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Fuel strainer and fuel valve both decided to start leaking at the same time. WTH?

Alex Clark

Registered User
Life Long Alaskan
Suddenly this week my fuel strainer started to leak.. So I turned off the fuel and then my main valve started to leak that same day.
Very weird. Blue stains and buckets until I got her drained.
Since they both happened on a cold morning, it makes me wonder...
 
You lucky dog!!! Both are bad. The strainer leak covered up the valve leak until the end of the year! Just suck it up and fix both. Cessna found a way to build a plane around a fuel valve but it is really not that hard to pull the valve and rebuild. MAKE SURE YOU INDEX IT RIGHT WHEN YOU REBUILD IT. You would think because you have three screws on top of the valve how could it go wrong? Well it can, so pay attention as to how it go's together or it will index 15 degrees of center. You may need extra access panel in floor to do the job but it is worth it. It is about 8-10 hours to do the fuel valve on a good day. I had to pull mind because it was not indexed properly on the last rebuild, I had time to do it right so not a big deal. So it now when the weather is good.
DENNY
 
If you're still lucky, you might only need about $1.89 of O rings to re-seal the valve. McFarlane also makes kits with various parts if you need them. In my case (1958 180A) last month, the valve needed more work and we ended up shipping it to McFarlane for repair - came back 2 weeks later with everything done for $653.00 plus shipping.
 
The pisser just started to drip. Out in the middle of nowhere of course. And I could get it to stop by snapping the plunger a half dozen times. But apparently the engine and air vibration on the flight home let it start leaking inflight. So I get back and turn off the master fuel,,, which even though it had worked every day all summer, suddenly decides to start leaking like crazy while in the off position.
I suspect that the lower temps, ( it was in the 20s the night before) was the triggering event, or I managed to get some contaminated fuel.
We put her on wheels yesterday and she is airing-out. Parts are on order....
Hunting for any other leaks... kinda cold this morning.... reducing my motivation.
 
I seem to remember another incident where O-rings didn't work so well when cold....
 
What a huge pain in the donkey that was.... Who the heck though that was a good spot for the selector? Good thing I was in there since somebody who did the last couple annuals left the cotter pin in the selector shaft instead of doing the roll pin and safety wire. That baby is roll pinned and safety wired now.
 
What a huge pain in the donkey that was.... Who the heck though that was a good spot for the selector? Good thing I was in there since somebody who did the last couple annuals left the cotter pin in the selector shaft instead of doing the roll pin and safety wire. That baby is roll pinned and safety wired now.
Alex, be sure to check the clearance between the flap handle quadrant and the fuel tube going forward from the selector. I had a brand new 180 which rubbed nearly through the fuel tube on the ferry flight home from Wichita. It is close. Cessna had a plastic anti-chafe tube over the aluminum which was inadequate.
 
Yes that cable was close. Another bizarre engineering mystery. I particularly enjoyed only being able to turn the B nuts 1/64th of a turn before repositioning the wrenches..
The o rings in the fuel valve and the fuel strainer were pretty well shot. Very hard. And there was a wad of something that looked like hair inside the fuel valve and strainer screen. I flush some out of my left tank as well. Obviously contaminated fuel. I always use a filter funnel, except when going from a commonly used pump. So the Kenai float pond, or the Homer fuel tank pump, or maybe the pumps at Soldotna..
 
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Yes that cable was close. Another bizarre engineering mystery. I particularly enjoyed only being able to turn the B nuts 1/64th of a turn before repositioning the wrenches..
The o rings in the fuel valve and the fuel strainer were pretty well shot. Very hard. And there was a wad of something that looked like hair inside the fuel valve and strainer screen. I flush some out of my left tank as well. Obviously contaminated fuel. I always use a filter funnel, except when going from a commonly used pump. So the Kenai float pond, or the Homer fuel tank pump, or maybe the pumps at Soldotna..
It was not the cable which caused the trouble. It was the flap handle quadrant on either side of the cable which cut two grooves nearly through the aluminum tubing. This happened when the flaps went to 40 degrees. I just happened to see the fuel selector move when I retracted the flaps. Very lucky as in just a few more flights it would have cut through dumping avgas in the belly.

That wad of something could have been there since before you bought the plane. Who knows where it may have come from? It's possible that it had been there since the plane was new. I've found "stuff" in the fuel strainer which had come from Cessna. I learned very quickly when you buy a new Cessna, the very first thing to be done when it gets to it's new home is to take it apart for a very through inspection. They are not perfect.
 
I ran a scope into the empty fuel bladders. checked the finger strainers.
There is one flap cable that runs under the main fuel line from the valve to the firewall. It just barely clears the tubing ( sleeved now) The others were not a problem. Hard to take photos down in there since the camera wants to focus on whatever cables are nearby.
 
Wad of spider web material can look like hair. Common for them to build in exposed openings and vents. Some even crawl inside and later die. Periodically remove the drains and flush the system. Then there's chamois debris (rough side downstream) in the system and eventually it can get burned on fuel injectors in my history.

Gary
 
Years ago the owner of the Cherokee I was learning to fly cautioned me to look in the fuel hose nozzle before flushing spiders, webs, and bugs into his fuel tanks. Apparently the vermin at that field liked that nozzle for a home and could be in there within 30 minutes of the last fueling.
 
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