Wing has a lot of volume, this can make the balloon inflate/deflate with changing temperature or pressure.   Also I had a lot of problem with packing tape, seems air always found an escape path in the carbon that wasn't body worked and primed.  As for finding leaks, just use soapy water and a chip brush, leaks will bubble up.

Micah Froese
Lancair Legacy
201 hour



Kyrilian Dyer wrote:

Does anyone have good ideas for finding the leak location?  I'm still building.

I tested my Legacy wings by plugging all but two holes and covered the vent and fuel cap (latched) with packing tape.  I then installed barbed fittings to the two remaining threaded holes and put a party balloon over one and a tube on the other.  I then compressed the tank and balloon through the tube until the balloon was filled and capped the tube.  I checked all the plumbing and capped holes with soap bubbles, but saw no signs of leaks.  However, the balloon was partially deflated the following day.  A tied-off test balloon didn't deflate measurably, so I must presume that the air didn't bleed through the balloon.

Does anyone have any ideas for further leak tests?  I've heard of putting some freon into the tank and using a sniffer to find leaks, but doing this without false alarms within a garage seems tough.  Besides, I don't have the freon or the tester.  Has anyone tried this and if so, any suggestions?  How about other methods?

Thanks in advance for your help.

- Kyrilian


CavittP@aol.com wrote:

Fuel leak could be relatively simple.  Once you find the source of the leak,

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