Engine failure at altitude due to fuel starvation

[Randy Johnson]

Well it finally happened. At altitude and with the starboard aux tank selected and the fuel guage reading one quarter full ...the engine died from fuel starvation. The engine recovered quickly after switching the fuel selector to a full tank and turning the fuel pump on. The engine began to recover as I pulled the throttle back as a final step.

Upon inspection the starboard aux tank was bone dry with the fuel gage frozen at a quarter full. All other tanks indicate accurately. The starboard aux tank reading remained frozen even after switching from one tank to another several times.

Need help troubleshooting...my first inclination is to check the wafer chip under the dog bowl (fuel selector) but would like advice on where to start.

Also am going to pursue a fuel pressure idiot light as suggested on another thread on this site. Any thoughts on that would also be appreciated.

[N3322G]

Randy,

I have not found the stock Piper fuel gauges definitive enough for my tastes - in the past 41 years.

Fuel planning was a standard part of our flight planning so assuming you know the burn and the amount of fuel, you can compute how long you will be able to run on a tank. I found this to be more reliable than any gauge. I still use this to predict when it is time to change tanks even though we use the gizmo below...

Then we won a fuel computer in an air race and there was no looking back. Now the Piper gauge operation is checked at annual to make sure it shows empty but fuel pressure, fuel qty used and remaining to destination is all there.

Can't help you with the gauge issue but hopefully you avoid some surprises now.