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Hey Mark,
Thanks for the info. I will investigate. I had a long talk with your IA last Thursday about your tank situation. He gave me all the details. I am quite aware of the complexity of our fuel system and over the years have considered complete removal, inspection, and repair. My shop (and yes you do know the one) has warned me about the enormity of that job and has convinced me to leave alone unless I see signs of trouble. This leak I have been chasing for a few months now. My right wing was showing trouble a few years back and replacing the cork sender gasket on that side cured that problem. When I started seeing trouble on the left side, the same cork gasket is where we started. We did see obvious signs of leakage there. About three months ago we replaced it but unfortunately that did not solve the problem this time. When we opened up that inboard panel a few weeks ago during the annual, that area was perfectly clean so we knew the leak was coming from somewhere else. The shop traced it to a fitting on the inboard tank between the boom and the wing root. They could clearly see blue staining all over the fitting and all over the bottom of the inside of the wing draining down to the wing root, which is where I was seeing it. The problem really got ugly after four attempts at re-installing the tank after the attempted repair and still leaking. Now they claim it appears to be leaking through a weld joint and they fear they cracked the tank while removing the old fitting. At least that is the story. I will know more in the morning. I actually have not spoken with the shop since the middle of last week. I have just been getting cursory emails from the IA with the bad news.
Stay tuned.
Ed
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