Fuel leak, Coolant leak

TLDR

• Addressed the fuel leak
• Detected a coolant leak
• Adjusted cowling coolant radiator seal

Details

Fuel Leak

So following the fix journey from a couple of days ago, I swapped out the old crush washer to the dowty seals I purchased from Summit Racing.

Spent most of the time removing the banjo bolt and the old washers because the space was really tight, but I found an angle where I could get both a torque wrench and a 3/4 wrench in there to loosen up the banjo.

Once the old washers were gone, I put the dowty seals in and tightened it back to 19 ft-lbs. I turned on the fuel pumps and put my finger on the connection. After a few minutes, I did not feel anything leaking or weeping. The surface area remained dry. I think whatever was leaking previously was now patched by the dowty seals.

I used the dowty seal at the bottom of this picture, purchased from summit racing

Coolant leak

I have been witnessing a slow coolant level drop in the overflow tank ever since I had the first engine start. I didn’t know if if it was normal and I’ve been looking at every single connection/joint when the cowling was off.

Today I found a spot leaking coolant. It’s the plastic connection on the overflow tank. It’s connected to a rubber hose with an ear clamp. There is no heavy drip, but I could see a tiny trace of liquid seeping through the rubber hose. I am really hoping this is the reason for my coolant level drop.

So I cut off the ear clamp, and replaced it with a spring clamp. A sprint clamp should hold constant tension better when the coolant temperature changes between hot and cold.

I will monitor next Monday when I get back to the hangar.

Trace of liquid at the tip of the rubber hose

Changed to sprint clamp

Coolant Radiator Seal

Another misc task from today was that I adjusted the cowling seal against the coolant radiator so it sealed better.

The coolant radiator is latched onto the cowling, and there is some sealing foam around the radiator perimeter to force the air go through the radiator. On mine, some part of the seal was not fully sealed against the radiator.

So I removed the seal from the cowling and did it again. This time, I put a layer or rubber before the foam seal so the seal could get closer to the radiator when mounted.

Foam removed from 3 sides

Rubber glowed up with contact cement