anthonydesmet

Guilly, im going back to your first comment that it felt like the motor missed a beat just as an alternative. A few years back I was flying from Va Beach to Florida. On climb out and after level off my engine “missed a beat” but at first I thought something was thumping or a little pocket of light chop. After the third time I could tell it was definitely the engine but no indications on the JPI or fuel flow. When I leveled off it happened again then stopped. I spoke to Paul K at Savvy and he said it sounds like water in the fuel system. Then I remembered a couple days before I topped off and as I was finishing there started a very light mist. I even covered up the fuel port with my hand. Also before flight when I sumped there was no water. Paul explained to me that in Mooney tanks water droplets can get caught in and behind the ribs and pockets inside the the tank and not find their way down to the sump. But with change in aircraft attitude (climbing) or turbulence they get dis-lodged and make their way to the engine and would manifest itself as a hiccup. he recommended putting some HEAT in each tank. Paul also saw slight anomalies on the JPI I couldn’t see real time. So good idea to download your data. After I added HEAT- no issues. anyway that was long winded but just a thought if you have any reason to believe you might have water intrusion……plane stayed outside recently? how new are your fuel cap gaskets, etc,

I’m sure someone here has but they f you want a PIREP for others I went with Don George in Orlando for my overhaul. Engines been tight and they maintained schedule

Thanks BK. Now I have to justify the 5 minute flight from Dunnellon to OCF. Sounds like a handful of approaches are in order with lunch on the full stop.

Below is a snip from Phil Corman’s article “Love Your Engine For Pennies on the Dollar” in this month’s Mooney Flyer: “Runup I hate those really long runups; runups at higher RPMs with zero airspeed and minimal airflow. For the runup, you don’t need to set your RPM to the exact number mentioned in your POH. Just get close. When you check your prop, as soon as you see about a 100 RPM drop, push the lever back and your done. There is no need to check it three times unless it’s very cold and your prop had a sluggish drop. During the mag check, switch to the left and wait about ten seconds, then back to both, then right for ten seconds, then back to both. If you have acceptable drops, you are done. No need to take a long time. It’s not good for your engine and it gives you no more info than a ten second check. If you have no drop in one or both mags, then you have a short and you should address that. Since we are discussing Mag Checks, if you want to do a “real” mag check, then get the engine up to some significant power setting, (which is hard on the engine, airplane, and prop). Run it up to 2000 RPM, lean the mixture until the RPM rises a bit, then falls on the lean side, and check each mag for 10 seconds or more, while watching the EGT bars on your engine monitor. All EGTs should rise on one mag, and fall back to the starting point on BOTH, and the engine should run smoothly, assuming you have very good fuel distribution. Before Takeoff – Ensure that you have set the mixture appropriately for your density altitude. If you don’t, your engine will be too rich, and you will not be getting optimal power. You’ll also foul the inside of your engine.”

@Pierre07i know on my 80 231 with KFC 200 I have to deselect and reselect Alt Hold at my new altitude before I select autopilot back ON. If I don’t the autopilot will dive back down to preceding altitude and the FD will show it. This might be a what you are already doing but I couldn’t tell from your description above so thought I would offer this up.

@Alan Maurerthe experts around here I am sure will chime in shortly but they will probably need a little more info: - did this issue just start? - have you been in for any maintenance work? - is this airplane new to you/if so hasn’t it always had this issue? - what do you usually climb at a/s and throttle? Cowl flaps? could be anything from a blocked fuel nozzle, baffling, badly tuned fuel system, etc. just need to know a little more history and profile.

Can’t tell the year of your J but if it’s 78-ish to 84-ish and they haven’t been modded and there is a hole in the round anchor that supports the arm then there is a allen screw inside that hole……find a wrench that fits and unscrew…arm will pop out……if not as mentioned post a pic and I am sure someone has the same configuration.

Ron should be able to do both for sure. Definitely give him a heads up for December though. Like every other worthwhile service in Florida he is not lacking for customers but he will get you in.

Very well. He has been maintaining mine since 2016, pulled and replaced my engine after overhaul last year. He also maintains about a dozen other mooneys on and off the field. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Red Sky Aviation- X35. Owned and operated by Ron Dudley. Also if you need avionics, Jesse Saint is next door

Ahh, did not get that at all from original post. I think with an “inop” tag on the inop equipment and following the min/essential equipment required for type of flying would answer his question.

I think I’d approach this from an engine monitor perspective. Is there an existing engine monitor? If yes, what kind and can you core trade in for an upgrade to add fuel flow/MP/RPM? If no engine monitor then I’d REALLY consider his MP/Fuel Flow issue as an “opportunity” to get an engine monitor. Scale his fidelity on the engine monitor with wallet size but definitely take care of your FF/MP. Ad an aside…..I do have an older Shadin fuel flow computer that worked when pulled sitting on the shelf but it would not obviously fix MP issue and you would have to find all the transducer hardware.

Same - looks like the 6 is going on the yoke and putting my one year old 5 on the copilot side flush mount with the panel mod this december.....

Yes, that bezel will unscrew and you will be able to remove your panel keeping the gauge in place and you will not have to tamper with your O2 fittings. the bezel could have two allen screws in the holes of the bezel that are opposite each other holding the bezel in place so it doesn’t back off. Mine did not and my bezel would back off sometimes. My hangar neighbor had screws in his going through the panel plastic. if not yours just might by screwed on tight. I also had to take a small punch tool and small ball pin hammer to tap mine loose. Obviously tap up on the right so it unscrews counter clockwise. someone may know if a better tool….but this worked on mine.

Adi, yes - welcome to ownership year number 2. Stepping back and looking at your first two years more holistically, who did your pre-purchase, was it thorough, what condition was the plane in at that time and did you take care of a lot of squawks on the list at purchase? Are the things at this annual all surprises or did you know most of them were coming? Surprises at annual should be minimal if an owner is proactive throughout the year and you had a thorough pre-buy. Looking back at my first year of ownership I took care of a lot of things throughout that first year at each 25 hour oil change and then at my first annual a few more i had planned on throughout the year. My first annual was around 6300 and if I added up the year it came to about 9500. Eventually you will find once you get the plane to your standards and you do pro active maintenance throughout the year your annual cost will go down and taper off. I spend about 3500 at each annual now. But again if i add things up during the year outside my oil changes I spend about 6000. As an example last week I had fuel nozzles cleaned, fuel injection tuned and new nozzle gaskets…so add another 1 AMU to the year……it’s an airplane, things are going to break. Don’t worry, things will eventually taper off. I tell everyone that asks me, “what’s it like owning an airplane?” I tell them, anyone can buy an airplane, however ‘owning’ an airplane isn’t for the faint of heart…….

Ahh good point. I didn't correlate the insulation removal in the top....I dropped the rear headliner to repair some cracks. If you end up taking out both headliners, you should be able to use the zip tie method to hang the panels in place as you reconnect hoses and wires then cinch up to screw in the panels. Regardless - the headliners a pain.

I just pulled and repaired/repainted my interior last summer. Echo the comments above. Side panels are easy. Do yourself a favor and repair all wholes around the windows and when you put the panels back use as little screws as possible. I now only have four screws in each upper side panel (got that advice from Bruce Y). The other thing I did (per Bruce's recommendation) is for the two headliner panels I kept the forward one in place and I dropped the rear one. The rear one I dropped and hung with three extra large/long zip ties (strapped to the top bar and looped around the vent hoses) to keep the vent hoses in place and wires. When finished I also just tightened the zip ties up and inserted four screws to hang it again. Zip ties keep the headliner nice and high in the cockpit. Then I taped off the entire interior with paper and masking tape. I was able to do all plastic repair, plastic cleaning and paining (have a fan going inside and take plenty of breaks). Having helped a friend takeout and install the headliners this was way worth the taping effort because once you get the headliners out it is 10 x more difficult to put them back in. I used a little of everything to repair my plastic depending on how bad the repair was and what kind of access I had. Some from Plane Plastics, some from Bruce Yeager's plastic repair kit and some others I found on you tube, etc. Let me know if you want to discuss further.

Aree....if there was a way to quantify the fact my wife has never gone through TSA for travel since 2014 and we take our dogs everywhere across this great country it would definitely offset the result in my cost per hour spreadsheet.

I agree. Most of your numbers look accurate but your insurance and overhaul cost seem low. I’d add at least another 15K to your overhaul having just gone through it myself. You also mention your longest mission is about 350NM’s. Have you considered a nice J model? Lower operating costs and a little bit better performance over the 182. I was initially looking at J’s but my routine mission was 650+ nm. The jump from under 400 nm to 650 resulted in my decision for a K. If not I would have went with a J. agree with everyone else on the benefits of owning vice sharing/renting.

They may have resealed where you were weeping but your sealant overall might be old and degrading, I’d start in the logs and see when they were professionally resealed

Most likely When I first bought my airplane I had same issue until I resealed tanks. I had no weeping at first but did have sediment usually ever flight. Then after the first year weeping started when I topped off the right wing. Eventually I had to reseal. After reseal, no more sediment. Sediment is most likely the aged sealant getting crusty and flaking. When was the last time wings were resealed. That’s also why you want to keep fuel in the tanks.

Mine is pretty close to yours. 1200 Mooney hours, 4800 total. I’m with AIG and renewed this month. I bought my Mooney in 2014 and my insurance was ~$1500 for the year. It has consistently gone up ~$200 a year since then with the addition of hours and safety training. I cringe a little when another pilot lands gear up or mismanages fuel thinking that’s going to effect my next years renewal…..mostly though I think it’s a way for insurance carriers to make money from those that have it…….but yes, I gulped a little also…..then I remember my wife and I have the freedom to fly anywhere without the hassles of TSA and I feel better….

Yes - I usually wait a week. This reading was about 7 days after the flight

Thanks @Warren. My mech told me today he just did a 231 (LB) oil change today and had same issue with consistent reading. He wanted to see if it was just my airplane. From the way you describe I think for me to match your technique with numbers facing forward (towards the prop) that would be my top picture posted above with the loop pointing towards the oil fill tube....which seems to give me the more consistent higher reading if use the bottom of the "U" as @carusoam described.

Ok, here is a weird one I haven't experienced in 8 years of ownership for all you TSIO-360 MB, LB, GB owners: Did a drive by the hanger last night just to check on her....plus check oil level from flight a week ago. As background last weekends flight was first after an oil change in which 8 quarts was added. Before last weekends flight when I checked the oil before my flight (which would have been after the oil change runup) my dipstick read a little over 5.5......I thought weird so I added a quart to 6.5. Last weekend I flew for a little over an hour and then last nights initial reading roughly read 6.5 on the stick but it had some more oil on the sides of the stick going up to 8+ quarts so I wiped the stick off again and got a reading of 5.5 again, wiped off again and pulled a reading of a little over 6 quarts.....wiped stick off again and got another inconclusive reading up to about 8 quarts..... I also noticed when I put the stick in one direction over the other the readings were different....I then played around with the dipstick and straitened it out best I could that would still allow it to go down the tube without getting stuck but that didn't make a difference. so my questions are: 1) is there a proper direction to put the dipstick in....loop facing forward or aft (pics below) 2) Is the dipstick supposed to have a required bend/curve? 3) is it possible the oil is getting wiped off by the side of the tube from the pull (would this happen more with clean oil than dirty oil)? 4) anybody else have this experience I am not so concerned that I don't have oil in the case but more concerned that I want to track usage.