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Exhaust Smell and CO Alarm

A

AaronG

Well Known Member
I have about 75 hours on my RV-10, and smell exhaust when in slow flight, on decent, and at procedure speeds (120 kts). I also have a CO detector that goes off at any flight condition with vents closed and heat off after about 15 minutes. Opening vents, or turning on heat stops the alarm as air circulates through the cabin. I have a standard Van's setup, including the exhaust system, that is not modified in any way. The pipes exit per the plans, and look like others I have seen online, at Osh, etc.

Has anyone else had issues with exhaust in the RV-10? If so, what did you do to fix?

Aaron
 
We have not noticed that but taxiing or at slow speeds (landing and takeoff) there may be a swirl of exhaust and air that gets sucked in.

There have been a few times just on rotation as the exhaust gets hot, and some oil from the breather tube is on the exhaust pipe a burning smell comes through the front vents, or maybe the rear, and the first few times it was quite :eek: until we figured out what it was.

DB
 
Check the sealing of the upper firewall-fuselage interface. There are a lot of reliefs cut into the firewall to make the curves that need to be airtight. The instructions specifically tell you to seal them when the lower part is being attached but don't (at least when I build mine) specifically call it out again when it's time to rivet the top on.

I thought mine were sealed up but with the cowl off and the plane facing into bright daylight you could see some openings from inside. During high AOA operations you'll get CO into cabin if not sealed.

Bob
 
I would ground the plane until you determine its source and fix the problem.
 
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