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Mooneyspace is awesome. This is great advice and I spoke with Dave earlier, who was extremely helpful. I do have an engine monitor but I'm not sure I'll be able to pull it here. The CHTs and EGTs were all normal during the flight, but will see if I can get them pulled. I'm going to try and get a compression value from the mechanic tomorrow. He also did a borescope and said things "looked good", but want to confirm with him what he saw. I wish I knew the right questions to ask on the spot, it's a learning process. He did check the plugs and #4 was pretty oily and probably fouled during flight. It sounds like that could be leading to the roughness? I did do a mag check and the RPMs were within limits, but it felt slightly rougher than normal. He didn't check the injectors; once he saw the readings on #4 he stopped going further. I'm going to confirm with him tomorrow that he got a look at the valve and it looked ok. The clear piece of feedback here is don't rush to pull the cylinder...will be sure to heed that advice and exhaust other options first. Thanks all. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

1) I'm not sure, should have asked 2) It was coming out of the filler tube Are you saying overhaul makes more sense than replacing the rings? Will it just happen again if they're replaced? The cylinders were all overhauled in 2010

Hey guys - I thought I would put this out there to see if anyone has any ideas or knows any A&Ps in central PA. I was traveling from Chicago to Cape Cod today, a regular trip, but started getting some vibration at the start of my second leg when I left Clarion County, PA. The plane was generating good power and got to 7,000 just fine, but kept having brief changes in power and RPMs. It was enough that i didn't want to continue and so I started looking at Foreflight for places to land with a mechanic. Dubois (KDUJ) showed up as having maintenance, and we happened to literally be right over it, so I landed, but turns out there are no longer any active mechanics here. I was able to get a mechanic to drive down from St. Mary's. Capable guy and, from talking to the owner and someone that knows him, a very capable shop. He took a look at my cylinders - cylinders 1-3 had good compression readings. Cylinder 4 had good readings except for at top-dead-center it was losing pressure and you could hear the air escaping. The mechanic took this to mean it's likely that the rings are bad, but to be sure the cylinder has to be pulled. I did another run up after the compression readings and, while within RPM drop limits, rougher than normal. Here is the problem - the St. Mary's mechanic won't pull the cylinder at the field i'm currently at and would like me to fly it there. It's only a 10-15 minute flight, but i'm hesitant to take it up at this point. My questions are: - Does anyone know of a mechanic capable of pulling a cylinder that would be able to do it at KDUJ (they have a hangar we can use)? - Does the mechanics view that the ring is bad make sense given the compression reading is only low at TDC? Some other observations that might help the diagnosis: - I went through 1.5-2 quarts on only a 2 hour leg from Chicago, so clearly oil is being burned. There were no leaks to be found. - It did not want to run at peak or LOP and started running rough before all cylinders peaked in cruise - It's idling at 500 RPM and is rough at idle. It usually idles around 7-800 and idles just fine - When landing there were certain low power settings with more pronounced vibration (1500-1700 RPMs) Any ideas that MS has would be appreciated! Edit: Should also note that the #4 plug had oil on it, the other 3 did not.

I've owned N48176 for close to a year now and just cut some (to me) big checks for my first annual, so I figured it was time for an official introduction. I bought N48176 off of Wings of Hope in St. Louis. A member of MS actually donated her a few years ago when he upgraded. I've enjoyed every minute of the 90 hours I've flown her so far and feel good about the upcoming flying season. The annual was done at the MSC in Peoria, IL who, while not cheap, is very good. I've attached some obligatory pics below. She came well equipped with some cool mods (201 cowl, tips and windshield, speed brakes). The avionics are lacking but will be upgraded over time. I just put a G5 in after the old AI went sideways cruising back to Chicago from Cape Cod just prior to the annual. Next will be ADS-B and then hopefully a GTN 650 when the budget allows. Everyone always says to expect a 10AMU first annual. I of course didn't think that would happen to me, but here we are 9AMUs later... Major items that came up: decided to replace all of the landing gear pucks (2.3AMU), right magneto 500 hour (1AMU), filing 337 and getting missing field approval for 201 cowl (1.1AMU). AD compliance and all of the other first year-annual stuff added up too. The G5 and replacing my compass were on top of this. Learned a ton so far from this forum and look forward to learning more and contributing.

Had a chance to check today .It came installed with 2.7 so it should have had 2.6 upgrades when this happened. I upgraded to 3.2 today so we'll see if that helps. Either way, launching into IMC i'm taking the time to make sure it's up. It definitely didn't say ALIGNING when i took off though, so not sure how we're supposed to be able to tell it's not ready.

Very interesting. I just had my first series of flights with the G5 and the unit worked great except for the start of one flight. Just like you it was a fuel stop where I started up and took off quickly. Shortly after takeoff it started leaning and the pitch was off. Restarting the unit actually took care of it right away, which seemed odd if it needs the time on the ground. Worked perfect for the rest of the flight. I guess I take some comfort in the fact that whenever you are launching into IMC on departure you're probably taking the adequate amount of time between getting clearances and setting the radios up that you should never get this launching into the soup.

If the pucks are more than 15 years old, I'd probably change them if there is any doubt. Spend the 2 AMUs and extend the life of your fuel tanks and the 10 AMU re-seal (less shock to break down sealant etc). I'm doing that this annual even though I probably could have stretched it another year or two.

This is awesome! Would love to see the link and find out what other Mooneys live in the Chicago area.

Have you flown in IMC with it yet? My AI died just before my annual so decided to have one of these put it. Can't wait to try it out, especially for shooting an approach - just center the needle and hold the track of of the approach on the G5 and you're good to go.

Wow, awesome! I've flown at 4.5k over KBOS but never landed. Where'd the fees end up in total? $200? Also where do you do your run up when you're in traffic like that, back at the ramp? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good to hear! Do you plan to patch the tank for now or do a full strip and re-seal? Love the panel layout, lots of space for upgrades. Let us know when it's finalized. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey I just bought a '65 E last year, you're going to love it! With your PPI being done in Schaumburg are you also Chicago based? I'm over at GYY. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Could an induction leak be a possible culprit? My #2 would peak much earlier than the rest of my cylinders leading to vibration. Changing out some gaskets fixed the issue. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I took a long look at this plane and talked to the owner, seemed like a good guy so it's great to see that this J found a new home! Looked very clean and well kept. Enjoy it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just scheduled my annual with Byerly so hope they're good! I have heard others say they are solid. Chatted with Ryan who heads up maintenance for a while and he seemed like he knew all of the classic Mooney quirks so I feel good about it. Their flat rate is a little higher than the other MSC near me but I think that will be reflected in the work. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Count me in for this. I'm based in Chicago but take many long trips to the Cape to see family. Would love to hop up to 7B2 to trade some safety pilot time when I'm in town. 7B2 was the first airport I flew to after getting my PPL. Great airport! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I totally agree with this. Like has been said a million times on this site, there are no bargains in aviation. Buy the best plane you can afford, but I would avoid looking at the lowest price range of your chosen model. If 70k is the right number, consider focusing on Fs. 70k won't get you much of a J and you'll probably end up spending 100k on it after it's all said and done. I actually took a look at the J you posted about up at Kenosha. Not a chance. Like Others mentioned, they missed the AD on the crankshaft until they went to sell it and the buyer caught it in pre buy. Had to put $15k or so of work into it and then relisted for more. This is a 50k plane and probably a risky one even at that price. I ended up in an E and recently took 4 adults up. Granted two of them were on the lighter side at 120lbs, but it was no problem. With the seats moved up here is leg room in the back for a Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yea I'm hoping the airfare for my wife and I is a reasonable request. I didn't have any other trips planned over the next month but still hate to have the plane sit for a month straight, but what are you going to do. I'm not sure how they plan to go about it. I guess I hope they'll just pay the bills as they come. The local FBO has already asked Air Frame Components to send a crate for the flap, so AMUs are already being incurred. Appreciate the advice. The airport already filled out a claims form and took responsibility for the damage so I'm hoping the process will be pretty smooth. With the re-skin of the flap and costs to paint this will be a more expensive repair than I was first thinking, probably upwards of 7-8k, so who knows how accommodating they will be or not.

MS seems to be a great place to vent when something like this happens because good advice always pops up. I was tied down at an airport on Cape Cod earlier this week during high winds. I had my Mooney tied down tight but apparently the airport forgot to secure some of their own stuff floating around the field. Turns out a white plastic barrel let loose and started rolling towards my Mooney. It ended up rolling right into my left flap and putting a tear in it. See the pictures below. It was an empty light plastic barrel, so despite the significance of the damage it doesn't look like there was any further damage to the wing itself. Luckily the airport immediately took responsibility and it looks like their insurance will cover it. There is also a shop on the field that used to be a MSC that can perform the repair. They plan to send the flap to Air Frame Components, part of Williams, Inc. in Indiana. Air Frame Components will re-skin the flap and put a base coat of white paint on. I'll then have to fly somewhere to have the black paint and stripe put on. Neverheless I'm now without my Mooney for a month while she gets repaired. I'll also have to fly commercial back to Chicago. Hoping their insurance will cover my flights. Anyone else experience something like this and learn anything from it? I'm just hoping to not be any worse off after it's all said and done, money wise or with the condition of my new to me Mooney.

Makes it nearly impossible to put anyone of size in the back, including me

'65 E, 879 useful, 52g, 567 payload. Empty CG is 48.4 vs 49.0 limit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just bought a Mooney, a '65E so it's way down on the AMU scale. I just used the AeroSpace reports off of AOPA, which i'm guessing is what you referenced in your first post. Link here: https://aerospacereports.com/services/aircraft-title-search-75 . As soon as you have an accepted offer, do this. To N1395W's point, a clear title should be in any purchase contract so don't be afraid of putting some money down before running the title search. I'd do it before the pre-buy too so you can get all the info possible ahead of the pre-buy. I didn't feel the need to use any escrow services. If i was buying something new or >$100K i probably would though

Are you referring to my post and the SWTA lenses? If you have a spare one of the left tip I'd definitely buy it off you.

I'm having a heck of a time finding wing tip lenses for a tip mod that was put on my E - they were made by Southwest Texas Aviation, Inc. The great folks down there that re-opened SWTI are working on figuring out if there is a way to reproduce just the lens, but it's proven difficult as they haven't been manufactured in a long time. They do have the mold, but no one to manufacture it yet. This lens tip looks a lot like the one I have. I wonder if it's the same or if there are differences. Any ideas for how I could figure that out? I know, for one, that the lens tip I have has screws on the top part, whereas yours look covered. My left lens is badly cracked and needs to be replaced. Good luck in your endeavor here, I imagine i'll be paying a lot more than $50 for a new lens cover if I can find it.

Reggie - I just went and checked your plane out this past weekend. The plane is beautiful and you did a superb job with it!