Fuel tank leaks

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Moonshine
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Re: Fuel tank leaks

Post by Moonshine »

Had the 1000 hr 1.5yrs ago, wasn't there then
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Gary
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Re: Fuel tank leaks

Post by Gary »

No fuel tank leaks in my 2003 DA40.
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Charles
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Re: Fuel tank leaks

Post by Charles »

No leaks found at 1000 hr. inspection last December. 2003 model.
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Rick
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Re: Fuel tank leaks

Post by Rick »

No leaks so far in the 3 DA40's ('04, '05 and '07) that I am familiar with, either.
Roanoke, VA (KROA)
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Kai
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Re: Fuel tank leaks

Post by Kai »

2 leaks found during 1000hr revision on my 2007 DA40F.
DA40F - N405FP/HS-KAI (sold)
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SlowFlight
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Re: Fuel tank leaks

Post by SlowFlight »

Dillon's fixed pinhole leaks in each of the tanks during my pre-buy (07, 40.705).

An opinion expressed was that some low quality factory aluminum welding work (or prior maint/handling of tanks) and a period of weak q/c resulted in air pockets in welds that led to a string of pinhole leaks in those areas. Later, more extensive pressure testing seemed to correlate with reduced occurrences.
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Moonshine
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Re: Fuel tank leaks

Post by Moonshine »

Ok, here's an update on how the repairs on mine are progressing.
They really aren't.
Fixed (I hope) the fuel flow sender broken wire - that was quite interesting. Only one company in the US sells a connector like that (the idea was to trim off the broken wire and the old connector and crimp on a new one) - one of those aviation specific BMW motorcycle parts. Funny thing is - when the FF sender was replaced at PAS nobody bothered crimping on the connector to the sender - just butt-splice it to the old wire leads out of the old connector. Neat.

Having fun sourcing a new inboard fuel tank - when I bought the airplane she's been sitting for almost a year and had some water in the left tank - bad o-ring on the fuel cap. Now, the plane had the 1000 hr inspection before sitting for a year - so two of the tiny leaks we've found I have no real explanation for. They are on the outboard tank, manufacturing defect along the welding line. Must have been a good reason not to fix it then (just a couple of small blue spots on the tank - but still).
Back to the inboard tank - some interesting inner structure there - the tank bottom over the fuel drain fitting has a doubler plate over it with a dome for the drain valve to rise into. That whole thing has an opening, and I assume the idea is to have the water collect between the tank outer wall and the doubler without it all sloshing around. The quantity of water in the tank was such that it sat above the doubler plate. Borescope shows presense of corrosion on top and around the doubler plate (the pinhole leak is out of the doubler-outer wall cavity) - so I have no confidence in a simple spot welding of the leak - by the looks of what I can see, the cavity might have more corrossion and develop another leak after we put it all back together.
So... A new fuel tank it is. Problem is, the nearest one is in Canada. Another problem - getting a hold of someone who'd sell me the parts. Dave at the parts department in Canada was very helpful though, answering my questions and promising to get a hold of the service center (they don't sell stuff direct to customers). We'll see how the whole thing goes and how much it will all end up costing.
A little side note on the metric stuff - the o-ring for the fuel filler flange is north of $30 ($32? $37? Can't remember). Something tells me my next airplane is very unlikely to have metric parts in it.
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Re: Fuel tank leaks

Post by Kai »

Max,

thanks for the update. I couldn't find the connector for the fuel flow transducer so I just crimped it. Would you mind sharing your source?
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Thomas
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Re: Fuel tank leaks

Post by Thomas »

Hi Max,
Understand you are AOG with your Diamond and not able to Fly over to the Tampa Bay for lunch. tropical storm Isaac has now past our region, it is flyable again. Thomas
Thomas Bienz DA40-180 40.337 D-ENMA (sold 08/2022)
Home Airport LSZC Buochs Switzerland
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Moonshine
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Re: Fuel tank leaks

Post by Moonshine »

Kai wrote:Max,

thanks for the update. I couldn't find the connector for the fuel flow transducer so I just crimped it. Would you mind sharing your source?
Got it here - http://www.touratech-usa.com/Store/PN-0 ... nector-set

exact same identical thing as installed by Diamond - I only changed the side that needed to be changed.
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