smwash02

Thank you for the data point and I suspect this is what's going to happen, but takes me about 2 hours to lap a valve and do a wiggle test compared to 4-5 times that to do a cylinder replacement because of the dog house, so I figure it's a minor investment if it might pan out.

Thanks for this. The image you've included is #3, which is the one I can't seem to find if it's been replaced since overhaul. It will have at least 400 hours on it. I intend to lap it and observe at next oil change to see if it can be saved.

Thanks for the advice all. I'll be lapping the valve and reinspecting at oil change and seeing where we are in appearance and compression. I've done this procedure before and got another 50-60 hours out of that one before it started to slide. @mike20papa There are likely some with good experience with ECI cylinders, but I'm not one of them. A guy on my other forum is a pipeline pilot and said they go through ECIs more quickly than others. Are you suggesting the cruise leaning is too hard? Without 4 CHT and EGT it's possible, but if I feel if I were overly lean we'd not see the center deposits. J&J is a short trip from me and I've used them in the past. Thanks for your personal experiences here. Seems like something was very wrong to have all 4 with bad valves so soon and scoring to boot. Having only had the plane for ~350 hours, it's hard to know what all those cylinders (#3, #4) experienced. I've done many repairs for defects that would've had a negative impact on cylinder health (intake leaks, exhaust leaks, carb, mags, plugs, dog house, baffles, engine mounts) in the 4 years I've owned it. As for #2, I'm not sure if it's off center or early edge effect. It will need observation too, it seems as if oil is leaking by; however, my consumption is decent. A quart every 12-14 hours. Exhaust looks good.

Thanks for the reply. My median/average flight over the past 5 years is around an hour. Year to date average is around 1.7 hours. I generally choose 6-8 for shorter flights and 9-12 for longer. I lean aggressively on the ground, in small increments in the climb as I feel it being too rich (holding an airspeed to keep temperatures under 400), and lean to stumble and back in a few clicks in cruise. I only have a CHT probe on one cylinder. I've attached the primary area of concern, that bluish circle. Are you saying you think those are deposits? The intake chunks look very much like lead deposits.

PHOTOS I'm working on my annual and I usually grab compression a few days before we really start so I can brace myself/order the needful. This year we landed on 78 78 62 79. Unsure of if it was a seating or beginning of a burned valve, I scoped it to see what was up. I see of a bit of a burn starting on one edge, is what it is. But what caught our eyes is what was going on in the middle of the valve. Here is an album of the intake and exhaust valves for every cylinder (I think it shows 3 1 4 2, but mind the descriptions). #3 is my 62/80. Note the odd ring in the center. They all seem to have this look, but not as pronounced. I've gone over the valve safety poster and none of their examples have this on them. My A&P/IA said he's never seen something like that before. Anyone else seen this? I'm going to go through the logs shortly and get the times on the rest. Gonna be a real bummer if I'm going to have to pull these guys. 1: 1/8/16 111 hours 2: 2/5/15 206 hours 3: Unknown, I need to dig deeper in my logs, but possibly during overhaul (3/20/93, 995) 4: 6/12/12 387

The way I saw folks circumvent the rules when the Dynons first came out was by installing it in such a way that it is removable. The generic definition of removable is that is can be removed from the aircraft without the use of any tools other than your hands. I've seen a molex connector and thumbscrews go a long ways to stay in the grey.

My 150 was IFR capable and I flew it in light IMC when the need called for it. My C is more IFR rated than many later alphabet M20s I've seen. I'd be curious to understand the basis of his comments. Would an E model be "worth it" since it's fuel injected?

If you let your hands off the controls does it fly straight and level? If not, you'll need to get it rigged before you start working on the autopilot. If it does fly straight/level, your gyro or gyro mounting might be the issue. The controller is separate from the gyro, which is either an independent unit or part of your TC.

Upset reactions to finding out the diner is still closed?

Once you run the boost pump to get your initial fuel pressure in the green, pumping the throttle and turning over the engine will cause this pressure to drop as it feeds that fuel into the engine. If you pump the throttle and the accelerator pump is not working it will not move fuel into the engine and the fuel pressure won't change (This is a simplification, even a broken pump will probably move SOME and slightly lower the pressure). If the pump is working you will begin losing fuel pressure and this is what you want to see.

I replaced all the SCAT in the entire plane 3-4 years ago and this was my order: 33 0 05-29905 SCAT-5 DUCTING 1 1/4" 6.700 221.10 22 0 05-29908 SCAT-8 DUCTING 2" 7.550 166.10 The 5 is the stuff through the cockpit, which was CAT and crumbling. Also in the cockpit are a couple SCAT8 of no more than 2-3 feet total. I probably have 5-10 feet left of the SCAT8 from my work and I had to replace the long one because it rubbed on the exhaust. 15 feet would probably give you enough to do it with a buffer for error. Though looking at your photo you might have a different configuration from me. I only had 3 runs to make FWF. ~1', ~5`, ~4` conservatively.

With my plane subsequent starts were harder than initial when I had my induction leak. It sounds like you've got a good handle on the plane's state, which is good. Given your responses I lean 70% carb, 30% switch. When you're on the ground, put it in a low idle for a minute or so then quickly push it forward (go around simulation). Goal here is to test the accelerator pump. If it dies or struggles you could be right it's not getting enough prime, but once it's started subsequent starts don't need as much. However, it doesn't fully explain how it will run with the starter going, but dies once you let go unless it's not really started but rather just popping here and there. Hope you figure it out. I will be curious to know what it ends up being.

I've gone through a few rounds of this. Since the plane seems to run fine what it's going, that helps narrow it. The C has the shower of sparks, unless it's converted. Your switch could be bad or the shower of sparks could be bad. While they might say they mags are fine, I'd still get them a 500 hour inspection. What equipment did they have to test? If the shower of sparks is good getting it started, but when you release and it dies, the spark from the mags could be weak. Every set I've sent in at 500-800 hours needed something. How did they test the carb? Did it receive a flow test? Does it idle properly and cut off at the right RPM rise? And finally, induction leak. I was missing some piece of the intake gasket on a cylinder causing me to have VERY hard starts, but once it did it was smooth sailing (though I'm sure my cylinders weren't too thrilled).

The incident occurred back in March. More details here. His plane hasn't had a IFR plan since 2013 per flightaware. I'm guessing they were tipped off.

KHZE to KTKI (ND to Dallas) should take about 6.5 hours in the air plus an hour for refueling. 7AM departure puts you there by 3PM, which matches your timeline. Make sure your plane is rigged well or it can be tiring. Autopilots help, but if well rigged trim it and enjoy the ride. I've been making trips to OKC from Austin recently and storms have been a challenge, par for the course this time of the year in that area. I pull up SkyVector and plan by cheap fuel if not too burdensome. KLXN @3.99 or KHLC@4.00 would be my choice as the stop. Think about getting your FCC licenses and DTOPS sticker to fly to Canada as something fun to do as well.

Good to know, thanks for the information!

Be careful with automotive carpet. Regulation adherence aside, do a small burn test on your own and see how quickly it flames up. You can pick up some 'No-Burn Fabric Fire Protection' spray for $30 and have some peace of mind should something happen.

This is how mine are too. I remember when I replaced my lines (and cooler, don't ask) that I took extra care to get them angled as low as possible to prevent creating an unauthorized smoke system, as cool as that'd be. When ordering cables take pictures of fittings when you send your order in. They used the wrong fittings on mine so I could use one of the two $200+ hoses and once made they said they cannot change the fitting.

I've done this on mine when I've caught it early. His valve is already turning green at the edge, which would be pretty dangerous to keep running on.

I would suspect that either: 1) Tach failed and didn't run for a period of time or was replaced with new 2) Engine failed early and was swapped for one with more hours

There's two main numbers when referring to engines, which are TTSN and SMOH. TTSN -- Total Time Since New SMOH (TSMOH) - [Time] Since Major OverHaul When your engine is either 1) made or 2) factory overhauled, your TTSN and SMOH goes to 0. When your engine is overhauled by anyone else TTSN keeps ticking up and SMOH is set to 0. Maintenance is done by tach time, so we can/should disregard the hobbs time here. Hobbs is 1:1, Tach is based on a ratio of your RPM to the number noted on the back of your tach. I think it's ~2500rpm is 1:1, but check the tach to confirm. Hobbs and Tach gauges have multiple points of failure. Tach line, fuses, oil pressure switches, gauges themselves. If the tach stops working because gauge failed or cable snapped, tach stops ticking. If the tach stops working entirely, a new one is put in... these aren't always set to where the old one was and start at 0. If the engine is replaced, the tach may or may not be, so you could have a 0 TTSN engine with 1500 on the tach and hobbs. The engine logbook is the only way to get the story of why the numbers are what they are.

I don't have issue with corrosion, but it's the shaw gas caps that are becoming incredibly rare. I had one that wouldn't seal properly because the metal block on top had worn too much. I replaced gaskets, readjusted the spring, etc. It was too far gone. Ended up buying a few on eBay for $30-40 instead the $500 someone wanted. Now I have a few that fit the bill. A more standard fuel opening would be nice.

There is a mod for a folding rear seat that might be useful for you. Perhaps that with a foldable padded box like you describe.

When there are multiple pilots in the same city (Austin is a good example), you can only see the last guy. Any chance you can script it to spread out the pins so we can visually see the multiple people in the same city?

Video played fine, awesome way to find it. Grabbed a little better frame from your video.