I have about 110 hours on my RV-10 with a Van's factory new YIO-540 engine. The plane has the standard Van's FWF setup. At about 100 hours, I turned the electric pump off at 1000 ft during climbout, and at 2000 ft, received a low fuel pressure warning. I turned on the electric pump and the pressure jumped back to normal immediately. I then turned the electric pump off, and had no issues for the next 10 hours of flying.
Last Friday, I flew the familiy to Florida and had the same issue at takeoff. Decided to continue the flight to North Carolina with no additional issues. When taking off from NC, it did the same thing again, but this time, it repeated 3 or 4 times for the first hour of the flight. It then stopped for the next 1.5 hours. The last time it did this, I was right over an airport and decided to see what would happen if I did not turn on the electric pump. The pressure (normally at 25 psi) went down to about 12 psi, and then recovered back to 25 within a second or two without the electric pump.
So for all you engine experts out there, any suggestions for troubleshooting? I don't think it is a bad sensor, since the pressure responds immediately to the electric pump. One other thought would be the pressure relief valve opening and dumping fuel, but I don't know why the electric fuel pump would fix this issue. I would also think that any type of blockage would not be solved with the electric fuel pump. This leaves failure of the engine fuel pump, but I'm surprised the pump would fail the way this one seems to be failing. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Aaron
Last Friday, I flew the familiy to Florida and had the same issue at takeoff. Decided to continue the flight to North Carolina with no additional issues. When taking off from NC, it did the same thing again, but this time, it repeated 3 or 4 times for the first hour of the flight. It then stopped for the next 1.5 hours. The last time it did this, I was right over an airport and decided to see what would happen if I did not turn on the electric pump. The pressure (normally at 25 psi) went down to about 12 psi, and then recovered back to 25 within a second or two without the electric pump.
So for all you engine experts out there, any suggestions for troubleshooting? I don't think it is a bad sensor, since the pressure responds immediately to the electric pump. One other thought would be the pressure relief valve opening and dumping fuel, but I don't know why the electric fuel pump would fix this issue. I would also think that any type of blockage would not be solved with the electric fuel pump. This leaves failure of the engine fuel pump, but I'm surprised the pump would fail the way this one seems to be failing. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Aaron