Fuel Gauge Problem Solved

 

I replaced the wire with a straightened piece of the 0.063" wire I have for the trailing edge on the WACO NINE wings.  I weighed it and it now weighs 19.3 grams vs the 31 grams it weighed when I started, big change.  It turns out gas had leaked into the float and came out when I unsoldered the wire.

It made a tiny pinging/rattling sound when you shook it.  I thought it sounded like a little bead of solder rattling in it, turns out it was a little gasoline.

When I first brought it home and tried floating it in auto gas it sunk, bummer.  Now it floats about 1/2 out of the gas, awesome.

The gas I used had been out side in 23 degree F weather overnight and was very cold.  In the short time while I took some pictures, the lower pressure of the cooling air in the float sucked some gas in, the rattling sound was back.

A careful inspection of the soldering on the new wire showed I had the tiniest leak at each end where the solder was not well bonded to the wire.

Since cooling it sucked in the gas, I used the heat gun, at 250 degrees F, to heat it and push the gas back out, it worked.  I put it in the freezer for about 5 minutes before heating it to have the most air to push it out,

I thought that worked so well that maybe could I show the leak was there by freezing it then bubble testing it in water just below boiling, nope.  I even tried adding dish soap to the water so it could maybe blow a bubble after pulling it out of the hot water, nope.

After a couple tries at fixing the leaks and using the cold gasoline I was able to fix them, no more leaks.

I used my 1500 watt soldering iron to heat the wire without overheating the float.  It's not pretty but it's sealed.

Tomorrow is forecast to be in the low 70's and sunny so I hope to try it out in flight.