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Oh no what have I done!


Bill3558

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I slipped the carb bowl clip off the port side to see if I could see anything in there. Couldn’t because there is a fuel overflow tray beneath it which prevented me from removing the bowl. So I clipped it back on and went flying. This morning I have a small puddle of fuel under the airplane. Tray was wet with fuel. 
Is there a wrong way to put the bowl back on? Here is a bad pic. You can see the drip starting. Any suggestions?

96CDD415-FF10-40CD-AB25-C76C246396BC.jpeg

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You probably didn't re-seat the gasket properly -- it's tricky, you have to run your hand all the way around the underside of the carb and make sure the gasket is in the groove all the way around before seating the carb bowl.  If you twisted/crushed the gasket, you might need a new one.

You really have to pop the carb off the intake socket and lift it up a bit to drop the bowl and get it out.  If you are careful with it it doesn't disturb the attached cables or mess up the carb sync.

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There is a video going into a bit more detail on how to do it ( I think Roger posted it years ago ).

Also be careful with the gasket and floats ( make sure these are perfectly aligned )  - it is possible to introduce debris into to bowl if you are trying to force things ...

 

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The video and Flying Monkey's advice are for the CTSW. From the picture it looks like you have a CTLS. Popping the carb out of the carb socket doesn't get you where you want to be. For the CTLS I normally partially remove the drip tray. Remove the 2 screws holding it on and kind of twist it out of the way. Don't try to remove the tubing. Be careful, because the trays can be damaged. Like the others have said it is most likely a gasket, but it could be that the float valve is not shutting off the fuel like it should.

Also worth noting is that in my opinion it is a good idea to shut the fuel valve when you park for the night.

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Tom, I loosened the tray as you suggested which gave me a little more wiggle room. I could see the beige colored gasket and saw no damage. I reseated the bowl and the leak stopped.  I did a run up and all seems to be ok, no sign of further leakage and engine runs fine. 
In the future, If it ain’t broke, I’m not going try to fix it. 
 

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6 hours ago, Tom Baker said:

The video and Flying Monkey's advice are for the CTSW. From the picture it looks like you have a CTLS. Popping the carb out of the carb socket doesn't get you where you want to be.

Thanks Tom.  As you know I only have CTSW experience and sometimes my answers are blindered in that direction.  :)

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Okay I'm back and the story of my demise was greatly exaggerated.😂

It was Fly Monkey had my evil twin lock me up so he could catch up on post numbers, but I've escaped 🤣

Hi Andy. Just kidding.

The carb bowl check in the video works for either the SW or LS. It is actually easier on the LS because instead of the early SW stainless steel fuel tube the carb is fed by the Teflon hose which is very flexible and allows you to turn the carb a lot more. All you need to do on the LS to have more wiggle room between the carb and air intake socket is take a 10mm wrench and loosen to the last 2-3 threads the 10mm nut in the center of the airbox with the rubber isolator on it. Takes 10 seconds. Also loosen the clamp on the carb on the air intake side so the carb now pops out of both rubber mounts.  I use this method on LS annuals when I check the carb bowls for debris and weighing of the floats.

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Hi Roger - nice to hear from you again!  When pulling the carbs free of the sockets does that have any effect at all on throttle stops, balance, etc?  I’ve been pulling the drip trays because I’m not sure it’s risk-free. 10 seconds is attractive, though. 

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1 hour ago, John Vance said:

Hi Roger - nice to hear from you again!  When pulling the carbs free of the sockets does that have any effect at all on throttle stops, balance, etc?  I’ve been pulling the drip trays because I’m not sure it’s risk-free. 10 seconds is attractive, though. 

Hi John,

Leave the drip trays alone. They break easier on those narrow tabs. Since everything on the carb is moving together nothing else should be affected. I've been doing it this way for 20 years and never had any issues.

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12 minutes ago, WmInce said:

Roger, as per your video demo (thank you!), where should the throttle control be set . . to relieve the tension on the carb cables?

Hi Bill,

Nice to hear from you to. :)

It won't make any difference since your only moving it out of the rubber socket and then turning is sideways. It is the cable sheath that would need to be changed and not the inside cable itself. 

p.s.

Can't turn the SW carbs with the stainless steel fuel tube to the carb because it's too ridged, but you can lift it enough to clear the trays.

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As I'm new to the 912 and SW, and aware of bowl corrosion risks, I did a precautionary check last weekend.  Both bowls had the white corrosion on bottoms, nothing was loose by finger picking at it.  Cleaned both up and plan to order new bowls as I believe mine are either original or at least aged.  Being my first bowl check, I performed it by pulling the carbs from sockets and that technique provided enough clearance.

What I was not expecting is how hard (effort and finger clearance) it was to slide the bails off the bottom of bowls, and return them back to place after cleaning.  I did not want to press / stress brackets for controls on carb, and to gain more strength it's temping to wrap more of your hand around carb components.  I'm also not a fan of using screw drivers to pry things with the minimal clearance to bail and result in marking up the bowl with scuffs and scrapes.  So, I took a cheap harbor freight medium size screw driver, heated the shank and bent tip 90 degrees keeping the blade parallel in line with shaft.  This allows you to work from the bottom space between bowl and drip tray.  Slip it between the bail and bowl, rotate it to pry / release one side of bail, slip under to the inside of bail and release it, and the bail is partially angled off the home detent.  Then on bottom center of the bail with the gap started, slide that screw driver tip through opening and then pry against the bail and bowl to drive it up to 30-40 degrees at which point it becomes an easy hand effort to finish the removal.

Reinstall was hand effort as far as I could comfortably close by fingers, then used channel lock pliers to squeeze the last bit tight.  I plan to take a pair of channel locks and grind the ends to a shape for a special tool on this job.  Put both of these tools in my bag kept in the plane.  

Curious what others have for tricks on this?  Maybe I simply needed to pull the carbs up and further away from sockets?  Regardless, I want a technique that is easy and repeatable, just like flying I think maintaining things should be joyful, I get as much fun from working on the CT as I do as flying it. 

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