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First significant post after purchasing an S7 w 912iS (N52LR) a few months ago. I have been putting some good flight time in and getting comfortable with the plane. Love it so far. I have been flying since 79 with time in many planes, but primarily an SR22 I sold a few months ago. I really like this kind of flying.

A couple of weeks ago shortly after takeoff I got a fuel high pressure warning. At the time I had the main pump running and full power. I throttled back and it bumped up to the red and the Lane A light came on solid. Shortly after the Dynon suggested to land the plane. I was not far from the runway and landed without incident.

I was able to communicate with the builder and review the fuel system. The filter system is relatively new based on the recommendation from Kitfox/Rotax. It was installed in March of this year and has somewhere near 30 hrs on it.

I found what looked like an oil drip coming from the fuel pressure sensor. I was able to pull both fuel filters. It was kind of a mess, could not figure out how to drain the system to keep everything from leaking when disconnected. I let the large post pump filter drain as best I could and captured the fuel. There was some very fine particles suspended in the fuel. I lightly blew in the end and it held pressure for a couple of seconds then gave way. It seemed clear after that. I could not see a way to open the filter. When pulling the pre-pump filter it looked pretty clear.

I put everything back together and checked the pumps. Everything seemed to be fine. The pressure holds around 44-45. I did a full power start / roll out and pulled the cowl. No leaks. Then took it up in the pattern for 20 minutes. All good.

Last Saturday I changed the oil, filter and the fuel filter. I had purchased 3 replacement fuel filters. The original filter seemed to be working OK, but it had a problem prior, so just to be safe (maintenance induced problem coming) I replaced it. The pressure on pump 1 was in the 45 range. Seemed a little high, but in the green. The 2nd pump would put the system in yellow. I flew the plane for a while, running on the single pump one. It ran fine.

Last week I took my wife to Fredricksburg for lunch. All was well on the outbound trip. But 10 minutes in to the return the fuel pressure was in and out of yellow. Then it went red and Lane A light and the "land the plane" warning came on. I had to continually back off of the throttle to keep the RPM's down. I was close enough to my home airport to press on while keeping safety airports in range. I was able to land without a problem and on the ground turned the engine off and back on. The fault had cleared and the fuel pressure was back down to 44.5 or so. I noticed that using the pump 2 rather than 1 brought the pressure down to the middle range. Both pumps on would hit the yellow.

So... I am thinking the filter I had originally been running in the plane may have failed allowing the pressure to go down. The new one seems to just be too fine to allow proper flow. Yes, I could have accumulated trash in that short of time (1hr). But considering I effectively flushed the system multiple times by taking it apart, does not seem likely.

I could just run on pump 2 at the lower pressure and likely be OK. But this just does not seem to be working right. As a safety measure the fuel filter seems to be causing in-flight problems more than solving them. Any one else seeing anything like this? Suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any help and support.
  • Re: Fuel System OverPressure 912IS

    by » 7 years ago


    How are you measuring the fuel pressure?
    Do you have a Differential sensor or is it calculated by the EMS from the MAP pressure?
    What pressure do you see before engine start?
    What pressure do you see at Idle on the ground?
    What pressure is YELLOW?
    What Pressure is RED?

    I know! A lot of questions.
    But without the actual numbers, we can only guess what you are looking at.

    Bill Hertzel
    Rotax 912is
    North Ridgeville, OH, USA
    Clicking the "Thank You" is Always Appreciated by Everyone.


  • Re: Fuel System OverPressure 912IS

    by » 7 years ago


    How are you measuring the fuel pressure?
    Do you have a Differential sensor or is it calculated by the EMS from the MAP pressure?
    What pressure do you see before engine start?
    What pressure do you see at Idle on the ground?
    What pressure is YELLOW?
    What Pressure is RED?

    I know! A lot of questions.
    But without the actual numbers, we can only guess what you are looking at.


    Hi Bill,

    Thanks for the questions! Let's see how far I get.
    There is a pressure sensor set up post pump and prior to the fine filter. The filter is the Bosch - F5021 I got from Kitfox
    Will have to check on before engine start. Never actually seen it as the Dynon is still booting up at start usually. Might change that from now on.
    AT idle it would be in the 44 psi range except when I changed the filter where it was 45+
    Will need to check exactly for yellow level - I think it is 46
    And will need to check specific on red level -

    Just considered that the alarms on the Dynon can be set. What are the expected levels post pump and pre-filter? Maybe it is just set too low?

  • Re: Fuel System OverPressure 912IS

    by » 7 years ago


    The Manual calls for 3.0 +- 0.2 Bar on the Fuel Rail.
    That is ~40-47 psi nominal. Your engine's reference point could be anywhere within that range.

    I think you are asking too much of the regulator.
    What the pressure is, is not as significant as that it holds relatively steady.

    A 1-2 psi variation between pumps is insignificant.
    The pressure sensor is placed between the filters as a diagnostic device.
    If the pressure goes UP significantly, it indicates that the second filter is clogging.
    If the Pressure goes Down significantly, the first filter or the pumps need a look.

    The pumps have a lot of excess capacity until you get into real trouble.
    If the second filter were extremely clogged, the pumps have the capacity to push 4 times the needed fuel at >90 psi and the fuel rail would still be at 3 bar.
    The filter could present a 50 psi restriction and the engine would still not miss a beat.
    The Pressure gauge might indicate 100+psi, but the regulator would still be happy at 45.
    It would be time to land without delay but making the airport would not be a problem.

    If you typically see a 1-2psi restriction across the Second filter,
    48psi would be a reasonable YELLOW alarm point with 50psi as a RED.
    46psi is just not giving you any wiggle room.

    Get used to what you see on a regular basis and then don't worry about it until something changes significantly.

    Bill Hertzel
    Rotax 912is
    North Ridgeville, OH, USA
    Clicking the "Thank You" is Always Appreciated by Everyone.


    Thank you said by: René Caissy, Paul Depperschmidt

  • Re: Fuel System OverPressure 912IS

    by » 7 years ago


    Thanks for your help with this Bill,

    I thought I had the answer yesterday by adjusting the limits in the Dynon yesterday to your suggestions. But unfortunately it looks like I have something else going on.

    I took the plane up to check everything and it was all fine for about 20 minutes of pattern work and so I started out to explore locally. With both pumps on the pressure was in the 45 range. A couple minutes after leveling in to cruise with an RPM of 5300 and fuel pressure of 45 I felt a surge in the engine RPM. I looked down and the RPM had yellow lined and the fuel pressure went to 47. The Lane A light came on and the Dynon warning to land came on. I did not see the pressure hit 50, but it might have for a second. I had to continually pull the throttle back to keep from RPM running up. The pressure backed down to 45 with pump 2 on only. This was exactly the same as before I adjusted the settings the previous week.

    This new information had me pull the cowl and take a look at everything. I specifically looked at the throttle linkage. Everything looked OK. As I worked the throttle the action was not smooth at first. The wire seemed to bunch up a bit and then snap to full open. I worked that a few times and did not see it again.

    I am hoping this is a simple, mechanical thing. Of the big 3 / fuel / air / spark, it still seems to be the fuel. But I am not sure what to investigate at this point.

  • Re: Fuel System OverPressure 912IS

    by » 7 years ago


    You never did answer the, "How is the Pressure Measured" Question.

    If you have a "Gauge" type sender instead of a "Differential" Sender, When the Manifold Pressure suddenly changed as the throttle cable jumped, you could get a situation where the Dynon read the Fuel Pressure before the Throttle change and the Manifold pressure after the change.
    It would then calculate a bogus number and sound the alarm.
    What was the reason associated with the Dynon "Land Now" recommendation?
    "Land Now, Because....??? "

    Have you downloaded the Rotax EMS log to see why the Lane "A" light came ON?

    Bill Hertzel
    Rotax 912is
    North Ridgeville, OH, USA
    Clicking the "Thank You" is Always Appreciated by Everyone.


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