Rant: Why I finally stopped using liquid electrical tape on everything

For years I used liquid electrical tape on any chafed wire or loose connection I found during A-checks. I figured it was fast and sealed well. Last month I had a Cessna 172 come back after 6 weeks with the stuff peeling off inside the wing root. The residue was sticky and trapped moisture under it, which caused corrosion on the terminals. A senior mechanic showed me how he uses adhesive-lined heat shrink and Tefzel wire splices instead, and he pointed out how liquid tape just hides problems rather than fixing them. I spent a whole Saturday redoing 18 connections on that plane and swore off the stuff. Has anyone else had issues with liquid tape long term on general aviation stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray_martinez826d ago

Yeah but you're kinda burying the lede on the real issue here. Liquid electrical tape has a legitimate use in certain niche spots like sealing the back of a connector where heat shrink won't fit or protecting a solder joint on a circuit board. The problem is people slather it on chafed wire bundles and expect it to hold up to vibration and fuel residue. That stuff dries brittle and cracks within months in an engine bay. It's a temporary bandaid not a permanent fix. Your senior guy is right about adhesive heat shrink and Tefzel splices being the proper way to do it.

rowan_thomas846d ago

Respectfully, that stuff has its place if you prep the surface right.

lee8476d ago

Got a similar lesson the hard way on a Piper Archer a few years back. Wound up with a whole bundle of wires in the wing that had been coated in liquid tape and it turned into a sticky, corrosive mess that actually made the chafing worse because the stuff grabbed every bit of dust and moisture. @ray_martinez82 nailed it about vibration and fuel residue - I've seen it crack in less than two months on a engine harness. Now I only use it for tiny jobs like sealing the barrel of a BNC connector where heat shrink won't reach, but for anything else it's adhesive heat shrink or Tefzel splices all the way. That senior mechanic saved you a lot of future headaches.