Help - Fuel showing left side inspection panel

[dan.caine]

Morning all and Happy Thanksgiving. I'm a new 8A operator. Doing our first conditional check and noticed 100LL stain on the lower left side aft of the fuel tank at the access/inspection door. The inboard left inspection panel. Zero drips on the floor for the entire time I've had the airplane (1yr). A few instances of the line guys overfilling and fuel draining onto the leading edge of the wing (with a likely flow under to that access panel area). Before I pull the whole wing apart any other thoughts? Any thoughts or insights on troubleshooting before disassembling the wing would be appreciated. Pic attached.

[lr172]

Pull the wing root cover and check for staining there as well. if none, I would expect a leak in the area where the rear wall is attached to the tank. I would get a camera up there and identify the source; Follow the blue staining to the source.

Larry

[dan.caine]

Morning Larry and thank you. No staining at the wing root (pulled for the conditional). I will try the camera option but this far the inside is clear. Best to you and yours. -Razin

[Saville]

Could be overflow draining but also could not:

I had a leak similar to that and thought it was because of fuel splash upon filling but it turned out that the Proseal on entire lower aft seam of the tank had not cured. See thumbnail

How far it goes depends upon the size of the leak. Try to get a borescope or camera in there and see if you can determine where the leak starts.

[Robin8er]

Im working on my condition inspectionand had the same problem. The tanks aren't too bad to remove. You likely have a small leak. The dye will tell you where the leak is once you pull the tank.

I never had any drips on the ground either, but had a leak.

[Northernliving]

Originally Posted by Robin8er

Im working on my condition inspectionand had the same problem. The tanks aren't too bad to remove. You likely have a small leak. The dye will tell you where the leak is once you pull the tank.

I never had any drips on the ground either, but had a leak.

I had to drain and pull my tank for repairs earlier this year. It takes about an hour. Removing some of the bolts takes some patients. Get some stubby/palm ratchets, universal joint extension, etc.

Search other posts where you will find tons of info with all the detail and photos on how to do the repairs. Best to order the repair covers and solid rivets from Vans and get to it!

[dan.caine]

Thanks to you all. I had to pull the tank and found leakage most of the way along the aft of section of the tank. Hard to get inside and considering pulling the rivets and going in through the bottom versus trying to get through the smaller rib holes in the tank. Any other ideas would be welcomed.

[blytle]

Dan,

I had the same exact issue on my 8a on the left wing. Proseal along the bottom seam was soft and wiped off with an acetone rag.

Once I realized how easy the tank removal and reinstall was (except those darn brackets to the shear web!) I decided to forego major surgery on the tank and simply removed ALL Proseal external to the tank, thoroughly prepped with scotchgard, Wiped down with MEK, then reapplied fresh, thoroughly mixed cartridge of proseal. External only.

I have 50 hours on it since the repair and have been watching closely for leaks. After 10 hours, I pulled the root covers, and all was dry. After 40 hours I pulled the inspection covers and it looks good. So I’ll keep an eye on it and check every conditional, but so far I’m happy.