I finally found the vacuum leak on a 2004 F-150 after a guy from Amarillo taught me the cigar trick

Sean Martin · 2026-10-18T22:55:06.057389+00:00

Last Tuesday was one of those days where everything clicked, and it reminded me how much the job has changed since I started turning wrenches in the late 90s. We had a 2004 F-150 in the bay with a rough idle that three of us had chased for two hours with a scan tool and a smoke machine, and nobody could pin it down. An older guy named Ray who does mobile work out of Amarillo stopped by to pick up a part, and he asked if we had a cheap cigar on us. He lit it, blew smoke around the intake and throttle body while I bumped the throttle, and sure enough the smoke got sucked into a crack at the base of the intake boot. Took us 4 minutes to find what our $3,000 smoke machine missed. I laughed because back in the day that was just how you did it, no fancy gear, just a guy who knew where to look and a busted old habit. Funny how the old tricks still hold up when the new tools let you down. Any of you still keep a stogie in the toolbox for stuff like this, or am I the only one now?

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I finally found the vacuum leak on a 2004 F-150 after a guy from Amarillo taught me the cigar trick | Auto Mechanics - Librear