Mike A

When I got my 231 it had an engine-driven fuel pump that was freshly overhauled by D&G. It ended up being the source of a lot of frustration for my first 6 months of ownership. My engine had issues starting and operating on just the engine driven fuel pump after a few flights. The mechanics went through the fuel system over and over again and the pump always returned as the issue. This included putting the pump from a Cirrus they had in the shop on and running up the engine. I called D&G and sent the pump back for testing. They told me the same thing; that it operated fine on their bench. They sent it back to me and it still did not operate correctly on the engine. After some arguments, they agreed to send me a second unit to try. Same result. I stopped by TCM's booth at SnF to ask about the issue and they said they don't provide overhaul specs of their accessories to outside vendors. I would suspect that Lycoming is similar. I purchased a re-man pump from TCM and it worked perfectly the first time. After some more discussions with D&G, they agreed to refund the purchase price that was paid by the previous owner and send me back a core in return for the two pumps they had sent me.

Flying magazine has a column in it this month where the author hammers the Kissimmee tower for being rude..... Use Showalter if you come to KORL

That is a completely different experience than I had. I had those two bidding against each other and let them know it. From the original quotes to the final price decreased by about $2500. The GCA actually came back after I had taken Sarasota's offer and bettered the price once again, but I stuck with my word to Sarasota. All the other smaller, highly recommended shops in the SE came back way higher and they were the ones who had the my price or I'm not doing it attitude. In this day and age of portable ADS-B/GPS and Ipads, you don't really need the super fancy stuff. I'd say get a PFD, WAAS GPS, and engine monitor (although its probably not as important on a J as it is on a K). Remember that by 2020 you are going to have to have a WAAS GPS installed some way some how onboard to meet the mandate. Also, LPV approaches are pretty awesome.

+1. My 231 had the original 1980 panel in it with the addition of an S-tec 30 autopilot. I added an Aspen PFD, 430 WAAS, and JPI-730 engine monitor for about $27k.

I just had the #1 cylinder on my -LB removed, overhauled, and reinstalled for $1200 all in. The overhaul itself was $875.

+1. You would be able to feel those types of movements as well.

I pulled the back seat out of my 231 last month in order to clean the nooks and crannies that hadn't been touched in a long while. The seat made it home to my garage where I was going to do a little touch up work on the dye and give it a good Armour All cleaning. Somehow between the airport and my house one of the rods that is used to attached the bottom seat portion to the air frame got lost. I'm still up in arms about how one can lose a 4' piece of metal, but here we are. Does anyone have suggestions on where I can get another from? Is this something that could be replaced with a non-Mooney part as it is only used to hold the cushion down? The one that I have left is literally only an 1/8" or 1/16" diameter rod that is about 4' long.....

That probably means that it was perfectly fine, but PAS isn't one to leave any money on the table.

Sporty's has a video for flying behind the Aspen. I downloaded it while mine was being installed. It shows you a lot of functions that I probably still wouldn't have figured out yet.

It uses a hand pump to create a standing vacuum in the collection container. You use a pinch fitting up to seal the line off while you create the vacuum and as soon as you release the pinch oil starts flowing. There were a couple times when the oil flow slowed down due to loss of the vacuum, but all you do then is pinch the line back off and pump it 10-15 more times and release it. It really worked great. Besides putting it together, it was about 2 minutes of actual "work" to get the oil out.

So just to give everyone an update, today at lunch I decided to head over to Northern Tools and pick up the oil drain above and then went over to the plane and performed a 45 minute oil change replacement! It seems to have worked great and after I got the feel for getting the "probe" tube down the dipstick hole and to the bottom of the sump it appears to have gotten the vast majority of the 6.5 quarts remaining out with no problem! 7 quarts in yielded +/-7 quarts on the dipstick. Here was the rundown of how long it took me: 10 min initial inspection and oil warmup 20 min oil drain (while this was going on i took the time to knock out a few issues that had been lingering - added bonus) 10 min oil filling 5 min oil pressure test and cleanup I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for an easier way to perform 25 hr oil replacements. Once you get the feel for how the tube interacts down the dipstick tube and into the sump it is easy to maneuver it around to get all (or almost all) the oil.

The panels are falling apart. This is a project where someone will have to come back in and refit the panels to the attachment points, so AeroComfort is probably out of the question. I'll see what Hawk can do, as I could use some touch-up painting done as well. Keep the suggestions coming though!

This is what I am actually looking at purchasing for the task: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_390306_390306

Thank you everyone for the feedback, however I think that the question got a little corrupted: I get the need to change the oil filter, which I try to do every 50 hours or 6 months, which ever comes first. In between those times, I am trying to keep fresh oil in the sump and was looking for a clean and easy way to just extract the oil from the plane without having to take apart the cowlings. I have tried to do the easy access through the cowl flap with limited success, both with attaching tubing directly to the drain and using a funnel below it. The drain is located in close proximity to the engine mount and various tubing which makes access not as simple. Like has been mentioned here, I use a taken apart desk chair attached to some 2x6's to help me with the lower cowl (the chair doesn't articulate high enough to reach the cowling on its own, hence the 2x6s). Even with the helping hand, it is still a massive hassle. I always manage to get it caught on the gear travel indicator on the front and end up taking it on and off multiple times. Also, using Don's time estimates, removing the lower cowling adds 30 - 45 min of work to an oil change (not including cleaning up the cowl from my nasty oil hands after the work), a lot of times which I don't really have. The appeal of the fluid extractor is that it seems to be the simplest, no mess way to get the oil out. The process is used by some high end car companies during their oil changes (or at least that's what Sky Mall told me at one point).

I would like to stick to a 25 hr oil change regimen, however with the challenges that removing the lower cowl on a 231 by yourself presents, this time frame seems to always stretch closer to the 50 hr mark and a full oil and filter change. Has anyone experimented with using a fluid extractor device (http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/multi+fluid+extractor.do?code=FROOGLE&gclid=CKWMj4zytMACFWoR7Aod4CAAFQ) through the oil filler tube to drain their oil? Does anyone see why this would not work well with our engines?

The interior plastic on my 231 needs to be rehabbed/replaced and reattached to the body. I made an attempt to do some repair work, but it is not coming out at a quality that is acceptable. Its time to take the plunge and have some professionals work on it. Does anyone have interior shops that they have dealt with in the southeast that they would recommend?

What kind of MP are you getting? I had the turbo stop spinning on my 231 early on and was only able to produce about 25" full throttle. Like yours, it had sat for a while and the turbo had to be replaced.

+1 for Epps at PDK. They have always been more than accommodating on our visits. $20/night and 1st night waived with fuel purchase. They also run a pretty good 110LL special on the weekends, so wait until then to have them fill you.

I had it as well and it was the alternator coupling slipping. A change of the voltage regulator didn't solve my problem when it happened. I ended up replacing the alternator and the coupling to be safe.

I was under the understanding that it was not required, however was useful. It is not listed on the type certificate and is not in A TOMATO FLAMES. I too have a JPI 730 with FF that I use, however the fact that it is INOP irritates me. I am considering installing a new EI digital tach, and i have a EI FF gauge/harness that I never installed in my previous cherokee, so adding a EI MP gauge wouldn't be a big jump and would look nice.

Alex, were you able to figure out a replacement for the MP/FF guage? I have the same issue and would like to see how it worked out.

I feel your pain and summertime flying is something that is a challenge to me as well. If I have to fly in the afternoon, I will not file IFR, but use flight following instead. If you do decide to file, remember that you are the PIC and ultimately in charge of the safety of flight. If you are vectored right towards a giant wall of storm clouds and ATC is not responding to you, you have the authority to do what you need to in order to remain safe. I have told ATC, and heard other small aircraft operators tell ATC, they they refuse to penetrate a specific cloud and are diverting around it with or without their blessing. Tell them exactly what you are doing and stay visual. 999 times out of 1000 it will be a non issue and they will approve as requested. Also, ask early if you see darkness in front of you. Giving ATC the heads up 10 or 15 miles out is a lot easier than telling them 30 seconds before you get sucked in. If you do get caught in a tricky situation, cut your speed, take a deep breath, keep the blue side up on the AI, and tell ATC you can't talk if they radio you. Most of the controllers are not idiots and can hear the stress in your voice. When you are clear of the danger, call them back up and just tell them what is going on. Your good handling of a crappy situation may save the person behind you who would not handle it as well. If you travel between the same places frequently, such as Orlando and Miami in my case, another useful piece of information can be found on Facebook. Every NWS outpost has their own Facebook feed and pretty much every morning that there is a risk of storms the Melbourne and Miami sites lay the groundwork for what to expect. One of the big drivers of severe weather in FL during the summer is the collision of the sea breezes. These feeds will tell you where they expect them to collide, where and when the storms are expected to begin and where they will be moving to. You can use this information to help you choose your routing.

Yes. I saw the same TV show

Our meter station shares a fence with the perimeter fencing of MIA and is +/- 500' off the side of 9 at the beginning of the touchdown zone. The site has a 722 psig operating pressure (for reference, the burner on your stove is 1/2 psig and a normal distribution pipes have pressures in the 50 psig range), so it could push some gas out. I am not aware of how rooted in science the fear(s) that MIA had were, but I cannot blame them for not wanting to take the chance.

Ha, I have a friend who also spells their name with a PH