Intermittent Temporary Rich Engine Start-Up Condition?

[edasmus]

Herb:

After a flight last weekend, I have noticed a very very slight drip of fuel coming from the cylinder drain tube from my rear engine. I have never noticed this before. I sat and watched the tube for about 10 minutes and witnessed maybe one drip per 90 to 120 seconds on average. I was reading this thread and was wondering if you ever resolved all this with a high confidence level as to the cause?

Thanks, Ed

[hharney]

After having the fuel divider rebuilt 3x, replaced the throttle body and fuel mixture control, beat my head against the wall, replaced the check valves, checked fuel head pressure on divider valve, adjusted fuel pressure and beat my head against another wall, IT IS STILL DRIPPING!!!!!!

Granted not as bad and only out the port side, front engine. At one time after the first divider rebuild it started dripping out both sides.

I'm into this thing at least $3K. Granted the throttle body and mixture control really had nothing to do with the drip but it was all tied in together.

Frustrating. Last time I talked to Paul he said his just quit for no reason.

[edasmus]

Thanks for the reply Herb. I will simply watch mine for awhile and see what transpires. It is such a slow rate drip and my shop did not seem concerned at this point. They said "go fly" and see what happens so that is what I am going to do. I will keep you posted. Meanwhile, if you ever "get to the bottom" of your drip, please share. I do feel for you my friend. It is things like your situation (which I have experienced with my plane many times) that drive me nuts. I enjoy my plane but it is a roller coaster of emotions. The highs are high but the lows are low. There seemingly is no in between. Thankfully, it is the only part of my life that is like this.

Good Luck,

Ed

[hharney]

It does not drip in flight only when shut down. I just made a habit of turning off the fuel valves for now.

[Jerry De Santis]

Herb, How do you know if it is not dripping while in flight? Is it because engine is running?

Jerry

[Roger]

A couple of weeks ago I was talking wth the female pilot for the Right Whale project in St. Augustine, and she showed me the fuel throttle body they had just replaced on their Turbo 337. The fitting on the end of the fuel line going into the throttle body had broken off at the threads. But the most interesting part was that the throttle body also had a crack in it starting at the fitting, which their mechanic surmised was due to over torque at the factory.

The one thing that jumped out at me was that there was the classic blue dye streak on the underside of the housing, which showed that this had probably been cracked for some time, and had a slow leak.

I didn't ask her if they had experienced any fuel or pressure flow issues prior to the break in the fitting, but if I see her agian I will ask and let you know. In the meantime, use the old method of looking everywhere for any blue dye, to try and locate a random leak.

[hharney]

Jerry

I have not noticed any fuel/oil deposits on the belly after flight.