Hi, I'm David Mack. In 2006, I decided to build my own Van's Aircraft RV-7 200+ mph two seat homebuilt aluminum airplane and this is a log of the experience.

Saturday September 6, 2025
Oil Leak Solved

This morning, I connected the pressure manifold again and then ran the engine and...it still leaked! It was still clearly coming right from the AN fitting to manifold junction, where I had just painstakingly cleaned it and resealed it the night before.

At this point I decided that the manifold was probably the problem and that I would exclude it. I went to Home Depot and bought an 1/8" to 1/8" NPT coupler and connected the AN fitting directly to the pressure sensor with some Teflon tape. I know, I know, you aren't supposed to use it on airplanes, but this is way down at the end of a side hose that just measures the pressure and I wanted to test it today. I made absolutely sure none of the tape was inside the connector.

Then I ran it again with the new setup and had no leak. Yay! I zip tied the hose/AN fitting/transducer assembly to a nearby hose and went flying. I flew for about 1.5 hours and then took off the top cowl. No oil leaks anywhere.

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