Kreem

[Bryan]

I know this has been talked about before, but I now have an issue and I am not sure what to do. I bought a partially built model V kit that was produced in 99. I have now completed the kit and am ready to fly. When putting fuel in it for the first time I noticed white kreem coming loose around the cap area where you put fuel in. The rest of the tank seems to be OK. After reading up about all the issues with the Kreem should I pull the wings and all back off and try and clean it out and reseal them or fly for a while and keep an eye on this. Basically are there some of you out there getting along OK with the old Kreem or is this just an absolute NO NO to fly with it? Thanks for any help.

[pperry]

Bryan, I had the kreem problem in a KF IV I had purchased, but mine was coming off in "strips" inside the tank...looked kinda like paint peeling. The potential problems are:1) If you are using fuel with ethanol and your tanks are not ethanol resistant and not protected with the kreem or some other resistant material, then the ethanol in the fuel can dissolve the tank resin which would eventually weaken the tanks and in my case caused sticking valves in my engine which is how I discovered the kreem problem.
2) If enough of the kreem flakes off and is sloshing around in the tanks, I suppose it is possible for it to clog the finger strainers or fuel filters etc.
So I'm not sure how much of a problem you have. If it is just a small amount near the caps that came off and doesn't seem to be growing, I would probably just keep a watch on it, especially if I was using fuel without ethanol. It was a significant amount of work and expense to remove the wings, slosh out the old kreem with MEK, and then re-slosh with Kreem.
Good luck, Paul Perry KFIV Speedster 912UL

[Bryan]

Thanks Paul. Yes the only place I have noticed any peeling was right around the caps. The rest looks good and I can not feel any peeling, but of course I can not reach in very far. I do not plan on putting any alcohol fuel in the tanks. I hope to hear from others and find out what others have done. Thanks again. Bryan

[HansLab]

My guess would be the NO NO version: you are dealing with an aeroplane, here. You do not want at any time to ask yourself wether or not it is safe to fly around another hour, or so...

Think about not to solve the issue right now:
When WILL you take the tanks off? What is your maximum amount of debris round the cap?

I say take'm off right now - before your first flight. Your motivation is at max, now :-))
One less problem to think about. For the next coming years.

Happy, safe flying!!
Allmost there....

[Av8r3400]

+2 on what Hans said.

The first time I see any Kreem come loose on mine, they're gone.

[pperry]

Bryan, you can also use a small usb camera to take pics of the inside of your tanks to get a better look. This is what my right tank (the worst one) looked like.

[Pilot4Life]

Wow, don't suppose that'd have any effect on fuel flow would it?

Bryan...yeah, if yours had anything close to that nasty stuff in it the issue must be resolved. I get little pieces in fuel samples (King Air 200) and we'll drain the suspected tank until clean. After so much though, the problem might not be as little as we had hoped. Best of luck, keep us posted please.

[tommg13780]

I'm thinking that I need a boroscope like pperry used for inspecting my fuel tanks. I have a model 4 with fiberglass tanks from the 1990's. From looking through the filler cap I can see that they were treated with Kreem or similar product. Does anyone have comments on the inexpensive cameras that work through the USB port on a laptop? I see them online for $50 or so.

[RobS]

You might want to look at this post and then see if the guys who ordered this inexpensive unit still like it . . . .

http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/sho...ight=boroscope

[dginok]

I bought this one awhile ago, and it works decently:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1