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Warning: chasing a fuel leak with UV dye vs soapy water, one of these cost me a whole weekend
Had a 172 in the hangar two weeks ago with a slow fuel smell on the right tank. My lead told me to grab the UV dye kit, said it never misses. I ran it, blacklighted every fitting, saw nothing, burned a full Saturday on it. Then an old guy from the next bay walked over, mixed up a spray bottle of dish soap and water, hit the sender gasket, and bubbles showed up in like 30 seconds. Turned out the dye was pooling in a low spot and hiding the actual weep point, so I was staring right past it. So now I'm asking, is UV dye actually worth the $60 kit or is soapy water just the move every time? I get that dye helps on stuff you can't reach or see, but for a simple gasket leak it felt like bringing a scope to a knife fight. What do you guys reach for first on a fuel weep, and has dye ever sent you down the wrong road like it did me?
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