A fuel cap O-ring cost me 3 hours at the hangar in Casper
Last Tuesday I was doing a routine 100 hour on a Cessna 172 in Casper and the owner kept saying he could smell fuel in the cockpit. I pulled panels for an hour and a half looking for a leak at the lines and the selector, found nothing. Turned out the fuel cap O-ring was dry rotted and flat, letting vapor creep into the cabin vent. Swapped a 40 cent O-ring, problem gone, and I felt like a rookie for skipping the simple stuff first. Now I check caps before I touch a single panel on any fuel smell call. Anyone else get burned by chasing the hard stuff before the easy stuff?