Fuel vent leak

[ggilson]

Whenever the left fuel tank is full or nearly so fuel seeps down the vent line and soaks the headliner where it enters the cabin.

I've got the orginal fuel system however the tanks were new 3 yrs ago. I've tightened calmps, checked the bladder for leaks and spent some
time chasing this problem. The other side is OK.

Anybody seen this problem before.

Gareth

[GWMATLAMS@AOL.COM]

Suggestion to fix problem of leakage into cabin.

While you have NOT explained the whole problem, I felt that you have mentioned enough of the leak problem to affix the problem to the center left hand aft cabin headliner area.

As mentioned..... where the 1/4" Aluminum (tubing) plumbing rises's out of the Hidden portion of the wooden filler block, briefly thereafter, it makes about a 90 Degree turn and another one briefly thereafter. A Rubber plumbing connection occurs here. Since you make reference to checking all connections.... It occurs to me that there may be a slight breakage (leak) in the Fuel Feed Aluminum tubing just downstream of the
Rubber connection in one of the 90 Degree bends in that area.

I am aware that this area is covered by the Airframe main Fabric, and would be very difficult to observe, However IF..... you are to discover and repair the leak you mention..... Work with your A & P, and open this area up for inspection. I believe you'll discover the fuel plumbing leak in this area. Possible corroded out area here.

Here's hoping this will fix your problem.

Sincerely,

G. Wm. Morrise Sr. A & P/I.A (Been Such for 25 Yrs) 50 Yrs overall.
Owner of Aeronca "Sedan" N1381H

[joea]

Bill,

Just saw your posting to Gareth. Did you get your Sedan up in the air yet? Sure hope so and know you have been keeping at it for a while.

You sure missed a good fly-in this summer in Middletown. I ended up flying over on the airline, then getting on our "work" airline and heading overseas.

Hope you can bring the Sedan to the Cactus Fly-In this March (http://www.cactusflyin.org) as Gareth is already getting his Sedan ready for the flight. Believe that the Yuma Sedan will also be there and am bringing my Chief as well so should have a lot of Aeronca's there.

Take care,

Joe Abrahamson

[sedanpilot]

Joea: I just found and fixed a similar problem in our Sedan. It turnes out that the cork gasket between the fuel tank/bladder and the wing skin had dried out over the years and leaked. When the tank was full, it leaked between the upper wing skin and the tank. This leaked inboard when the wing was high and caused a fuel smell in the cabin. Replaced it and life was good.

[joea]

Thank you very much! We are getting ready to do an annual on my Chief and Gareth's Sedan in the next weeks and will check this area. We were having a visit with Bill M and he mentioned something about this area, so it must be a problem area on the Sedan's.

Thanks for the tip and hope it corrects Gareth's fuel issue!

Joe A

[sedanpilot]

Good luck. I can't gripe too much, the original ones probably lasted 30 years, since the metal tank mod on ours, if they were replaced then. I am about to go down for annual myself and plan to rebuild the fuel selector at the same time. It's getting sort of stiff.

When I did the job on the gasket, the old gasket sort of disintegrated on me so I ended up with some junk in the tank. I managed to get it all out, but it was a pain. Lots of draining and filtering and draining etc. I made my own new gaskets out of cork gasket material. You can use the filler fitting as a template to get the holes. I punced the holes with a leather hole punch and it worked well. There are two gaskets, one between the bladder and the wing skin and another between the skin and the filler plate.