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Spent 3 hours chasing a fuel leak on a Cessna 172 that ended up being a loose O-ring
I was working on a 1978 Cessna 172 at the shop last Tuesday, tracing a slow fuel drip from the right wing tank sump. Turned out the O-ring on the quick-drain valve was just sitting crooked from a previous install, took me way too long to even think to check it. Has anyone else wasted half a shift on something that simple?
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milarodriguez13d ago
Oh man, I feel your pain on that one. I've had more than a few afternoons disappear over an O-ring that was just sitting a hair off.
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wood.faith13d ago
The real kicker is how a tiny misalignment can hide for ages... you check it once, it looks fine, then you come back after a coffee and suddenly it's glaring at you. I had a car once where the gasket kept weeping and I replaced everything but the O-ring. Turned out it was just smushed a little flat on one side from being installed cockeyed years before. Makes you wonder how many "bad parts" are actually just a millimeter of human error.
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