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An old A&P at Van Nuys told me to quit chasing the manual on a fuel leak, and I still think about it
About 4 months ago I was doing a fuel tank reseal on a 172 and the leak came back twice after I did everything by the book, torque values, sealant cure times, the whole deal. A guy named Ray, been turning wrenches out there since the 80s, walked over and poked at the seam with a flashlight and said "that leak is telling you where it's been, not where it's going." Turned out the sealer was fine but hairline cracks in the access panel were wicking fuel along the gasket surface. He didn't touch anything, just pointed, and I had the panel off and patched in 20 minutes. What got me was how calm he was about it, like he'd seen that exact thing 100 times and just waited for me to burn myself out first. So for the guys who've been at this way longer than me, how do you actually learn to read a leak like that instead of just throwing sealant at it?
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