A Smattering of Notes:
Phil E. - It is not surprising that a bit of fuel penetrated
the little float for your fuel tank sended. You can write a
doctoral dissertation on the penetration of little organic
molecules in plastics. Come to think of it, I am, right now.
I imagine that if it really bothers you, you could take the
float off and put it in a vacuum oven for a couple of days
at 50-100C (depending on what polymer was used for the float).
?? (about Bourdon temperature gauge) - Bourdon temperature
gauge? Weird, but then I am too young to truly appreciate all
of engineering. I seriously doubt it was Diethyl ether (common
name = ether) because ether has a boiling point of only 34.6 C
(94 F for the unconverted..., but we are talking about a British
Car here), as compared to MEK which boils at 80 C (176 F). I
would seriously doubt the use of ether here at all, as ethers
are notoriously (and explosively) unstable, flammable and
hygroscopic. But I don't have any good ideas on what was
in the tube. I would expect some semi-benign aliphatic, like
the ketone, or some light oil. I haven't whiffed an ether in
ages, so I can't recall properly what ether smells like.
Greg F.
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