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Ladies and Gentlemen of the board. Newbie here, and hate to do this, but must begin with a problem.
After 450 hours faultless operation of my 912ULS installed in a Pipistrel Sinus motoglider, the following: Heavy smell of fuel in the cockpit, especially at high power/high MAP settings. Discovered right carb air filter fuel soaked after each flight and dripping at 26 drips per min. from air intake bore. Stripped and cleaned carb and verified float needle valve and housing operated normally. Reassembled and flew. Result: No more leak, no more smell, but... fuel pressure now at or above red line, ie .4bar (5,8psi) at idle power, 5000rpm. With leak, pressure remained steady at nominal .3bar. Bizarre, or is there a connection here? Thanks in advance, Mike.
  • Re: Am I missing something here?

    by » 13 years ago


    Hi Mike,

    I'm not sure why the fuel pressure would change unless the leak was bad enough it let off some of the pressure and now you have a tad more. Since you pulled the carbs off and cleaned them did you do a carb sync after you put the back on? You may have had a sticky float and if it happens again check for a float that may be sinking and not up to the correct level in the fuel. Where do your carb vent lines go to? By the way 5.8 psi is okay to have as a pressure. If you want to verify the pressure then hook up a temporary mechanical gauge to double check the reading you see in the cockpit.

    Roger Lee
    LSRM-A & Rotax Instructor & Rotax IRC
    Tucson, AZ Ryan Airfield (KRYN)
    520-349-7056 Cell


  • Re: Am I missing something here?

    by » 13 years ago


    Thanks for this Roger. I followed your advice and did a backup check on the pressure - it reflects what is in the cockpit. The carb vent lines are Rotax standard length and diameter and route forward through the float bowl clips. I re-synced the carbs and they are now silky smooth but the pressure is still on the red line high and this is puzzling as it never budged more than a needle-width from mid range before. Hangar chat suggests the return line could be a culprit? Any views on this, and is it possible to adjust the fuel return or pump output pressure on a 912?

  • Re: Am I missing something here?

    by » 13 years ago


    If you have a return line then your good. It has a restrictor in it so you might check to see if the restrictor hole is clogged. The restrictor should be in the upstream return line fitting. If that is open then I wouldn't necessarily worry about 5.8 psi. If you start to vent fuel, have a rough running engine or see the pressure climb up into the 6+ psi range then time to revisit the issue.


    Just my personal opinion:
    For me personally I never run an electric pump unless it is an emergency or I had a fuel issue. I don't run it on take off or landings just to do it. To me that comes from more old school teaching. When CFI's came up through the ranks they were taught that way so they teach that way. They were taught that way usually on a Contenental or Lycoming. Rotax is a different animal. I think of a Rotax 912 more like a tight tolerance, water cooled high compression motorcycle engine instead of an older style loose tolerance low compression air cooled aircraft engine.

    Roger Lee
    LSRM-A & Rotax Instructor & Rotax IRC
    Tucson, AZ Ryan Airfield (KRYN)
    520-349-7056 Cell


    Thank you said by: Mike Hoare

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