Engine stalls because of air and foam in fuel line

Oct 30, 2019
36
I bought Vega 2904 a few weeks ago and overall I am very satisfied,
however there are a few issues. When the tank is less than 75% full
the engine sometimes stalls. I openened the cockpit sole and noticed
that there were air bubbles and foam in the fuel line to the engine.
The return line was full with diesel without foam or bubbles.

If wait for 3 minutes, the air and foam disappear and engine starts
again and runs for 3 minutes until the whole process repeats. After
filling up the tank until it is full (including the black hose) it
runs smooth without any problems for the next few hours.

I have bled the fuel system using as described in the manual (with
full tank) but no air came out. I am planning on opening the tank
(need to suck out some fuel first) to see if there is something
wrong with the 'in tank' side of the fuel line (does not get to the
bottom?). Or maybe the fuel and return hose are switched. Any
suggestions, ideas or experiences in this area?

Maarten - 2904
 
Nov 8, 2001
1,818
Hi Marteen

We had teh same problems with one of the UK Vegas when we came over for the
2000 IFR. The Vega Chairman's (Mike Freeman) "Jenavive" kept stopping every
8 minutes with air in the system. It took us two days and lots of towing
through the Dutch Canals to finally find the problem. The fault was the pipe
going to the bottom of the tank for the fuel feed to the engine. Where the
pipe was welded to the fitting at the top of the tank was a very small hole
that kept sucking air until there was enough to stop the engine. Sounds as
though this is the problem.

Cheers

Steve Birch
 
Oct 30, 2019
36
Thanks Steve and all others that have replied... I was about to
follow your suggestion but then it turned out that the solution to
the problem was even simpler:

When I was about to empty the fuel tank I noticed that I could move
the fitting of the stopcock to the tank by hand. When I run the
engine I could reproduce the problem with air bubbles and when I
fastened it no more air appeared in the fuel line.

Maarten