How to find a leak?

[beachtomountains]

I'm asking this preemptively as I have a few other tasks to finish first, but I'm thinking ahead on how to tighten up my brakes. They do work, but they are so squishy I have to stand up on them practically. I've previously driven buses with air brakes for a school district, so I know how they are supposed to feel. Since they work I'm assuming its a minor leak(s) and most likely cracked hoses. It's a '95. Would it be worth it to find the leak, or just go ahead and replace all the hoses? Again, I'm not tackling this today, just trying to prepare and possibly order parts soon, just looking for some common sense ideas as I've never worked on air brakes before.

[musigenesis]

What happens when you do a standard air brake test?

[mmoore6856]

buy yourself a pump garden sprayer.1 quart or 1 gallon whichever you want. fill it with water add lots of dish soap pump it up. block your wheels good,release the park (emergency)brake and pressurize the service brake (have a helper step and hold brake pedal) (once again i cant stress how important it is to have it blocked so it dont roll over you) while its under preasure start sprawing it from the treadle valve (brake valve under the pedal) to air tanks and to the relay valves then to the brake canisters. take pics with your phone of where the bubbles are so when it dries you can start fixing them

[mmoore6856]

this actually works on the entire air system