Steve
I had exactly the same problem at the beginning of the year and
documented
it on this forum under the title =93 Who says life is fair=94. My leak
was in
the same spot as yours. We initially tried a repair, but that didn=92t
work,
so don=92t bother trying it=92s a waste of your time. The only solution
is to
replace the tank as others have said already. Its strange that when I
had my
leak no one seemed to have heard of this problem, now we have had a
couple
more? Are they all occurring in hot climates or is there another
problem?
If you want any help with the actual removal and installation speak to
Bob
Berube who did mine for me and did a great job.
Good Luck
Alan
_____
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Steve Hagar
Sent: 15 August 2007 06:48
Subject: Europa-List: Down for the count - fuel tank leak
After having the aircraft down for awhile with the fuel tank drained to
avoid having stale gas present I noted a leak upon gassing it up. I was
going to bring it over to Phoenix Composites to have the prop
rebalanced.
It looked like it was coming from the lower feed boss where the big
piece of
short hose is clamped on. I was in a hurry and going on vacation in 2
days
for a few weeks. I didn't want to deal with it then so re-drained the
tank
to re-address it later.
Upon re-gassing it up upon return the gas started flowing out at a rate
of
about a third as fast as I was pouring it in! Upon inspection it was
determined that it was coming from a crack in the tank near the bottom
of
the saddle section reserve side where a fiberglass layup support is
attached. It appears that the strapping has acted as a stress raiser
along
with expansion and contraction in the AZ heat.
In any case it looks like it may have to be sawzall time for the top of
the
cockpit module for repair. Has anyone gone through a repair to a fuel
tank
an a fully built aircraft? What was the routine? I am not looking
forward
to this and am possibly considering just parting the aircraft out. I
could
have been out flying and pumped all the fuel out of the reserve return
side in a matter of about 10 minutes if I didn't light it off.
Feed back appreciated
Steve Hagar
A143
Mesa AZ
914
Airmaster
Steve Hagar
HYPERLINK "mailto:hagargs@earthlink.net"hagargs@earthlink.net
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13/08/2007
10:15
13/08/2007
10:15
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