Tillotson MD float bowl drain seal?

[amuller]

The bowl drain resembles a long thin nail, spring loaded against some sort of seat. Appears to me there should be some sort of seal under the head of the nail. The parts blowup I have seems to show some sort of tapered seal but it’s not very clear. I presume this has been figured out already by people on this board…. Suggestions?

[jcrigan]

On my Scott Atwater motor I have eliminated this drain valve completely and used screws and fiber washers to plug the holes. Figured that was one less place for a fuel leak.

[frankr]

Ditto, me too.

[amuller]

Just sealing it up is one answer. I’m thinking to try a piece of the yellow small-bore vinyl fuel hose. Carefully cut off square with a razor blade, it might seal in the conical seat. Also thought of the Tecumseh bowl drain gasket (27554) but these are made to seal on a flat surface.

[amuller]

The valve stem ("nail") measures about 0.092 inch. The smallest size of vinyl tube at my local Ace hardware is marked 3/32 x 3/16 inches. It seemed to be a light push fit on the stem. So I installed a 1/8 inch piece with no attempt to bevel the end, this giving about 1/16 inch stem travel. Probably it will deform somewhat to fit the conical seat. Possibly it will deform too much and squish out of place.

[Author]

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