Replacing fuel senders

[Tim 8-A]

I have the early model Prinston puck senders and they need to be repalced, the output voltage is not consistant.
I need to replace them in a flying 10. Has anyone removed the senders without pulling the tanks? of if you think its possable?
Red Avionics bought Prinston and has the design, they can build new senders for me.
Option 2 is to go back to float style, If I do go floats can I get them installed without pulling the tanks?
I'm not sure what direction to go....
One other question is the hole pattern typical for all senders or is that going to be a problem?
Thanks for the help.

 

[atwoodm]

I had to replace the sender on a flying RV14 (same wing as the 10 just a a bay shorter) and did pull the fuel tank. I dreaded the idea, but once I started it took less than a hour to remove, and less than an hour to put back on. Do your self a HUGE favor and buy a cordless 1/4" socket drive (Milwalkee makes one at Home Depot for under $100) as that is the easy and quick way to remove the 24 bolts that are on the back of the tank when you're reaching up through the access panels. As for pulling the senders, that was pretty easy once the tank was off. Pulled, cleaned up, replaced and then a few days for the Pro-Seal to dry. Quick pressure test and you're good to go. MUCH MUCH MUCH less painful than I was anticipating.

 

[Kyle Boatright]

Pulling the senders on a -10 is pretty easy. Relatively speaking, there is a lot of room in the -10’s wing root area. If you change sender types, you might need to replace the access covers but that would be a simple job.

 

[jimbom]

I had to replace the sender on a flying RV14 (same wing as the 10 just a a bay shorter) and did pull the fuel tank. I dreaded the idea, but once I started it took less than a hour to remove, and less than an hour to put back on. Do your self a HUGE favor and buy a cordless 1/4" socket drive (Milwalkee makes one at Home Depot for under $100) as that is the easy and quick way to remove the 24 bolts that are on the back of the tank when you're reaching up through the access panels. As for pulling the senders, that was pretty easy once the tank was off. Pulled, cleaned up, replaced and then a few days for the Pro-Seal to dry. Quick pressure test and you're good to go. MUCH MUCH MUCH less painful than I was anticipating.

Is proseal really involved? I thought each sender had a gasket that well sealed their attachment.

 

[Carl Froehlich]

Is proseal really involved? I thought each sender had a gasket that well sealed their attachment.

Not true. These gaskets will tease you that they work but will always, as some point, start leaking.

Throw the gasket away and just use proseal between the sender and tank.

Carl

 

[LR60]

Can the sender be removed without pulling tank?

I have a sender that’s gone bad and only reads from full down to half tank.

Aircrft has only been flying a little over two years.

 

[Tim 8-A]

Can the sender be removed without pulling tank?

I have a sender that’s gone bad and only reads from full down to half tank.

Aircrft has only been flying a little over two years.

What sender do you have ?

 

[Jesse23]

Can the sender be removed without pulling tank?

I have a sender that’s gone bad and only reads from full down to half tank.

Aircrft has only been flying a little over two years.

The stock sender can be replaced without removing the tanks. Have Pro Seal ready to go when prepped.

 

[Taltruda]

Not true. These gaskets will tease you that they work but will always, as some point, start leaking.

Throw the gasket away and just use proseal between the sender and tank.

Carl

I heard using the cork but slathering then both sides with ProSeal is another option.. makes removal in the future easier..

 

[rongawer]

I've used gaskets on many different airplanes and not had leaking issues. A common issue I see is over-torquing of the flanges, which causes uneven gasket compression and creates leak paths.

I do coat both sides of the gasket with Hylomar blue which is a typical good engineering practice; (Permatex Fuel gasket dressing is a comparable option readily available at a parts store or Amazon). This method makes for a very good seal, but also easier future change outs, and clean up. Unless you just happen to have Pro-Seal on hand, I would not bother with it.

 

[jimbom]

I've used gaskets on many different airplanes and not had leaking issues. A common issue I see is over-torquing of the flanges, which causes uneven gasket compression and creates leak paths.

I do coat both sides of the gasket with Hylomar blue which is a typical good engineering practice; (Permatex Fuel gasket dressing is a comparable option readily available at a parts store or Amazon). This method makes for a very good seal, but also easier future change outs, and clean up. Unless you just happen to have Pro-Seal on hand, I would not bother with it.

Agree wholeheartely. In 25 years owning a Mooney with I believe are the same gaskets, I've never had a gasket spring a leak. In fact the gaskets outlived the senders. I will say that when I did change-out out the senders, I've noted that the gaskets looked a bit ragedy. I sure would have hated to have to clean up old pro-seal to change them out.