P

PJM6A

Member
I am the owner, but not the builder, of an RV-8. I have recently noticed the distinct smell of fuel when I turn on the electric fuel pump. My mechanic has inspected the fuel lines up to the firewall and has not found any evidence of leaking: no obvious leaks, no blue stains. So, I am looking for other suggestions for troubleshooting.
Thanks.
 
Hey Pat - remind me - injected or carbed? And is this anytime you turn the pump on - on the ground, in the air, etc?

Paul
 
Carb

Hi Paul,
A good 'ole carburetor O-360. And this is anytime I turn on the fuel pump with the motor running. On the ground for the run up and take-off, and then I turn it on again when returning to the field for landing. Our friend Jerry suggested I should check the fuel pump itself, as there is a diaphragm which might have deteriorated over time, and may be a source of a leak.
Pat
 
just be careful not to overtorque the B-nuts / flares while trying to get rid of that smell...
there was one accident locally a few years back (RV-9) with such a smell at the root and subsequent failure of a flare, followed by air in the supply line and a more or less successful dead-stick landing (lucky pilot walked away).

wish you success with finding the source!

bernie
 
I had one of those -
found the blue stain running my finger around all the fittings one by one. The dye transfers very nicely to your finger.

Doug Gray
 
Me too

I had a slight fuel smell after a couple of hours on the airplane. It was the B nut on the line from the Airflow Performance Fuel pump in the cockpit to the firewall fitting. The blue dye gave it away.
 
How do you guys get a torque wrench on these nuts? A crows foot? I have trouble getting an open end wrench on some of them but I'd like to torque them to the proper value. Any help?
 
One other item to check. We had an fuel smell. Turned out a cable's retainer had slipped where the cable was passing by the gascolator. It caught, by the tiniest margin, the little T lever on the bottom of the gascolator, and popped the petcock open. She spit fuel for a bit and we smelled fuel, shut down and did a search. Nothing. Got someone to stand outside while starting and walla, visual on the "leak". Re-did the routing in a way that the line could no longer catch the T lever no matter how hard it tried. This was a pure case of vibration relocating your intended cable route after about 150 hours of no issues. Probably not your issue but figured I'd toss it out there as we were was stumped until someone stood outside during engine start.
 
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