[n747jg]

I recently began detecting small specks in my fuel tanks on my RV-8 when sumping. Never could get it all out, so finally decided to remove the sump drain valve and drain my tanks thru a filter. What a shock, big chunks, some the size of a small fingernail, came out of each tank! The biggest ones were like cylindrical worms, sort of soft, but not sticky like fuel lube. I drained and flushed, drained and flush, but kept getting more chunks.

So I bit the bullet, and pulled my fuel senders (the standard float type SW fuel senders purchased from Van?s), so I could look in the tanks with a scope.

But the senders themselves caught my eye, there appeared to be the remains of some type of small chalking bead around the center of each fuel sender, (see pictures) like it had been put down with a plunger / gun that made the cylindrical bead. I certainly didn't do it. Most of the stuff had flaked away into my tank, but enough was still there to see what was going on.

I then pulled the end plate off of each tank, and vacuumed and repeatedly flushed each tank. Hopefully I got it all.

I sent this information to Van?s and their reply was basically that this is the first they've ever heard of a problem. And they don't remember ever seeing that type of material on a SW sender. It wasn?t on the new ones I just bought.

I?m curious if anyone has ever heard of something like this happening before? I installed these in my tanks in 2008, not sure how long they may have languished on my shelf before that.

Jim Gray
N747JG RV-8 350 hours

http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g345/n747jg1/IMG_2013.jpg

http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g345/n747jg1/IMG_2011.jpg

http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g345/n747jg1/IMG_2010.jpg

 

[flyboy1963]

seal-not

Man Jim, that sucks! thanks for the heads-up..... always enlightening to think that any sealant you can SEE, can't be sealing anything! (between surfaces)
....and is therefore extraneous ( useless ) for anything but making a mess!

Even the Proseal globbing technique always makes me nervous....if it were possible, I'd like to coat, assemble, then wipe off the excess.
...yeah...ok...you can stop laughing now...impossible with most sealants!