JOHN SCHESTAG wrote: > > Max, on items nos. 1 and 12 regarding the header tank being full.....I > recall some old Ercoupe "pros" taking a broomstick handle and pushing > (pounding) at the bottom of the header tank to create a little sump to > insure you always received the full use of a complete tank of fuel. > After doing this, I remember one told me after he created his sump, he > took his tank out because his engine would quit like yours and his > header tank was full of "crud" as well as some "semi suspended" crud. > This semi suspended crud was not pulled into a line by a fuel pump as we > all know....is was just gravity fed and would "float" around the > "bottom" of the tank and just happen to pile up over the fuel outlet > from time to time and cause just enough of a small fuel blockage to as > to let the engine run for a long time until the "full throttle" need for > fuel was just enough demand in excess of what the piled up crud was > allowing to get through from the header tank. Upon landing, etc., the > semi suspended crud was washed away from the outlet during the bump of > the landing and roll out and again became a "mixed" suspension waiting > to pile up again. Keep in mind, this crud was large enough so as not to > go through the line....it would just sit over the opening (like a beaver > using sticks to build his dam). He said it looked like a bunch of old > cork pieces from pilots or dumb kids on the fueling line trying to force > the fuel cap off fast and breaking off some of the cork float in the > process. He also noted some easily broken "scale" like contaminations!? > Some old tanks were "sealed" with an epoxy wash in the 60's when some > tanks would "weep". Check your log book.....was any work like this ever > done on your header tank? It may have been done and never logged > either. Many old Piper Cherokees had that same problem. Just some > possibilities I thought I'd pass along to help you. John
I had a gas line ice up slowly and it evidenced itself by a major loss of power, followed after a moment by full power. A few minutes later of cruise power and it lost power again then got it back again. The losses got longer and the running periods shorter till I was a glider pilot -- on my second flight in my new plane and second flight after getting my private pilot checkride. Ice in the fitting where the fuel line goes through the firewall. It came out OK, no damage even though I did a thing or two wrong. The point being that a partial blockage may possibly give a momentary complete loss of power followed after some time by return of power. John may have a key point about having crud in the tank or something that partially restricts the fuel flow. -- Ed Burkhead East Peoria, Ill. N3802H, 415-D
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