tools designed specifically for the automotive industry. In many cases, we’re finding new ways to adapt tools originally designed for completely different industries. Whether it’s AI-powered inspection systems, ultrasonic noise generators built for natural gas, or enhanced soapy water solutions, the end result is the same: better efficiency, more accuracy, and happier clients.

At the end of the day, we’re not just keeping up with technology; we’re finding ways to use it to our advantage. And if you take anything from this, it’s that the right tools, both old and new, make the job easier, make your inspections better, and make your leak detection more reliable. That’s what makes the investment in these tools worth it, and why they’ll keep playing a bigger role in our shops moving forward.