alextstone

That's a perfect response!

Suggestion from a fellow PP / Bravo owner: Insist on a Borescope inspection of the valves and cylinder walls during the annual. Compression tests are not conclusive for all cylinder related issues.

Thanks @Bravoman! I would appreciate that :-)

I was quoted $670 from Mooney for the plastic annunciator panel lens for my Bravo. I passed.

Thanks for all of the responses. I'm going to think it over but my gut tells me to buy the replacement display on ebay and call it a day for now. The avionics shops are just too busy to deal with right now...

Thanks. Do you know if the WX500 and WX1000 share the same antenna? Could the same wiring harness be used with remote mounting of the WX 500 unit where the WX 1000 is currently mounted? I'm trying to understand if an avionics shop needs to be involved or if my local AI/A&P could handle the swap. Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Well, I just got the plane out of annual and on the first trip, I watched the screen on the stormscope dim and then go black. My wife who was with me at the time, just shrugged her shoulders and said "I guess its time to spend some money on the panel"...wow, I do love her attitude! So now I have a dilemma. Do I?: 1. repair the Wx1000+ 2. purchase a WX 500 and integrate it with either the GTN 750 or the Aspen 1000 Pro PFD 3. purchase a WX 500 AND an Aspen MFD an display the data on the MFD I have no intention of going without one, BTW. I find that there is quite a bit of comfort in having that real time data when flying in the south in the summer time. Any advice? Alex

Me too

The shop or the hangar fairy?

I’ll pull the other data from the JPI when I am back to the plane to check but that flight was very recent. I would have hoped that there would be an indication of impending failure by then. Yes, I was aware of the TIT indication issue,. I suspect a loose connection. Paul already analyzed a recent flight for me inside my Savvy account about 6 or 8 weeks ago. At that time, no issues were found. I suppose the take home message is that there is no one data source that tells all. I

Here’s the engine data link from a recent flight... https://savvyanalysis.com/flight/3291811/22c074b0-02e6-45cd-a8fe-0b6974335332

I bought a borescope and I took photos of the valves about 100 hours ago. At that time, they looked normal so this damage occurred in the last 100 hrs. Your advice to look twice a year is appreciated and I will start doing that Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Last September, I took delivery on my 95 Bravo. At the time, it had 2420 hours TT and about 1100 Hrs since the last overhaul. During the past 10 months, I've had the following items overhauled: Prop Governor Turbocharger and wastegate main fuel pump one cylinder TKS pump entire exhaust system I've had a number of other items repaired or replaced as well. Last week, I took the aircraft in for annual. At the time, I posted a photo on the FB Mooney page and mentioned that I would be doing some of the grunt work. @mike_elliott, made the statement at the time to be sure to have a good look at the exhaust system. I responded proudly that the exhaust had been recently overhauled so we should be all good there. Well...herein lies the lesson to NEVER assume anything where aircraft are concerned. First, the number 3 cylinder failed the compression test. Then the borescope inspection revealed a damaged exhaust valve. This necessitated removal of the cylinder which in turn required the removal of the exhaust. Here's a look at the valve: During removal of the exhaust, it was discovered that a clamp that supports the section that connects the left and right sides was installed incorrectly, causing chafing which would have certainly led to perforation. The area that this clamp is installed is also the same area where the heater shroud is located so the cabin could have potentially filled with exhaust and CO. Moreover, the problem was hidden by the intstalled shroud. The clamp should have been installed to one side of the cable eye, not with the eye in the middle. This caused the clamp to be loose. Lastly, we also found a hole in the air duct: Lots to think about on this one...I am grateful these issues were discovered. Alex

I did not see the two quirks you mentioned and as a matter of fact, I recently worked with GAMI to tune my injectors.... I wonder if tuning injectors can mask problems to some degree... Interestingly, I was seeing oil temps just a bit higher than last summer (205 - 208 degrees F vs 200 degrees last year) My AI wants to pull the cylinder and have a better look at the valve. He seems to thing that profiling might not be out of the question rather than a cylinder swap....what are your thoughts on this? Alex

My Bravo is in for annual. The #3 cylinder failed the compression check - exhaust valve leak was suspected. That cylinder was running 20 degrees hotter CHT's (not sure if this is related). The borescope of the valve looks like this: I have a spare cylinder...just for this occurrence. My question (to stay on topic with this thread) is: Could the increased CHT be a symptom of this valve issue?

Yep, I fly with high with an O2 saturation meter all of the time. I have a history of severe pneumonia and scarring as a result. I find that I must push more volume of O2 than the "standard" to get my O2 saturation to safe levels and I have to wear a mask starting at 17K feet.

I'm probably out of line offering this but it seems to me that the whole thing was a little too well documented and narrated to have not been planned in advance. Care to discuss?

Wow, Great introduction! Welcome to the Mooney family! Alex

Yes, @flumag, that is one sweet setup! I called Aspen today to get an estimate of the delivery of my 1000 Pro MAX upgrade. I purchased the upgrade April 5th. I was informed that the new unit will be shipped the middle of September. Whoo Hoo! On another note, I asked the nice person I spoke with on the phone how sales were going. She offered that Aspen estimated they would sell 300 MAX upgrades and to date, they are over 1000! I hope that the positive trend continues for them. Alex

I suggest you read Mike Busch's books in your spare time. He has a more modern approach to when to overhaul engines, etc. Basically, the premise is: Use all analyses tools at your disposal (modern engine monitor with data collection, data analysis service, oil analysis, borescope inspections, etc) then based on data, repair as necessary. If you apply this method to your issue, it might be reasonable to do the top overhaul or a complete overhaul but TBO is not the deciding factor...

Divided Sky...a Phish song title.

I've owned and flown both. I currently fly a '95 Bravo. The top overhaul at 600 hrs for Acclaims is no small issue, cost wise. I found the Acclaim generally easier to fly (no cowl flaps, mine had the GFC 700 autopilot, G1000, etc). It does perform better too but the delta is not enough to matter on most trips. The climb rate is impressive with the Acclaim and I miss that with the Bravo. However, the sweet spot for value vs speed and capability is either the Bravo or a 252. In general your bank account will decide for you.

"Vacuumed it", ...uh huh. :-)

@skydvrboy,This Service Instruction from Mooney will interest you. It outlines how to safely and legally ferry a Mooney at 115% of max gross weight... https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/4147179/technical_documents/service_instructions/SIM20_132.pdf

Now there are 3 left...tick tock!