"The left wing sits low in the hangar"

Does your hangar floor slant, or is it level and the plane is tilted?

If the plane is tilted then you should check your tires and landing gear. The 100 series service manual has the procedure.

Thursday I adjusted (supervised) the vent per the Cessna owners association article. MUCH better. I did a 6 hour cross country and only noticed a fuel puffing out of the vent once, which is a big improvement. I will check the hangar floor/gear. Tires are inflated properly.

Thanks for the input,
Ken

I have the original bladder in the right wing. New one in the left wing. Drained at the gascolator, in three point attitude, right tank took 26 gallons, left tank 29.
My 180 is a ‘53.

Lifting the plane to level flight attitude requires some help. But as far as usable fuel goes, level attitude is what matters. In three point, I think the tanks drain more.

C180_guy wrote:I leave mine in the OFF position

I try to eliminate single points of failure in all my flying. The fuel selector in a Cessna is one of those things I almost never move. Even the most diligent pilot makes a mistake or misses a checklist item occasionally, and it seems super easy to forget to move it out of the OFF position before takeoff. Then the engine quits just after you takeoff. Seconds from disaster at that point.

'62 owner, had same fuel loss problem.

The problem was fuel bladder collapse. Despite positioning the vent properly per the Cessna note, it persisted. It collapsed the right side, keeping the fuel level indicators full, spewing fuel out. The issue was an annual where the position was changed from wherever it had been to the new location.

Make sure the bladders are still snapped to the retainers. This takes a long arm and a broomstick is handy.

I finally thumbed my nose at the recommended location and lowered it in 1/8" increments until it abruptly stopped happening after 1/4" to 3/8" lower than recommended. I was getting tired of putting on a preg test sleeve and reattaching the bladder, and it has worked great since.

Another fellow had a similar problem, and he gained back all the fuel capacity he figured his poh was fibbing about after discovering a few hangers having come loose as well.

This may or may not be your problem, bit it is easy to check.

As for leaking on the ground, you can make your own vent tube with the high spot to avoid dripping. All accessible through the inspection plate. I made mine out of aluminum tube, putting small flares at the end to capture the hose better.

I have a ‘69 182, sits out on a tie down that’s slanted, and I usually keep it full (helps a bit with water in the tanks in the uncontrolled environment. I had issues with the tanks cross feeding also, so I moved to setting the fuel selector to Left when parking. I know the argument against moving the selector “just in case you forget it”, but I’m a flow-style checklist guy so I just have to check anyway. I don’t leave it in off, though, because it looks too close on a quick glance to Both (minute hand being at 6 o’clock as opposed to 12 ‘o’clock). That being said, the multiple times I look down there (check for open cowl flaps on start and taxi, check trim before take off, etc.), I’m bound to catch the really off picture if I leave it on Left, and I’m still getting fuel even if I accidentally leave it on Left on takeoff (haven’t done that yet, thank goodness). But it definitely has solved my crossfeed issues and “dripping dollars out the vent” issue!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

slowmover wrote: I try to eliminate single points of failure in all my flying. The fuel selector in a Cessna is one of those things I almost never move. Even the most diligent pilot makes a mistake or misses a checklist item occasionally, and it seems super easy to forget to move it out of the OFF position before takeoff. Then the engine quits just after you takeoff. Seconds from disaster at that point.

I disagree.
There are a number of single-point-of-failure items,
it's not practical to accomodate all of them by not using.
For example-- let's not ever move the retractable gear, flaps, trim, or cowl flaps,
because if we forget to re-set them we'll cause a crash or an engine melt-down.

Like Slowmover, I had personal minimums about messing with stuff I used infrequently. Billy Howell at Ag Flight had a Comanche for complex requirement for CPL. It was a dog. An Ag student and I flew it from Bainbridge Georgia to his home at Forest City for Christmas break and to get him some complex time. I had lots of Comanche time with Mr Maxwell when very young, but little night. It got late by the Mississippi river, and we noticed the green gear up and locked light get dim. Fearing battery failure, we slowed and lowered the gear and continued not so complex. Yes, embarrassing. No we didn't have to depend on the hand pump having fluid. Who knew the gear lights automatically dim at night? I know, pilots who read the POH carefully. If not a practically perfect pilot in every way, workarounds work.