182H fuel bladder problems

benyflyguy

benyflyguy

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benyflyguy
Club ship is a 182H
We had leaking right fuel tank. Fuel leaking aspected sump- replaced. Still leaking around sump and down right fuselage. They replaced the bladder with one from ‘Floats & Fuel Cells” in 2019. Despite change still slight leaking here or there. fast forward to this year annual both fuel sending units look like they are leaking- need new gaskets. It was also noted the Rt. wing root has fuel build up between skin sections and a possible bladder leak is suspected. Shop not recommending same company If we decide to do the bladder right now. They apparently have had another problem with a bladder from that same company didn’t have a hole that was leaking after 16 months with a split in a seam. Bladder from Eagle Fuel cells is a 16 week lag.
Anybody ever have similar issues???
 
It seems some fuel leaks may not be apparent immediately. You may want to

verify when picking up aircraft.

Cessna has a relatively easy method to check for fuel system integrity while

fueled. It involves jacking one side with Fuel Selector on BOTH.

Source is a Service Letter from early eighties .
 
Magman said:
It seems some fuel leaks may not be apparent immediately. You may want to

verify when picking up aircraft.

Cessna has a relatively easy method to check for fuel system integrity while

fueled. It involves jacking one side with Fuel Selector on BOTH.

Source is a Service Letter from early eighties .
Click to expand...
Sounds like a good idea. Going to try to dig up that service letter from the internet ether.
 
1) make sure the seal at the wing root/fuel sender is snugged properly
2) make sure the seal at the filler port is in good shape

Has anyone been over-filling the tank (maybe filling it with cold fuel and then putting it in a warm hangar, or otherwise subjecting the bladder to excessive fuel expansion?

As for a bladder source, both of ours are from AeroTech. Their website seems to be down, but you can call them at: 562-696-1128. They are in the Los Angeles area. Mostly do racing fuel tanks, but they have PMA'd Cessna 182 bladders (at least they used to, I'm not 100% certain if they are still in that business. Our bladders from them are 15+ years old and holding up well.
 
Are you using Mogas with ethanol in it?

The STC providers for Mogas use are specific about absolutely no ethanol. It wrecks older-tech rubber stuff. From Petersen's STC website:

upload_2023-2-3_13-24-41.png
 
Jeff Oslick said:
1) make sure the seal at the wing root/fuel sender is snugged properly
2) make sure the seal at the filler port is in good shape

Has anyone been over-filling the tank (maybe filling it with cold fuel and then putting it in a warm hangar, or otherwise subjecting the bladder to excessive fuel expansion?

As for a bladder source, both of ours are from AeroTech. Their website seems to be down, but you can call them at: 562-696-1128. They are in the Los Angeles area. Mostly do racing fuel tanks, but they have PMA'd Cessna 182 bladders (at least they used to, I'm not 100% certain if they are still in that business. Our bladders from them are 15+ years old and holding up well.
Click to expand...

will try to get that looked at. The fuel expansion is certainly a possible problem. Has been fueled with a cold fuel truck placed in a 50F hangar on many occasions. Hard not to overfill too as the filler neck has a little flap you have to push open. Can’t just fill to the tabs easily.


Dan Thomas said:
Are you using Mogas with ethanol in it?

The STC providers for Mogas use are specific about absolutely no ethanol. It wrecks older-tech rubber stuff. From Petersen's STC website:

View attachment 114560
Click to expand...

Using 100LL so no ethanol.
 
Fuel WILL expand with temp increase.

However; if the Vent System is fine it should not damage bladders as there will
not be a pressure increase . It may raise the fuel level closer to the sealing surface of the wing skin though.

Are these long range tanks?

The Service info from Cessna may be reffed in bladder ADs from that era.

Note that while simple a leak can result in fuel running out of the wing.
Observe caution and do not leave unattended while jacked.
 
benyflyguy said:
They replaced the bladder
Click to expand...
Was the replacement bladder new or a repaired one? Any idea the date of manufacture on it? Doubtful the fuel expansion will fail the bladder unless there is an existing issue and the slight pressure increase leaks at that point(s) provided the vent system is not working. If you would see how much a bladder expands during a bench pressure leak check you'd see why.

I assume the fuel cell is out so there are several checks you can do to it. While your shop probably doesnt have the supplies to perform a
permability check, there some simple pressure checks that can be performed for toubleshooting purposes. Theres also a check using freon but that one isn't too environmentally friendly anymore.

Also look beyond the bladder to the lines, etc. as avgas has a tendency to "creep" outside the area of the leak.
 
Replaced one in 2019 was new. still in place. Shop not recommending pulling bladder until we have a new one in place to swap if it can’t be repaired. They want to wait to do the fuel sending unit gaskets at the same time to save labor on draining fuel system.
 
Doug Reid said:
If fuel is leaking around the sending gaskets that will cause all your symptoms.
Click to expand...

Agreed. That is the first thing I’d be checking before screwing around with changing a bladder.
 
So bladder was pulled today after a replacement finally became available. Was leaking from a popped seam at fuel return
52D09F3E-2D6E-44C4-B311-D7E59D5D82E2.jpeg DB7CA7AD-701C-45A9-B298-04B2A7D49CE2.jpeg
putting in a new one from eagle fuel cells. Doing sending unit gaskets at the same time
 
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