chrixxer

So far, just the servo (and the ram air seal bit removed from the throttle body). The mechanical pump currently on the plane is the original.

Ordering LW15473 now... (When I added that item to my ACS cart, the cart / order confirmation links to the 62B26931 pump page ... Sent them an email to clarify, hoping they send the right part!)

Update from mechanic: "With boost pump on, engine makes full power. Without boost pump on, engine is limited to approximately 2100 rpm. "The last fellow who offered his advice did not realize that the initial issue was the engine not making full power and quitting while in normal flight. This made an inflight restart necessary. The inflight failure was either caused by the ingestion of the ram air gasket into the throttle body of the fuel servo or the low fuel pressure either causing fuel percolation, based upon vapor pressure, or basic fuel starvation. "If I recall our conversation correctly you said you could get the engine to make limited power by pulling the mixture back. That would be consistent with the fuel servo throttle body being restricted by the ram air gasket enough to make the fuel mixture too rich to support combustion due to the limited air flow. "Let me know if I’m missing something. But I think we have enough facts now to draw some conclusions. The fuel lines look good with no fuel leakage observed from the entire fuel system. "The review above is just so I can use you as a sanity check." Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did not. I don't know, but I doubt if, the mechanic did so. Lack of tools / etc. (he's working on it on the ramp, next to an active Hawkeye flight line, with whatever tools he can hand carry from a parking lot about a quarter mile away...) (Realized belatedly this was in response to something else. I'm fried...)

2 psi? In cruise?! The mechanical fuel pump in 3RM appears to be original to the airframe. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

2 psi? In cruise?! The mechanical fuel pump in 3RM appears to be original to the airframe. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My F usually sits around 23-25 psi with the boost pump off, FWIW. Green arc is 14-30 psi. (Damn, I have a lot of pictures of my panels in flight...) My E (also an -A1A) sat around 20 psi in flight, boost pump off (same green arc).

If it was fully airworthy, we wouldn't be talking about a ferry permit ...?

Yeah. We know.

Okay, here's what it's doing at the moment (rubber piece removed, new fuel servo installed): "The mechanical fuel pump pressure is one to two psi up until you call for full power, at which point the fuel pressure drops to unmeasurable and the engine will only make about 2100 rpm. With the boost pump on the engine makes full power."

New fuel servo is installed. The mechanical pump (?) issue showed up when he did a run-up after installation.

No. At least, not anymore. The rubber is gone and it won't go past ~2100 rpm without the electric boost pump on.

Adapters to convert that to a digital format are like $40 (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-VC500-Capture-Software-Convert/dp/B000VM60I8). Just saying.

Offer $59,870. Meet in the middle. Use the savings to buy half a Coke at the vending machine.

What's weird is, the current problem (partial power) was evident in flight, too. Chronology: Flying along, engine running great, no hint of an issue. Instant total power loss. Retard the throttle (per the owner's manual) ahead of a potential restart. Electric pump on - no change. Switch tanks - no change. Pull the mixture back. Engine roars back to life, but as configured, only makes about 2200 rpm. (Prop control was full forward, mixture about 1/2 way back, throttle about 1/2 way back). Don't touch anything (including boost pump, which remained on) until setting up to land. Throttle idle, prop full forward, engine running like you'd expect with the throttle at idle. Come to a stop, use the throttle to taxi off the runway. Leave it sit overnight. The next afternoon, run through a normal cold start procedure, inherited from @N803RM: Master on, throttle cracked (~1000 rpm), mixture rich, boost pump for ~5 seconds, wait a second or two (mixture still full rich, fuel pressure dropping linearly as it always does), engage starter (mixture still full rich). Engine starts easily (2-3 rotations). Bring the mixture back leaning for ground ops. I got the RPMs up to about 1500 for taxi purposes, but didn't want to do much more than that until an A&P had looked at it. So it was running fine with the mixture full rich on the ground, even though it took pulling the mixture back for the engine to restart (at 3500' MSL) in flight. It was running fine without the boost pump on the ground (albeit at a low power setting). Even with the boost pump on in flight, though, I wasn't able to get more than 2200 rpm - but again, once I had a working(ish) engine configuration, I didn't touch a thing until I could glide to a runway. But still. I think I had both issues (low fuel pressure; blockage at or around the servo) in flight, simultaneously.

Yeah, that was the first thing I tried, along with switching tanks. (Both tanks were about the same, about 20 gallons per side. I'd filled to tabs at KRAL and flown to KCMA, 30 minutes on each tank.)

About 2 psi per the A&P.

After pitching for best glide and picking the least sucky spot to put down, yes, first thing I did was fuel pump on, switch tanks, mixture rich. It didn't come back to life until I pulled the mixture back.

It was a combination of both (plus the gasket in the throttle body?), I think, though how exactly that all transpired I have no idea. Even when I put the electric pump on, the engine was as dead as a Norwegian Blue. It wasn't until I pulled the mixture back aggressively that it restarted. IDK, could the stress of trying to force fuel through a blocked throttle body / bad servo have failed a marginal mechanical pump? (The plane runs with the mechanical pump, but barely; only partial power, and without the electric fuel pump it's getting about 2 psi.)

At that point, I'd start looking into a B-36 or B-52 ("the dreaded 7 engine approach")... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mechanic is checking the Mooney books to see if we can do this; I'm leery but the realities of the situation are what they are... New fuel servo installed and piece of rubber removed from the throttle body, mechanic did a run-up and there's still a problem: With the electric fuel pump off, the engine runs fine up to 2200 rpm but then starts gasping. Put the electric fuel pump on and it runs perfectly. He wants to reposition the plane over to KCMA, where he has tools and a proper place to work, we don't have to rely on the availability of an escort to "babysit" the work, etc. Too, the Navy is getting a little impatient having the plane on their ramp for 2 weeks now. It's at KNTD, with a 12,000' runway (and an intersecting 5500' runway). CMA is about 8 miles from NTD, with fields in between. It seems like we could fire it up with the electric boost pump and box climb above NTD to where CMA would be safely within glide range, then head over. If the electric pump goes out on takeoff roll there's more than enough space to abort/get back down. If it goes out above ~1000' AGL, 2200 is enough to maintain altitude and get it over to CMA (or back to NTD I suppose). It's been well gone through at this point and there shouldn't be any more surprises... But I'm totally skeeved at the thought of even trying this... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mechanic says it fell off the ram air door, details I don't know yet... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The owner of the flight school where I did my PPL and my Mooney transition training (they have an M20B) has an Apache they use for MEL, and he's been steeped in aviation for forever. He counseled, when I discussed (after my second SEL engine out in a year), at least an Apache, would be "3x the maintenance cost" of a Mooney. FWIW. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had an o-ring leaking issue with the flap valve on the E, but it was where it was supposed to be, just, failing. As to the second part, I don't know, I've asked. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When the mechanic went to remove the fuel servo this morning (the rebuilt replacement finally arrived yesterday; ordered this past Sunday from Aircraft Spruce, but it's not an "in stock" part, had to be shipped from the factory), he found this ~4x1" piece of rubber inside the throttle body. (The penny is for size reference.) Any idea where it came from? Assuming this was the cause of, or at least significantly contributed to, my sudden complete loss of power a couple of weeks ago. 1969 M20F, IO-360-A1A.