bill.hutchison
Well Known Member
I suspect I may have a fuel pressure sending unit getting ready to die, but not sure.
The EI FL-5 fuel computer has been a damned useful instrument, and the prior owner of my airplane really had it dialed in accurately. It is usually within 1/2 gallon of accuracy on everything. I've been cross checking it for 1 year and 100+ hours of flying and it's been stone-axe reliable.
Today I was be-bopping along at 7500' when I get a annunciator and a warning light for pressure. The numbers were all over the place, spiking and bottoming out every second.
The engine was running fine. Changes to the mixture didn't seem to have an effect. I turned on the boost pump and the numbers spiked even harder - bouncing between 30 PSI and then 160 PSI and then 40 PSI, etc...
Turned the boost pump off, watched it for a while. Didn't seem to have any pattern. Sometimes it would stabilize, sometimes it would just run amok.
There was NOTHING else to indicate the airplane had a problem. Everything was working as it should, which is why I suspect maybe the sender is going out?
So I took a video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ggSJTDIT0aqS4KlHEeV5t2hWLhcZ65ib/view?usp=sharing
In every other respect, the engine ran fine, no issues, noises or anything. When I landed, no smells or fuel stains or spills.
Anyone ever see this before?
The EI FL-5 fuel computer has been a damned useful instrument, and the prior owner of my airplane really had it dialed in accurately. It is usually within 1/2 gallon of accuracy on everything. I've been cross checking it for 1 year and 100+ hours of flying and it's been stone-axe reliable.
Today I was be-bopping along at 7500' when I get a annunciator and a warning light for pressure. The numbers were all over the place, spiking and bottoming out every second.
The engine was running fine. Changes to the mixture didn't seem to have an effect. I turned on the boost pump and the numbers spiked even harder - bouncing between 30 PSI and then 160 PSI and then 40 PSI, etc...
Turned the boost pump off, watched it for a while. Didn't seem to have any pattern. Sometimes it would stabilize, sometimes it would just run amok.
There was NOTHING else to indicate the airplane had a problem. Everything was working as it should, which is why I suspect maybe the sender is going out?
So I took a video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ggSJTDIT0aqS4KlHEeV5t2hWLhcZ65ib/view?usp=sharing
In every other respect, the engine ran fine, no issues, noises or anything. When I landed, no smells or fuel stains or spills.
Anyone ever see this before?