Clogged fuel lines

[Dave S]

Comments offered are right on track. The low permeation hoses we can get now are great as they don't smell up the cabin where the hose lines run through the cabin.

FWIW - lacquer thinner makes a really good soak/solvent/flush for the metal parts and metal tubes to dissolve the crud left by the old gas - Acetone is good too. Don't want to have either get on any good rubber parts intended to be used. Both solvents can be inexpensive compared to carb cleaner.

Probably not a bad idea to follow Kitfox's recommendation for flushing new tanks on the ones which have sat with old gas in them. Pretty sure others mignt be able to offere advice on cleanihg up tanks on Series IVs.

Interesting on the rubber hoses - Rotax advises 5 year replacement on these - however, they say nothing about the rubber hoses that are not part of engine - guess they don't give a rat's elbow if any of us has trouble from stuff they might not get sued for

Sincerely,

Dave S
KF 7 Trigear
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN

[beeryboats]

I'm waking up my IV after the last owner let her set for 10 years. The rubber hoses are all going to go! The hoses from the tank to the header tank are hard as rocks! My problem is the header tank is half full and there is no low point drain. What the @$%& was the builder thinking? So now I have that to fix as well. My question is, what hose should I use from the tanks to header tank?

[cap01]

Goodyear barricade is talked about a lot on this forum . I used Parker series 39705 super flex which is also low permeation with good results . I'm sure there are other brands also .

[War Eagle]

I have replaced all my black rubber hoses with polyurethane gas lines.

They are see thru and are classically used on motorcycles and hot rods and can be purchased from those types of suppliers. No gas smell in the cabin.

This product can be purchased in clear, blue, red, green and there maybe other colors as well.

Aircraft Spruce handles this but is limited in sizes.

Below is just one site that handles this product in multiple sizes but there are many if you do a search for this product.

http://www.newmotorcycleparts.com/fu...l_filters.html

[Timberwolf]

War Eagle,

Just had a buddy make an emergency landing due to fuel in the cockpit. He had the blue poly hoses. They had literally just disintegrated and allowed fuel to spill all over the cabin. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see the plane in person. We use to use that fuel line on snowmobiles because it would remain very flexible in cold temps. The strangest thing is the hose was still flexible right around where they broke.

Either way with any fuel system, I don't believe it's bad practice to go through and replace all the hoses like that every few years. Cheap insurance

[kitfox5v]

Shane,
Sounds like ethanol my be the culprit to me. just a thought.

[War Eagle]

War Eagle,

Just had a buddy make an emergency landing due to fuel in the cockpit. He had the blue poly hoses. They had literally just disintegrated and allowed fuel to spill all over the cabin. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see the plane in person. We use to use that fuel line on snowmobiles because it would remain very flexible in cold temps. The strangest thing is the hose was still flexible right around where they broke.

Either way with any fuel system, I don't believe it's bad practice to go through and replace all the hoses like that every few years. Cheap insurance

That's correct. Polyurethane is just another option for fuel lines but you always need to use do diligence in managing your maintenance and replacement schedules.

[beeryboats]

I removed my poly header tank tonight and even though it was half full, no fuel came out when I removed all the lines. It has been setting for ten years and all the fittings were plugged solid. That made the tank removal very easy, but I was surprised how much the Mil-6000 hoses had degraded and came apart inside. So now after reading this thread, I don't know what hoses to buy as replacements.