3914N

Went out to the airplane today, fired it up, and everything was working perfectly. The only difference I could think of is that when I experienced the issue a few days ago, I had accidentally run the electric fuel pump prior to start with the throttle full in. I’m wondering if that could have flooded the carb. @Gagarin: I ran the electric fuel pump on the ground with the engine off, as you suggested. I was getting drops of fuel out of what I think is the electric pump overflow port on the pilots lower side of the cowl. Drips went away after I turned the pump off. No drips inside the cowling. Is this what you were experiencing as well?

Thanks everyone! I’m going out to the airplane tomorrow morning to see if I can diagnose further and will keep everyone posted.

Thanks for the insight, I’ll check for this next time I make it out to the airplane. Did you end up having to do a full carb overhaul?

Thanks Mark. I’ll try again with carb heat and see if It changes anything and will report back. I’ll try messing with the mixture as well. I did try different mag settings at 1,000 RPM... no change on L/R/both.

Hoping some of you can help me diagnose an issue I experienced this morning. Airplane came out of annual 4 weeks ago with the #3 cylinder overhauled after the discovery of a worn exhaust valve guide. Cylinder walls honed, new piston rings, sump full of mineral oil for the break in. I put 5 hours of >75% power flying on it over two weeks. During the last flight the CHTs had seemed to settle down a lot, so I’m hoping the rings on #3 set okay. Immediately after this, airplane was down for 2 weeks for ADS-B install. Picked up the airplane this morning and did an engine run on the ground. Start up was normal, but once idling at 1000 RPM the cowl was shaking violently and the engine running extremely rough. Increasing RPM to above 1300 made the engine run smoothly again. A mag check at 1700 showed some roughness, so I did a quick burnout and then got a clean mag check. I’m suspecting morning sickness, so I idle at 1500 for a bit waiting for the oil temp to get in the green, then do a few full-power run ups. Once oil temp and CHT are both solidly in the middle of the green, I reduce rpm back through 1300 and the cowl shaking starts again, just as bad as before. Reducing power to idle, and the engine quits! Never experienced anything like this in the last four years of owning this airplane. And I’m the typical guy with no engine monitor so I don’t have any empirical data to share. Thoughts as to what this could be? Summary: 5 hours into a cylinder break-in with no abnormal observations Running the engine after two weeks of no activity, wet outside and temperature colder than normal but not too cold (38F) Extremely rough running below 1300 RPM, even with oil temp and CHTs solidly in the green, and dies at idle, neither of which have ever happened before Everything sounds and feels normal above 1300 RPM

+1 for CO monitor. A lot of added safety for 0.1 AMU. A digital monitor with PPM readout will give you a “health check” of your exhaust baffling before it becomes a safety issue.

$3k seems high. I insured a new PPL (60 hours TT, 0 complex) on my $50k hull value M20G for $1800/yr a few years ago. Maybe that would be $2k today with the rate spikes we've seen recently. Recommend you go through an insurance broker. They will shop around for you and find the best deal based on your stats. My broker changed my policy underwriter a few times over the years as my experience level changed...

If you’re on the west coast, I recommend High Desert Avionics at WJF. I’ve gone to them for panel upgrades on multiple airplanes and they’ve been great. Going to them later this year for a GTX-335 install. My GNS-430W fit nicely in the stack, with only a GMA-340 above it, just missing the “Y” frame that Bob mentions. +1 for just getting the WAAS upgrade over with. Ability to shoot LPV is only becoming more valuable every year and may also help with your ADS-B solution, depending on your plan with that.

I attached a ram mount to the empty space previously used by the LORAN. It’s a good use of the empty spot but is a bit far away from my normal instrument scan.

With all this discussion regarding passengers maybe it’s time to step up to a TBM... Obviously I understand that asking about Comanches on MooneySpace was going to result in biased responses. We all are emotionally and financially invested in the fact that a Mooney is the superior aircraft of choice! Despite that, thank you to those who took the time to respond objectively. That does help me pass some good info on. I suppose the summary so far is that, compared to the pre-J Mooney line, a Comanche 180 offers... 1. Superior cabin space 2. Slightly reduced performance (5-15 knots slower, depending on model) 3. Potentially lower ownership costs (corrosion, fuel bladders) I’ll assume that 3 is somewhat negligible, so really what this comes down to is: as long as you’re okay with the cabin size of a Mooney, why would you even give a Comanche a second thought??

I guess perhaps the 180 and my G are equally under powered? It seems like, compared to a C or E, a Comanche 180 would be roomier but relatively underpowered. Making it a size v. speed trade off?

Hey all- A friend of mine is highly considering purchasing either a Pre-J Mooney or a Comanche 180. I’m trying to help give her some information to support her decision, but I’ve never even sat in a Comanche so I don’t really have a good point of comparison. Does anyone have experience in a Comanche and know how it might compare to a Mooney? Looking at the numbers seems to suggest a Comanche 180 is nearly identical to my M20G in terms of performance, purchase price, cost of ownership, etc (though the Comanche has a better UL). What are some considerations that might drive someone to purchase one over the other, if any?

Alex- what a coincidence that the other -G owner on this thread has nearly the exact same paint and panel as mine! Looks in great shape, is the paint still original?

Photo above is old, already fixed that problem

Loving the glass, but how about something a bit more... vintage? All-original ‘68 paint, interior, and panel (besides updated radios). My wife says I’m a “hipster”!

Same here. Thought it was inflation but maybe accident statistics are factoring in as well.

This thread is a good reminder that the “rule of thumb” mixture positions those of us without engine monitors use on a daily basis may not be correct in abnormally high or low temps. I’ve shocked myself how far out I need to pull the mixture in cruise on a really warm day. Seems like this was the opposite problem.

Well that’s the part that I’m concerned about! i might rig up a suction cup with a red “Remove Before Flight” streamer attached. Anyone know if putting a suction cup over the static port might damage the instruments? Somewhat concerned that I would be trapping pressure in the static system for days/weeks. I guess what I’m looking for is a water-tight, but not air-tight, cover?

Jim- you've been busy on MS recently calling others out on their decision making. While I think we all benefit from expressing alternate viewpoints on this site, I think it's important to realize that we all have different levels of risk tolerance based on our level of proficiency, installed equipment, age, and IMSAFE factors. I was at the peak of my instrument proficiency after getting my IFR and I was routinely flying in low ceilings with only a vacuum attitude indicator Eight years of living in the desert later and my proficiency has decreased... now my IFR is for punching through marine layers during the day, and I wouldn't do it without my Stratus. That doesn't mean others on this forum that choose to fly in LIFR are expressing poor decision making. I'm glad we have a forum to discuss risk and learn from other's experiences. But no single person's risk posture is a gold standard for coming to judgement about other's decisions.

Thanks Sean. I'm due for a pitot static inspection in a few months so I'll have my avionics guy take a closer check at the aft system. Based on DXB's feedback I'll probably have him install an alternate static as well... sounds like a cheap way to mitigate a lot of risk. In the meantime, I think opening up the tail and visually inspecting the static lines for water is now part of my IFR preflight.

@DXB what did you pay for your alternate static installation, if you don’t mind me asking?

Jim- I found water in my static line on the ground. I don’t like using my IFR for anything other than punching through a marine layer. That doesn’t mean I don’t like having margin built in. I’m considering installing an alternate static source for that reason.

Fred- I just posted in the vintage Mooney thread with a similar issue. I think you may have had the same issue as me... water in the static system. I’m still trying to figure out how to mitigate this problem going forward. It seems like an emergency to me.

Yesterday during preflight I found the airspeed indicator showing 50 knots while sitting on the ground. After some investigative work, I found quite a bit of water in the static line (lots of rainy weather here in SoCal). I depressed the static drain “button” and drained a lot of water out, which also reset the airspeed indicator back to zero. Howver, I’m still seeing a lot of water “bubbles” in the static line between the drain port and the actual static ports. I had to disconnect the static line and use my mouth to suck as much of the water out as I could, but there was still quite a bit of moisture there. So here are my concerns: 1. There was a LOT of water in the static line. I guess I need to get some static port covers from aircraft spruce? Anyone have other good solutions to this problem? 2. The static drain port didn’t get rid of all the moisture in the line. So is opening up the tail and visually inspecting the static line a new preflight check item after rain? 3. What happens when I’m flying through moisture? Could I get water in the line causing a blockage? I don’t have an alternate static switch, so that seems like a major problem. I fly IFR a lot so I need to fix this issue as an inoperable airspeed indicator is an emergency in IMC. Anyone with similar experiences or suggestions?

I just took a BFR with a CFI friend of mine, who has very little Mooney experience. He asked me to perform a short-field landing. No problem. I set up for the runway, keeping my speed a little slower than normal. Over the numbers I cut power a little early to minimize the amount of time in ground effect. Despite this, I still end up holding it off for a bit. Stall horn bleeps, mains touch gently but stick, and I apply max braking. CFI friend politely but firmly criticizes me for holding the airplane off, encouraging me to get the wheels on the ground sooner than I would normally do since it’s a short field landing. Don’t worry about landing a little harder than normal, he says Embarrassingly, this is the first time it ever occurred to me that this typical short field peocedure is at odds with the Mooney pilot mantra of never, ever, ever touch down with excess speed. I must confess I’m not sure how to improve my short field technique without going against this mantra, besides doing my best to cross the numbers at the slowest possible safe speed. So mooneyspace, what’s your typical short field procedure?