Spent 8 hours chasing a fuel leak on a 737 that turned out to be a loose clamp

Was at LAX last Thursday swapping a fuel pump on a 737-800 and after buttoning everything up I had a drip from the line, pulled the whole assembly apart twice before I noticed the clamp on the return line was just barely snug instead of torqued, has anyone else had a stupid simple fix cost them half a shift?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaron_mitchell15d agoProlific Poster

Hate when that happens man. "Just barely snug" gets me every time. Had a Cessna 172 come in running rough once, customer swore it was a magneto. Pulled both mags, sent them out for bench testing, $400 later found the spark plug wire was just loose. Felt like a total idiot. Some days you just gotta laugh and move on.

calebc4014d ago

The time I spent 45 minutes chasing a gremlin on an old Subaru Outback, swapped out the MAF sensor, cleaned the throttle body, all that stuff. Then my buddy walked over and just jiggled the battery terminal and it fired right up. That was the moment I learned to start with the dumb stuff first, like checking connections and grounds. Now I keep a mental checklist of the cheapest and easiest things to check before I even pull a tool out. It saves me hours and keeps my confidence from taking a hit when I miss the obvious. Do you have a go to first step now or do you still start with the expensive stuff?

kim.nina15d agoTop Commenter

Gotta love when the simplest fix makes you feel like the world's most expensive parts changer! My uncle did something similar with his old pickup, swapped out a whole fuel pump before realizing the gas cap was loose.

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