eau de cockpit?

[Wildhorsetrail]

I've got two hours in the Mooney now, on the way to the required 10 hours. Looking for some suggestions on ways to improve the cockpit smell. This plane was hangared and not flown for a while when I bought it. It has that old avgas smell, pretty strong. What do you gentlemen suggest for lightening it up a little? Air fresheners? Flying with door open?

[ZuluZulu]

Are you sure you don’t have a leak entering the cabin?

[EricJ]

Find the leak or the soaked carpet/insulation.    Fix the leak.

 

[toto]

For what it’s worth, a leaking compass can also cause a smelly cabin. You can normally run your hand around the bottom of the compass to find out if it’s leaking - and it’s a relatively cheap fix if so 

 

[MikeOH]

If you've flown for more than an hour and you still have avgas smell...you HAVE a leak.

[carusoam]

Fuel smells were known as old airplanes smells…

Often noticeable each time you open the cabin door… until your nose gets sensitized to it…

 

Each Mooney has five pieces of rubber or cork that can easily degrade over 50years….

Each fuel tank has a fuel level float and a rubber tube connector on the fuel line… rubber and / or cork..

these are hiding behind the side walls on each side…

Take a look under the rug… if you see blue staining… that is a hint of where to go next…

 

The other thing is easier to find…. If you have a visible air bubble in your compass there is that much kerosene missing… find Airpath for that…

 

All….easy low cost parts to replace… 

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic…

Best regards,

-a-

[Ragsf15e]

As others said, you’ll have to take out some of the interior, but it’s not real hard.  Your looking for all the tubes/wires coming out of the wing root into the cabin.  Very low on your sidewalls.  Seats out, sidewalls out, look for blue.

[PT20J]

It is amazing how odoriferous gasoline is. When I had my CiES fuel senders installed, there was a tiny seep from one screw. It didn’t leave a stain and wasn’t  really wet to the touch. But, if I left the doors closed overnight, I could detect a faint fuel odor the next day. I found the screw by pressing my finger against each screw in turn and then smelling my finger, which wasn’t wet, but did pick up the fuel odor.

Point is, you are probably looking for a small leak rather than a gusher.

Compass fluid stinks also, but smells like kerosene.

Skip

[A64Pilot]

What used to be the go odor eliminator for aircraft was called Ozium, if you fix the leak or determine there isn’t one 

[N9405V]

I used to have a 1964 MGB and it smelled the same as my 1970 M20E. Just a random observation.


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