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ON the MAPA list today another M20J owner had the fuel line break behind the instrument panel and dump avgas all over the inside of his plane. Earlier this year it happened to another MAPA list pilot. It also happened to my lawyer a few years back on his M20F. This hose runs from the firewall to the fuel pressure gauge. Starting in 1978 (24-0377) Mooney replaced this fuel line in the cockpit with an electric gauge with the transducer mounted forward of the firewall. Older airplanes have this hose to a mechanical fuel pressure gauge. Its not an "on condition" hose like the teflon hoses. Some of these hoses are approaching 50 years in service. Curiously, they kept the nearly the same 45" long hose from the fuel servo to the transducer, rather than mount the transducer on or near the servo. P/N is 156003-3S-0210, or basically, a -3 braided hose with straight ends on it, 21" long. I got mine from Guy Ginbey for 110$, PHT is the same. I checked the date on ours, its 1982. New one is sitting in a box to be put on when I get home again. Please check the PT date on your hose before it happens to you. (text from MAPA list) Well that was lovely. The fuel line to the pressure gauge in our M20J (or maybe the gauge itself) failed dripping/pouring a large amount of fuel onto the copilot and carpet. We were climbing through about 2,000' on the way to Palo Alto having just completed a practice ILS into Livermore. Needless to say, we declared an emergency and got on the ground in Livermore as soon as we could, but I was sure watching that fuel drip/leak and hoping (a lot!) that there were no sources of spark anywhere around! Fortunately winds were light (although directly across the runway) in Livermore tonight, unlike almost every other airport around.

I've owned my 1980 231 for about a year and a half now, and would notice a very light fuel odor in the cabin if I tried to fuel to max capacity, especially in the right wing. Last Summer, the shop that performed my annual thought they could temporarily patch the problem and buy me a couple of years until a complete reseal was needed. I went that route and can definitely tell you not to waste the $1,000-1,500 you will spend to do so. Like everyone else who owns a Mooney, I started researching my options to get the job done right and landed on a couple of places. I ultimately chose Weep-No-More because their process made the most sense, and all the feedback I had heard was good. Paul said that he needed about two weeks to complete the job, so I scheduled it over the Summer since I was already flying to the upper Midwest with a friend for OSH. He was nice enough to hangar my plane for three weeks after OSH until he could get started on the job in mid-August. (Much less hassle to fly directly from OSH to Willmar, MN, than doing another roundtrip from Phoenix to the upper Midwest a month later). I asked Paul to send me some pictures so I could have the process documented for my own records, and share the experience with other Mooney owners. The "Before" pictures of what my tanks looked like upon initial inspection....

At the risk of committing a faux pas by starting another thread on this topic, I’m looking for advice – what would you do – on resolving a pretty bad fuel leak in the M20J I’m buying. PPI is finished and was done by Joey Cole everything is great except for the tank. I was made aware of a weep by the owner, but this is worse than originally anticipated (SURPRISE!). I’ve searched and read a bunch of threads debating the pros/cons of bladders vs strip/reseal, but I’m interested in thoughts from the brain trust on my situation. I’m not looking for advice on how to negotiate the financial aspect with the seller – just the best/most practical solution and we’ll work out the finances. The right tank has been completely filled and is without leaks. The left tank appears to be leaking mostly from the outboard fuel bay, which is out of compliance with SB M20-230 as fuel isn’t properly flowing from that bay into the others. The leak is so bad that fuel is pooling all the way down in the fuselage under the cabin. Option A – Patch – Joey can attempt to patch the leak ‘enough’ to make it airworthy and resolve the flow between the fuel bays, thus resolving the SB and possibly solving the leak problems. This is a short-term fix, and might buy me a couple years – or it might just get me across the country to do a reseal. Option B – Patch + Reseal – I can do Option A and take the plane straight to Advanced Aircraft in Portland where they’ll do a complete strip/reseal for about $4k per tank and have them just do the left tank. They provide a 5 year warranty (same as bladders, though bladders seem to last much longer). Option C – Bladders – I can order the O&N Bladders (I’d want the 64 gallon to retain the same capacity) and have Joey install them, which saves having the patch before flying, probably eliminates any future fuel problems, but costs 40 lbs useful load and about $13,000 ($8k for the bladders and $5k for install). (edited to add) Option D – Single Tank Ferry – Joey has also suggested that I could fly the aircraft back with 10 gallons in the left tank (just enough for emergency) without it leaking and take it directly to be stripped/resealed. Obviously this will require more fuel stops and some awkward imbalanced flying. Originally, when I thought it was a weep, my plan was to have the reseal done on the weeping tank for $4k and I was prepared for that cost as part of the acquisition. Now that it could be $5k + future problems, it is starting to make some sense to consider just having Joey do the bladders and put that planned money towards that project. The last consideration is time. Bladders will be 3 weeks. The strip/reseal will be 3 weeks, or maybe 4 weeks for both wings. If he patches, that’s a week, plus the 3 or 4 weeks after that for the strip/reseal. There’s a certain elegance of having Joey do the bladders and then pick up a near-perfect airplane that doesn’t need any immediate work. OTOH, the delta of $8k is a big downside for me. Sorry for the epic novel. What would you choose?