Luke

Hey @bradp, if you're still making these or have some I'd love to get a 550060-008 right aft gear fairing from you. Let me know!

Absolutely agree about the gear spring, that one is scary. Mostly I'm curious about how the airplane ended up in this state and a bunch of previous A&P's were ok with it. Were some Mooney gear actuators originally made this way, etc?

Hey all. I'm looking to crowdsource some information about the possible history of the gear actuator in my '84 M20J. The bird is in for annual at a new-to-me shop. My A&P recommended we replace the no-back clutch spring in the gear actuator as it's over 1000 hours. So far so good. While they were in there they found that the gear actuator does not have a down stop. So: I actually knew about the absence of the down stop. The (different) A&P who did my pre-buy pointed it out, said it was not required, and gave me the option to add one. I asked: what's the worst that could happen? His answer: if you did a manual gear extension and pulled way too hard the gear could get stuck down and locked. This didn't seem scary so I didn't have the work done. My current A&P believes the down stop is required, and actually reached out to Mooney who said it's supposed to be there. I'm confused by this, not only because of what my pre-buy A&P said, but because before me the plane passed 15-ish annuals at Mooney Service Centers without a down stop. If anyone knows a bit of history or context, I'm curious!

Would anyone happen to know the part number for a replacement fuel sump drain on an M20J? I think it looks like a SAF-AIR SA53S, but always better to ask than guess!

Did you have any issues with fuel pressure on the A3B6? Mine is above the 30psi airframe limit (operating correctly) which makes the JPI engine monitor go nuts. I'm having to get Lycoming to swap the fuel pump under warranty. Sent from my LGUS997 using Tapatalk

Just to wrap up: my A&P replaced the missing stop / screw yesterday and we're back flying again. A big thanks for great service from both Avstar and C&W Aero at KCDW on this. My A&P mentioned that he's done a couple of fuel pump warranty replacements on overhauled A3B6 engines in Mooneys... so that's probably in my future too! Thanks all for the input and advice. Fly safe.

Ah I forgot to post the answer. The tube dripping huge amounts of fuel is the one attached to the sniffle valve. The theory that I think fits is that the missing stop allows fuel to flow when the mixture is pulled to cutoff during a normal start, flooding the engine. So the sniffle valve is hopefully fine and doing its job here.

To follow up on the second piece of this thread, I just spoke to Lycoming about the fuel pressure on the IO-360-A3B6 being higher than spec'ed for the M20J airframe. I got a lot of "mumble mumble call Avstar" but after a while it seemed like the guy I spoke to found information, then quickly rattled off a part number of a replacement fuel pump (LW15473) that's rated for 30 psi. He mentioned that others have gotten the swap covered under warranty, which I may try at my next annual. Let me know if others have success with the same!

I'm still waiting for my local shop to have time, so I popped off the cowling to have a look today. I think we have a winner! What you're looking at here is the business end of the mixture control cable, pulled into cutoff. (I'm pretty sure that) there's supposed to be a screw and spacer that prevents the arm from traveling into the position that you see here. If this particular position allows even a bit of fuel flow then the engine would flood easily. I'm even fairly sure that said screw is supposed to have safety wire on it, and since I'm only about 100 hours into a Lycoming factory overhaul... Hmm... I'll post back once I get confirmation from my A&P.

Yep. I spoke with JPI, who said they'll only adjust limits based on an airframe STC. I've reached out to Lycoming and Mooney as well but I'm not particularly optimistic.

I'll get under the cowling and see where those lines go. Man I would feel dumb if I just flooded it.

Yup that makes sense with the new Lycoming fuel pumps. The only issue it causes me is that the EDM-900 has a non-adjustable alarm that goes off at 30psi, which is pretty annoying.

I like the sniffle valve theory. I'll see if I can snap some pictures when I'm out next! Interestingly, the fuel pressure has been high (30-31psi always) since the engine came back from Lycoming. even with the boost pump off. The A&P who put the engine back in said to not worry about it.

That's a great idea, I'll pull some data off the EDM 900 when I'm out next. I didn't have my laptop with me last night.

I got her back in August. She needed an engine overhaul at the time and we went with the factory one to get roller tappets and the other good stuff. She's been a pleasure to fly!