REFLECTOR: Fuel Leak Techniques?

[Al Gietzen]

Craig;

 

I know how frustrating that can be.  Leak testing after strake closure
indicated a leak in one of my tanks.  After many failed attempts at locating
with soap bubbles; I shot a bit of freon into the tank (a friend had a
tank), borrowed a Freon detector from my auto mechanic, put a slight
pressure in the tank; and finally found the leak exiting from the inner skin
about 4" out-board of the out-board fuel bulkhead.  

 

You already know about where yours in coming out.  The key was that the
Freon allowed me to 'track' the leak to at/near it's source.  Yes; I had to
cut through the outer skin and the foam, and continued to track it down the
leading edge of strake to a point about 18" from the detected exit point (it
followed the small channel that is left between the skins where the foam
ends near the leading edge). Once at/near the point of origin, I drew a
slight vacuum in the tank and applied epoxy to close the leak.

 

I do hope that yours is less complicated, but it's an idea that worked for
me.

 

Best of luck,

 

Al

 

Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Fuel Leak Techniques?

 

I "think" I know generally where it's leaking from but all fixes so far have
failed to work.  I am certain that it's traveling in b/t the layers of the
fuselage skin to where it shows on the outside of the aircraft, but I can't
seem to figure out how it gets into there.  I've tried the pull a vacuum
technique but that hasn't solved it yet.  I suspect because I'm not close
enough to the source.

 

We'll try jacking the wing from now on and see if we get any further.

 

Craig

 

  _____  

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of nmflyer1 at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 5:35 PM
To: reflector at tvbf.org
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Fuel Leak Techniques?

 

Craig, 

 

It sounds like you know where the leak is, but can't seem to seal it?  Is it
leaking in between the skins and transferring or is it an obvious but
frustrating spot? 

 

I was worried about that very thing where my fuel guages are located. So
during construction I drilled the hole for the guages (both sight and
capacitive). Then I hollowed out an area almost an inch more between the
skins and packed the area with Microglass and Jeffco. Then sanded it flush,
finally resealing it with 2 layers of Jeffco before installing the guages.
So far mine passes the air test as well, but Im still a bit away from adding
fuel. 

 

Kurt 

 

 
-----Original Message-----
From: cdwoolston at sbcglobal.net
To: reflector at tvbf.org
Sent: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 5:08 PM
Subject: REFLECTOR: Fuel Leak Techniques?

Okay collective wisdom of the reflector, John and I are at our wits end.  We
can't seem to fix a fuel leak in one of our tanks.  Wanted to solicit any
other techniques we haven't thought of yet.  What's been particularly tough
about this leak is that it doesn't appear to leak on the ground; only after
flying will it show a stain streak.  It also is such a small leak that it
will hold air pressure day after day with no appreciable leak down.  The
other very odd trait is where the leak stain shows up and that is just above
the landing gear where it comes out of the fuselage.  This is a fix gear XL
if you don't remember, that passed leak checks years ago, flew at least 15
hours before this showed up and now we just can't seem to nail this down.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Craig

XL-5FG Flying in Palmdale,CA

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