.. AN fitting leak / help please ..

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mopar66

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I have installed a fuel cell in my trunk and went with -6 AN Earl's fittings with SS braided hose ..
I like the way the job came out, however I am fighting a very, very small leak in a fitting >> so small it is more like a weeping leak over a week / just leaves a gas-trace on a paper towel left sitting under it > no real puddle ... it's driving me nuts !
I have checked the aluminum taper-interface surfaces and they are good > the hose/fitting interface also seems to be tight / plenty of grip-length on the hose body ID >don't really want to hog down more on tightening the fittings due to the aluminum > and they seem snug enough ...
anybody else ever have this problem >>> and how did you fix it ??..
thanks
 
Sounds like you know what you're doing.
Correct flare? Not cocked? No damage?
Tighten it up. What is there to loose?
Or put some teflon tape on the thread.
I know, I know.
Shouldn't need it.
Hey, my lame response is better than none.
 
it could be the tank entry or fitting above the one you think is leaking... liquids love to travel and make you think they are leaking at the lowest point, but they are actually leaking up above
 
The AN fittings don't usually leak when it's AN to AN if you tighten the crap out of them.

They usually leak more so when you screw (example) say a 3/8 NPT to 6 AN fitting into a fuel pump or filter in which I always use some Teflon but they do t normally leak where the AN male screws to an AN female unless you just did not snug them up enough.

Curious on another point.
You mentioned you just had a fuel cell installed.
By chance did you remove the anti slosh foam inside the cell?

I did not do that with my first go around and ended up gumming up my filter and my whole fuel system with deteriorated foam from the cell after about 8 months of use.

Of course I drained my fuel cell of fuel when I did this and. I noticed another problem.......underneath the foam, the morons never cleaned out any of the drill shavings when they drilled the holes for the welded in bung holes at the sump so I ended up removing the whole fuel cell and flushing out all of the aluminum drill shavings in which most settled at the bottom of my sump.
Just food for thought.

As far as fittings I've also had issues with boogie red up collars and not so great flaring jobs causing leaks.
 
I pretty much agree with cudaspaz' thinking. What is the fitting screwed into, IE pump, etc?


The "one thing" you cannot do with specifically a no6 AN is to screw it onto a "brass" or common SAE 3/8 because that is one size that is different between AN/ JIC and the SAE series

But the adapter screwed into whatever, filter, pump, etc, might be wrong thread or "not have" a required gasket.

Generally there are pipe thread....tapered, sealer, no gasket

"O ring boss" which is same thread as the flare end, IE no 6 and use an O ring and chamfer in the female end

"gasketed" more proprietary

proprietary or IE odd ball or metric

Make sure you haven't got something fouled up there

I've got an electric pump which APPEARS to be either metric or straight rather than proper pipe tapered thread. I used sealer and got it to seal

Like this:

http://www.holley.com/data/products/pictures/large12-927.jpg

Holley rebrands and re-sells them. I can't recall the brand, you guys know what they are.
 
thanks for the input / help guys in trying to fix this leak ... appreciated ..
to answer some questions : my leaks are happening between AN to AN fittings > all new fittings > I even used some anti-seize on the aluminum threads to facilitate tightening ...
any more suggestions out there ??
thanks again ..
 
mopar66 said:
my leaks are happening between AN to AN fittings .
Click to expand...

I would say replace the fittings. I guess it's possible that aluminum AN are porous, on top of other manufacturing defects.
 
thanks guys ...
I was probably trying to be too careful ...
cudaspaz: i'll just crank on them some more > they're not at the point yet where i am worried about anything being over-tightened or stripped .. thanks
 
I always use a little pipe thread paste on them. It lubes them up so they don't gall and seals them also.
 
Never, ever use teflon tape on the AN side of those fittings. If they don't seal, the faces aren't mating up correctly or need to be tightened more. You shouldn't have to kill them to get a seal.

I put a drip of oil or anti seize on the threads to avoid galling.
 
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