sgrooves

I'll be taking my M20J there for the first time at the end of the month.

Thanks! Enjoying it. Here's a pic of the full panel. Debating swapping the 530W/430W for the IFD's but kind of want to see how the first annual goes. It does purr. And thanks to all the others for the suggestions, the more I read, the more it sounds like a bad connection or some interference. I'll have it looked at during the annual. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

27 here. Got my PPL and Mooney at 26.

If you're going to be at KSVH, you're only 30nm from KMRN, home to AGL Aviation (a MSC). I don't have experience with them, yet, but plan on taking my new-to-me M20J there for its first annual. I've read good things from others on here. If you aren't buying from a retailer, I believe you'll need no sales tax in NC (not a tax professional). But if you do, its still capped at $2,500 I believe. It used to be $1,500. http://www.dor.state.nc.us/taxes/sales/impnotice0930_aircraft.pdf

Here's a video taken a while back when it first started. The bouncing is on 2 and 4 now, mostly later in flight, and the fluctuations are much more erratic and in greater magnitude (sometimes nearly to the top). I'll try and get another video of it this weekend.... last time up was way too bumpy. IMG_0463.m4v

Sounds like I need to buy the attachment to download the JPI data (or see if my mechanic can help). I'm hesitant to spend the $180 because I was considering making the change to the JPI 830 or 900, but I'd rather spend the $$ for my safety. I believe the oil got down to about 4.5-5 qts. The plane does not like anything more than 7. I have 105 hours on the cylinders. 200 since a lower overhaul and 1600 SMOH. Unfortunately, I can't speak to the break-in and the previous owner passed away.

Hey All, I've had my new-to-me 1981 M20J for about 9 months. I'm 2 months away from my first annual and I've noticed a problem that has become increasingly frequent over my past couple flights.... After more than an hour of flying, particularly after stabilizing in cruise and leaning out the engine, my EGT temps on cylinders 2 and 4 have become erratic. It usually starts as small bouncing and the temperature range becomes progressively wider as flight continues. There's no pattern or consistency to the bouncing. The CHT's on those cylinders remain perfectly stable and there is no noticeable vibration, mis-firing, or loss of speed. The engine appears to be purring along as usual. You wouldn't notice it unless you were staring at the JPI (oops). I've had the field mechanic take a look and they were unable to replicate this on the ground. I plan on having whoever does my annual really take a look at the probes and connections on the back of my JPI 700. However, what I find unusual is that this only happens after I've been enroute for over an hour. If I make a 40min flight to another local airport, it'll be good the entire way out and then start acting up on the way back. If I richen up, the bouncing seems to occur less. This has been going on intermittently since I've had the plane, but has only been truly consistent since a long flight from NC to FL over the holidays. One more oddity that I'm hoping isn't related.... After that longer holiday flight my oil got black pretty quickly, I did run with the Ram Air open (4000ft+) for a period of that flight to try it out. I also came back with low oil and had to add 2 quarts. After a few more hours I had the oil changed in Feb (32 hours on the oil) and they sent a sample out for testing. There was no metal in the filter and the mechanic said that it just smelled like old oil, nothing special. The oil analysis showed higher Cr/Fe/Al/Si. Still in the caution range on everything but I'll be changing out the oil after <=25 hours this time, resending the analysis, and replacing the air filter at that time. My prior oil change in late September, coming off of mineral oil from a top overhaul, was all low/normal levels. I've put 10 hours on the oil since and it has stayed much cleaner, visually. Some thoughts/opinions here would be appreciated. Are these events most likely unrelated? My initial thought is some cross-talk or bad probes on the EGT sensors. However, given the changes in the oil, I'm wondering if this something bigger that I should be concerned about? At this point I feel like I'm in wait and see mode- for the next oil change and/or my annual- but want to make sure I'm not doing more damage or being unsafe. Thanks in advance for the help.

This is topical ... (bear with me, all of this is new to me). And hopefully my situation might shed a little light for you as well. I have a 530W/430W stack, GTX 330 ES, Flight Stream 210, and Aspen PFD. So with the 330 ES I satisfy the ADS-B OUT requirement. Currently I use the Stratus 2S for weather/traffic on the iPad (I had bought this when I was training in C172's). FS 210 at this point only to transfer flight plans (I was having other panel work so this was an easy add). I can get TIS-A traffic on the Garmins through the GTX 330 ES. The GDL-39 and Stratus seem similar. Can I interface the ADS-B traffic and weather from the Status with the 530/430 via the FS210? I currently don't even have weather options/pages on the Garmins so I'm not sure if that works for the 530 or only the newer 796. If not, would EITHER the GDL-88 or GDL-39 give me traffic and weather on the 530/430 combined with my GTX 330 ES? I don't even know where to begin with how this would interface with the Aspen PFD if I unlocked the weather/traffic there or eventually added an MFD.... Without spending an arm & a leg, at this point, is my best option to just continue to rely on my ipad/stratus for traffic and weather? It would be nice to get the pop-ups on Garmin's and/or Aspen, but not sure if its worth the $3-5k to upgrade from the GTX 330 ES to the GTX 345 or adding the GDL-88/39? At some point, I'd love to replace the Garmins with a next-gen unit. So any upgrades I do, I'd love them to still be relevant/useful with a future upgrade. However, I've spent enough $$ fixing random things in my first 6-months of ownership and want to focus my time/$$ on getting my IR. Already passed the written, need to get in the air.

Thanks everyone for the information and time! I think I'm headed the right direction.... Now, does anyone have any recommendations for Mooney-experienced CFI's in the area? I'm thinking I'll be doing most of my flying out of Rock Hill (KUZA). I'm also just about set to take my written for the instrument rating and would hope to have the same instructor lead me right into my IFR flight training.

Thanks all for the comments/offers. Looking forward to taking a ride soon!

Hi All, I'm in the market for my first plane (just finished my PPL, starting instrument) and considering a Mooney. A lot of the planes I'm looking at are pretty far away. With busy upcoming weekends and no mooney speed for me right now, I'd love to get a look at something closer. Is there anyone near the Charlotte NC/SC area that has one I could take a look at? If at all possible and not a burden, I would love a quick ride sometime to make sure I'm comfortable/happy before running across the country to consider a purchase. Right now I'm looking at the mid-body models, M20F/M20J, but I'd love to see anyone's local plane. I do most of my flying out of JQF, any chance the 201 on the ramp belongs to someone on here? On a separate thought, have many people purchased these planes without experience in them? What are your thoughts? I've done all my training in various older C-172s and have ridden/flown a family friend's Bonanza. Thanks!