photo of stains under wing

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comancheflyer30

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Dsc45shooter
Curious if any A&P's can identify the cause of this stain from a similar experience. Plane has set a number of years without flying.


IMG_0098_zpsxiiyaoip.jpg
 
Not an A&P...but Mogas? Or are you talking about further down on the aircraft?
 
fuel leak, quick drain, and then corner of the tank and wing/fuse joint. Hasn't flown for years is an understatement. Hogg, get away from that thing, just get away from it....:D
 
comancheflyer30 said:
Curious if any A&P's can identify the cause of this stain from a similar experience. Plane has set a number of years without flying.


IMG_0098_zpsxiiyaoip.jpg
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Pretty common sight on high winged Cessna that have bladder type fuel tanks or intergral (wet wing) fuel tanks. The bladders are typically the easiest to repair of the two. The old factory paints are damaged pretty easily by fuel so that is the result of the leak. I'd say its a 50/50 shot if the owner will pay to repaint the area.

If wet wing I might look for a different plane.

There was a 182RG on the ramp that looked much worse than that. Took him about four tries with the same FBO to get the fuel leak stopped.
 
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Brian nailed it. We're working on a 182 that looked just like that, bladders were shot.
 
Leaky bladder. They don’t last forever and changing them isn’t difficult or unusual. Odd color for fuel stains. Avgas blue dye is what you’d expect to see residue from. The stains might buff out. Hard to say from the picture.
 
The brown looks like mogas but if it only had avgas in it then it could be other lubricants like oil, grease, or even corrosion treatments.
 
Stewartb said:
Leaky bladder. They don’t last forever and changing them isn’t difficult or unusual. Odd color for fuel stains. Avgas blue dye is what you’d expect to see residue from. The stains might buff out. Hard to say from the picture.
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Your definition of "difficult" is much different than mine. Taking out the bladder isn't a big deal. Its removing the old tape, cleaning it out, installing new tape and then snapping and clipping the new bladder into place its what is difficult.
 
Wow you all reply fast! Thanks for the input :) I know it was found to have 100LL in the tank. Not much of it anyway. Its a late model 1974 172M.
 
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comancheflyer30 said:
Wow you all reply fast! Thanks for the input :) I know it was found to have 100LL in the tank. Not much of it anyway. Its a late model 1974 172M.
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That airplane should have regular aluminum fuel tanks that can be removed from the wing, repaired via welding and re-installed. Or it could be a rubber hose that leaked.

I would not be afraid of fuel leaks on that, they should all be pretty easy fixes.
 
comancheflyer30 said:
Wow you all reply fast! Thanks for the input :) I know it was found to have 100LL in the tank. Not much of it anyway. Its a late model 1974 172M.
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172M has aluminum tanks that crack. It also has lacquer paint that runs like that. Fist thing, though, is to check the gaskets at the fuel level sender and filler neck. Filler neck requires that the top cover comes off the wing, which could be interesting if it's never been off. The screws could be rusted in the anchor nuts in the wing, and could break off. The nuts along the front are in the spar and their rivets are under the leading edge skin. Very time-consuming to fix.
 
An airplane with that problem is likely to have a zillion other much worse things wrong with it.
 
Hope your getting a great price,if your thinking of buying.
 
I'd say change brands of deodorant. :D (But that was entirely tongue in cheek.)

It's a 172. Barring corrosion, if the price was right go for it. Which you did.
 
It’s a fuel tank leak. It happens. Most owners catch it and deal with it sooner, but it isn’t necessarily indicative of anything other than fluid runs down hill.

Enjoy the plane.
 
Deodorant! thats funny! . Yes im hoping its not a hole or crack. Maybe just cork material around sending unit. But my ap should figure it out soon.
 
Dan Thomas said:
172M has aluminum tanks that crack. It also has lacquer paint that runs like that. Fist thing, though, is to check the gaskets at the fuel level sender and filler neck. Filler neck requires that the top cover comes off the wing, which could be interesting if it's never been off. The screws could be rusted in the anchor nuts in the wing, and could break off. The nuts along the front are in the spar and their rivets are under the leading edge skin. Very time-consuming to fix.
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when the tanks are fixed let us know we can fix that paint problem.
 
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