DA40D - Right Tank Drained

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Captain-random
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DA40D - Right Tank Drained

Post by Captain-random »

So after the outbound leg on an overnight trip I watched the refueler fill both tanks to about 3-4 inches from the rim.

During my preflight checks the morning after I noticed that the RIGHT tank was indicating empty and visually I could no longer see the fuel in the tank. The LEFT tank was still full.

I believed some had drained away which I’ve heard is normal when you overfill the tanks. I did however noticed a stained patch on the grass under the LEFT tank which again I thought was a bit of fuel that had drained due to overfilling.

Believing it to be a fuel gauge problem i taxied out and subsequently took off thinking the gauge would eventually spring to life.

It never did and on landing 1.5 hours later I again had the tanks filled to the top again. The aircraft took 22 us gals on a trip that should have burned around 10.

Has anyone had any similar problems? Apart from fuel theft the only conclusion I have is that the fuel somehow travelled from the right tank to the left tank over night and leaked out of the left tank onto the grass below

Any ideas would be much appreciated.
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OriensFlight
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Re: DA40D - Right Tank Drained

Post by OriensFlight »

Do the diesel-powered DA40s have a cross-feed? The 100LLs do not. Is it possible to close the cross-feed? Just out of curiosity, did the refueler fill the RIGHT tank first and then the LEFT? Did you visually inspect both tanks after all fueling was complete or only immediately after each tank was filled?

Worst case you have a real fuel leak and it's draining JetA into your cabin, waiting for the right spark. Mechanic?
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Re: DA40D - Right Tank Drained

Post by Captain-random »

The engine draws fuel from the LEFT (main) tank and you have to transfer fuel from the RIGHT (Aux) tank during flight to keep them balanced.

I would have thought 10+gals of Jeta1 swinishing inside the fuselage would give off a strong smell :shock:
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Re: DA40D - Right Tank Drained

Post by pietromarx »

Certainly sounds like a leak at the cross-feed point (or the lowest point in the right tank). Perhaps the spill into the grass was so large that the fuel spread wide enough to cover the left side, too? I would not fly the plane again until you've had a mechanic check. Kerosene is, well, kerosene.
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Keith M
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Re: DA40D - Right Tank Drained

Post by Keith M »

I don't think it's possible for fuel to flow between the tanks without the assistance of a pump. Even if the emergency transfer valve is opened, fuel is only transferred when the engine is turning the mechanical pump.

The drain valves sometimes don't close properly after fuel has been sampled, if grit gets in the seals. Have you checked for leaks there?
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Re: DA40D - Right Tank Drained

Post by Rich »

For us DA40-180 pilots that might want to check out the intricacies of the DA40D fuel system.
DA40D Fuel System.pdf
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Re: DA40D - Right Tank Drained

Post by Boatguy »

That drawing, and the larger one on the previous page which I cannot post at the moment, both show a connection between the tanks with no check valve. Further, the AFM says:

“Fuel that is not injected into the combustion chambers is routed through the AUX fuel tank (right wing) and fed back into the MAIN fuel tank (left wing). This way hot fuel from the rail is cooled and cold fuel in both tanks is heated.”

I don’t see why, fuel can’t gravity feed between the two tanks.

10 gallons of Jet A would be more than a spot on the grass.

Does the plane have the long range tanks?
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Re: DA40D - Right Tank Drained

Post by OriensFlight »

The reason I had originally asked how the plane was fueled, was a suspicion that maybe while fueling the Right tank first the fuel went into the Left tank, perhaps because the plane was tilted a bit. Is there a SOP to fill Left tank first? It just seems crazy that this could happen, because how would you ever manage to fill both tanks full if fuel kept going between tanks while fueling, unless SOP was to fill only one tank. I don't think I'm helping. "Will the owner and operator of a JetA DA40 please come to the floor."
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Re: DA40D - Right Tank Drained

Post by Boatguy »

1. We need to know if the plane has the long range tanks. The gauges read "full" when the standard tanks are full, and the LR tanks hold another 11gal. You can fill the tanks to "full", than add another 11gal.

2. Per the drawing, there does not appear to be anything that would prevent fuel from gravity feeding from one tank to the other, in either direction. However, that doesn't explain how one tank could be full and one tank empty, unless the plane was parked with the port wing considerably lower than the starboard wing.
Fuel system LR tanks.pdf
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PS: My plane is on order, due in January, so I've only flown a rented NG.
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Re: DA40D - Right Tank Drained

Post by Karl »

Boatguy wrote:That drawing, and the larger one on the previous page which I cannot post at the moment, both show a connection between the tanks with no check valve. Further, the AFM says:

“Fuel that is not injected into the combustion chambers is routed through the AUX fuel tank (right wing) and fed back into the MAIN fuel tank (left wing). This way hot fuel from the rail is cooled and cold fuel in both tanks is heated.”

I don’t see why, fuel can’t gravity feed between the two tanks.

10 gallons of Jet A would be more than a spot on the grass.

Does the plane have the long range tanks?
The pipe is a continuous loop. the only way fuel can get from it into the left tank is if it failed.
In flight you would then have increasing fuel level on the left.
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