I picked up one of these recently. I hope its not a worthless...

The one I bought has many more adaptors than shown and was on sale for $17.99.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=93644

I bought one. Haven't used it yet, though. The only problem is that it only has an injector adapter, no glow plug.

Am I going to need new crush washers for the injectors after I do the test?

__________________
1982 300CD Petrol/Black Leather

Always a good idea to put on new washers....I just used the existing washers for my test then new ones for the refit of the injectors....Easy to make a gow plug adapter with an old glow plug and brazeing torch....kevin

I used an old crush washer and it worked fine. Gave me really good readings, reproducible. I did it through the injector. Other threads have indicated that it can be done through the glow plug, but, given how fiddly it is to get to the glow plug holes, it is just about the same amount of work to go through the injectors (and then you don't have to worry about disabling the injector pump to prevent the engine from starting).

__________________
Der Panzermann und Fraulein Fahrvergnuegen

1991 420SEL 201K "The Big Blue One"
1985 300DT 205K chassis/285K engine nee California emissions "Goldbug"
1983 300TDT 255K "The Womble"
1983 300 DT 214K "Sea Sprite"-Rear-ended a truck
1983 300SD 285K "The Donor" Gave his life so that others can live
1980 500SL Euro 105K "Der Panzer"

expensive in that it was the one from HF that costs $129 on sale.

I have used the injector fitting and the glow plug fitting. It worked great, and my engine was indeed toast. I have even used the glow plug fitting with my leakdown tester to get leakdown data using my compressor.

Cheers,
Yoko

H.F. #93644 as shown in pic does not show all the fittings that come with that part# .....I just bought #93644...... has 18 pieces other than the hose & gauge...paid $24.00...has adapters for most all automotive diesel...glow plug & injector fittings...not bad...looks better than my homemade rig......kevin

This is a steal for this price. What I have seen of tools made in china is that they often come from the same factory under many different brand names. If you want to buy a shipping container full of them, the factory will put your name on them for you.

I don't trust the calibration of a tool like this until I can compare it to another tester. A reading of 300psi may be 300psi or it may be 280 or 320. Even so it is still useful for comparing cylinder to cylinder and will give you a pretty good idea of the condition of an engine.

Yes a real bargain just for the adapters alone...I put a much better gauge on mine 0-500 psi...will be curious to see how close the cheaper gauge is to the other...will post back with results...kevin

Did you get that gauge checked?

__________________
1982 300CD Petrol/Black Leather

Not yet...got diverted to rebuilding Volvo 740 starter...R and R in the parking lot...will try to check tomorrow...they are usually pretty close to be as loose as they are....kevin

I bought one of these for myself and then ended up giving it to a buddy. I went back and got another one for myself. It's too cheap not to get one. There were probably ten more on the shelf.

Does anyone know if this Harbor Freight compression tester (item 93644) has the adaptors to do a compression test through the glow plug hole? I'm seriously interested if it does.

Depends on your year and model. But for the 617, it's like I said.

__________________
1982 300CD Petrol/Black Leather

Yes...the model 93644 sold under (U.S. General) Harbor Freight does have all the adapters to fit large and small glow plug thread size for 240D and 300D models...It also has adapters to fit the injector ports if you would rather use that...I have tested them both ways....I like the glow plug port because you do not have to take loose the fuel lines and put new seals in as when you test with the injector port....also a good time to see if you have any glow plug problems and clean the electrical connectors on the plugs and cables...get a gear wrench to speed things up with the glow plugs.....hope this helps....kevin