<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>Warning.---- two weeks ago I wrote to this list about the intermittence of my A-4 as I came through the Chicago River. After many good suggestions here, I pulled the fuel tank and replaced it, found a new element for the water separator and purged the fuel line and cleaned out the sediment bowl on the fuel filter replaced the plugs with the hard to find coppers as suggested in the manual.
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<BR>The intermittence continued although she idled great. On the test run I pulled several hard turns and the engine spluttered. Back inside the engine again. I studied the engine and found a gas drip that appeared to be coming from the bottom of the sediment bowl on the fuel filter. Tried everything, grease the gasket replace the gasket, ratchet down the thumb screw. By luck on my last pull of the sediment bowl I took it outside and filled the bowl (made of Steel) with gas. It had rotted right through the steel and there was a pin hole in the metal causing gasoline to drip into the engine and bilge. When operating in rough weather or in sharp turns the hole would emerge and suck air. This condition is extremely dangerous and hard to recognize. All of you with the earlier engine, please be aware that the metal can actually fail from the water in the fuel line over the years. Thankfully I found it before the inevitable explosion. Be Aware. my hull #222
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<BR>Tom Swift</FONT></HTML>