Fuel Leak found, missing plug!

[BruceEicher]

I have had a great time but it is time to move on.

[scard]

Originally Posted by BruceEicher

I am late sharing this because I thought I might be the only one to miss this...OK no one else is as na?ve but I did find this same on another project in my area and thought it is now worth passing on.

In my first two flights I smelled fuel. Not comforting?so;
I started the investigation from the cockpit and worked both ways in the system. What I found was the tell-tale lines of blue coming from the engine baffling, right hand side. The trail originated from the fuel Divider (spider). Here was a fuel line fitting, capped with a red plastic thread on cap. Port is marked ?GAUGE?.

I purchased from Van?s a new IO-360-M1B and the fire wall forward kit. I may have missed something in the instructions?but found the answer in:

Page seven, note 2 calls out plugging the hole as I now did. The port was for a not often used pressure driven fuel flow meter.

Photo is of mine, with the pulled connector sitting on top and the needed plug installed.
No more fuel smell and I feel lucky.

All I can say is that you're relying WAY too heavily on "instructions"

[ccsmith51]

Bruce,

I appreciate you sharing. I don't have FI, but sometime I might, and in any case, your alert will go a long way to helping others make fewer mistakes.

Thanks for posting.

[BobTurner]

Another option is to leave the fitting there and cap it with an AN cap you can buy from ACS.

Yes new engines come with protective plastic caps in various places but they all need to be removed and replaced with the 'real' parts. My confession is that I test-fitted my prop without pulling the plastic plug from it. Fortunately no damage and I was able to get it out after having pushed it into the bore.

[rockwoodrv9]

Bruce,
Thanks for posting your findings. I read and re-read the instructions and sometimes still miss things. As for the poster saying you are relying on the instructions too much, some of us, that is all we have. Being in Oregon where you are, Im sure you had others look at your build and help you check things out. Sometimes - as in your case, things get missed by everyone. Glad you were able to figure it out and get the vent capped properly and posting so we all have a heads up and one more thing to add to the inspection list.

[F1Boss]

So, are you saying that you made it through the DAR inspection, along with at least 3 others looking at your plane, ground runs, leak checks, and then into the 1st phase - with this plastic cap in place? I find it hard to believe that no one caught this.
You are indeed a lucky one, and it's good to have this event posted here.
Carry on!
Mark

[Walt]

That's the reason the caps are RED, so they are hard to miss!

Everyone should be doing a very thorough leak fuel check prior to first engine start. This means running the aux fuel pump (with mixture and throttle forward) while you check EVERY fuel device, connection and line from the pump forward for leaks. It takes a few minutes to do this and this fitting would have no doubt been leaking on the floor at this point.

[tkatc]

Experimental...Education and Recreation! I am glad people confess their mistakes on this forum. I am also glad there are experts that alo contribute. Those 2 entities combine to help extreme novices like me avoid bigger issues.

Bruce, thanks for sharing this. I hope you don't feel attacked and will continue to lend us your experiences good or bad. I truly feel this forum needs more of these sorts of confessions so we all learn from them. I, for one, truly appreciate it.

[ColoRv]

Originally Posted by tkatc

Experimental...Education and Recreation! I am glad people confess their mistakes on this forum. I am also glad there are experts that alo contribute. Those 2 entities combine to help extreme novices like me avoid bigger issues.

Bruce, thanks for sharing this. I hope you don't feel attacked and will continue to lend us your experiences good or bad. I truly feel this forum needs more of these sorts of confessions so we all learn from them. I, for one, truly appreciate it.

Hear hear! Well said.

[Tom Martin]

Thank you to the original poster of this thread. It points out a problem with our experimental aircraft. Although we have good building instructions for the kit itself, the firewall forward area is weak in terms of documentation. There are so many different engine combinations that could be used that it would be very difficult to come up with a comprehensive all inclusive instruction sheet. This is why I promote hiring a professional aircraft mechanic to check your work. A leak check of the fuel system is a pretty common practice in the certified world after any work has been done to the fuel system.
When I am done with a project, before first flight, I hire a mechanic to come and critic/check my work. I have built 10 planes. He always finds something that was missed by myself, the inspector, other builders. Usually all he finds are minor, potential wear issues, but he most certainly would have found this red cap!
Pay a few bucks and get a pro to look over your project, every time. I do my annual every year and then get the same guy to look over the engine, compression, timing etc. It costs next to nothing in the big picture of annual costs and gives me a great piece of mind.
Just because we have the right to do everything ourselves does not mean that we have to. Do you do the tune up on your car?