PT20J

Mooneys get screwed up because people try to correct a problem by tweaking this and that and then something else and pretty soon it’s all messed up. The worst is when they start bending the trailing edges of control surfaces which is the procedure to make final SMALL adjustments after everything else is set up according to the service manual. Here is an article that gives some things to check. Greg Lehman at Advanced Aircraft in Troutdale can fix it. I’ve also heard that Reliant Aircraft Services at 7S3 is good, but I have no first hand experience. Shoptalk - rigging.pdf

Check the latest STC, but I believe that only one G5 can be installed when a G3X is the PFD. I would keep one of the AV30s as a non-Garmin backup. There are failure modes where you don't know for sure whether the G3X or G5 is lying and a tie breaker is good to have. The GMC 507 is a required part of the GFC 500 in a certified installation, so you don't need to call it out separately. One nice feature of the engine monitor in the G3X is that the G3X logs all sorts of parameters every second in addition to the engine data such as altitude, heading, IAS, TAS, lat/long, autopilot functions, and a whole lot more. You might compare the PMA 450B with the GMA 350. I like the user interface better on the PMA and it has a feature called Flightmate that will annunciate recordable voice alerts based on activation of up to 4 discrete inputs. The G3X CAS has outputs for Master Caution and Master Warning that can be connected to have the PMA annunciate these conditions. You can save a few bucks by not getting the marker beacon receiver option. If you are going to fly in Canada you might consider a GTX 345D as a diversity ADS-B Out solution is going to be required in a lot of Canadian airspace.

The fuel pump came new with the engine about 500 hrs ago. The hoses are all new. Gascolator and servo inlet screens are always clean. I know that it's common on injected Continentals to use low boost pump to suppress vapor lock. I'm not entirely clear that this works with a Lycoming because the fuel systems are different. The Continental engine fuel pump includes a vapor separator and a return line to the tank so that running the boost pump can circulate the fuel through the engine pump and the vapor separator. The RSA servo is closed with no return line so the boost pump on a Lycoming can only increase the pressure to whatever the pump is set for. I know that my fuel lines fill with vapor when the engine is shut down because if I remove the pressure transducer the line is always dry. If I fill it with fuel and replace the transducer it will be dry again later. Also, after shut down, the fuel pressure rises off scale from the residual heat in the engine compartment. Lycoming switched to AvStar injection systems and that's what came with my rebuilt. The RSA idle cut off valve was never a perfect seal but AvStar seems to have "improved" on it and so when it is shut off there is nowhere for the pressure to bleed off. If I leave the mixture in ICO it will take over a day after shutdown for the pressure to bleed off so I don't think there are any air leaks. The pressure rise after shutdown used to show up on my OEM instrument but I never noticed the fluctuations. They were probably there but the gauge was probably damped more so they weren't noticeable. All these interesting anomalies show up on the instrumentation but the engine seems to run just fine.

Ah, but then why does the boost pump not resolve the fluctuating fuel pressure, and why does the fuel flow not behave this way at lower altitudes?

OK, here's a weird one. I wonder if anyone else has ever seen this. M20J with and IO-360-A3B6. Floscan 201B fuel flow transducer installed between the engine-driven pump and servo. It's mounted wire side up with no angle fittings at input or output. Engine monitor is a Garmin G3X EIS. Climbed to 6500' and set power WOT/2500. Leaned, and cylinder 3 peaked at 9.9 gph. Continued leaning and the EGTs continued to peak and then decrease but the fuel flow stayed at 9.9. Eventually, with continued leaning the fuel flow began moving at which point it was quite a bit lean of peak. I've seen it do this a few times and the 9.9 gph point is quite repeatable, but I fly a lot of short trips at 2500' and I never have seen this behavior during those flights. It didn't do this until recently. I'm thinking something wrong with the transducer, but I'm puzzled that it works fine at low altitudes which makes me think vapor -- but then why always at 9.9 and why didn't it so this until recently? Turning on the boost pump raised the fuel pressure a pound or so, but didn't change the fuel flow. I have been chasing a fuel pressure variation which I believe to be due to fuel vapor forming in the engine-driven pump because all the fuel lines and the flow transducer are well insulated and directing a heat gun at them doesn't affect static fuel pressure but it doesn't take much heat directed at the engine-driven pump to start to raise the static fuel pressure.

Food • 2 qts water • 18 LARA Bars • Water filter + 1 liter bag • Water purification tablets Shelter • 2 Aluminized survival suits • 1 pr gloves • Wool cap • Tent Utility • Duct tape • Parachute chord • Fire starter sticks + matches • 2 Butane lighters • String • Sharpening stone • Notepad + pencil • Kleenex • Soap • Saw • Leatherman • Knife • Mini Maglite • Compass • GPS • PLB • 4 AA batteries • 2 Sierra cups • Butane stove + 2 canisters • Survival manual First Aid Kit Signalling • 4 Flares • 3 Smoke flares • 4 Aerial flares • 3 whistles • 2 Signaling mirrors I also have a Garmin inReach Messenger and a handheld VHF nav/com in the airplane. I really want a lot of ways to call someone to come get me. I figure giving up 30 lbs of useful load is protective because I've never had to use it!

Hat rack: cover, cowl plugs, pitot cover, small kneepad (for sumping tanks - saves pants knees). Main: survival gear (I fly over a lot of inhospitable terrain), tie down kit, plastic box containing GATS jar, travel chocks, 2 qts oil, air pressure gauge, tube of waterless hand soap, rags, plastic polish and microfiber cloths, screw driver with interchangeable bits, crescent wrench.

That’s what I would expect. Each one that fails puts Increased load on the rest and the next weakest fails and on it goes. Since the cylinder was still attached it’s hard to see how the failed studs could affect EGT. I’m not saying the two aren’t related, but it’s hard to see how.

Anything that relieves the preload on the studs can cause this. What’s more interesting is how this is related to the EGT drop. Or, perhaps, the two events have unrelated causes. It would be valuable to learn the details.

Good points, and I don’t disagree. Still it defies logic that you can run continuously at max power and get the same life as 65%. Higher speed, temps and pressures.

Reducing rpm to 2600 on a 200 hp IO-360 costs 8 hp according to the Lycoming power charts. 8 hp = 4400 ft-lb/sec = 264,000 ft-lb/min So, if your plane weighed 2640 lbs, the rate of climb would be reduced by 100 fpm.

If it were true that power had no effect on engine life then why would Robinson derate engines in its helicopters and why would Lycoming and all the airframe manufacturers recommend cruising at 75% or lower power? And why would Mike Busch cruise at 65% or below. For a while John Deakin was experimenting with running his turbonormalized Bonanza LOP at 80%+ but I understand that he decided it wasn’t such a good idea. The fact that something isn’t prohibited does not mean it’s a good idea.

That’s actually a good question. If the engine has no time limit on operating at maximum continuous power, it won’t cause any immediate damage. However, engine life is a function of power and the best way to get past TBO is to run at lower cruise powers. So, does using higher climb power in a normally aspirated engine shorten its life? Probably not. The available WOT manifold pressure (and thus power) drops about an inch every thousand feet as you climb anyway. So, you really aren’t running at high power for a significant portion of the engine’s life. But, if you do reduce climb power, reduce it all the way back to about 75%. Fuel systems are usually set up to provide an overly rich mixture at high power settings for cooling and increased detonation margin. The mixture enrichment system is mechanically linked to the throttle and only works at WOT or nearly so. So if you pull the manifold pressure back just a little, you may defeat the enrichment feature.

I’d try contacting Mooney support.

I would just search for thin stainless flat washers and see if you can find one with the proper dimensions.

I seriously doubt that Mike ever intended to have his prepurchase clients access data from his other clients (free or paid) without permission. Apparently there are holes in the firewall between services. Paul @kortopates has been made aware of it and I trust it will get resolved.

A lot of light single engine airplane flight manuals call for climb at approximately 75% power. There may a reason for it (cooling, noise, ??) or it may be a carryover from higher powered engines that had time limits for takeoff power (common with radials). If it’s not listed as a limitation, you don’t have to observe it. If a CFI insists, I’d do it his/her way and discuss it on the ground. Learning works both ways. Students have taught me lots of useful things.

Remember that any MSC can order parts from Mooney, but they all set their own markups. LASAR seems to have raised its prices lately and doesn’t stock nearly as much as it used to, so it may not always be the best choice.

@Gee Bee Aeroproducts Guy makes silicone gaskets with a reinforcing layer sandwiched in between that stabilizes the silicone so that it doesn’t squish around so much when tightened. They have worked great on my IO-360.

@kortopates can you delete all your data and if so is it really gone from the database (or at least deidentified)?

Another thing to note when doing the capacity test is that the time remaining is highly sensitive to the backlight setting. So, if you want to compare readings from one test to another be sure to use the same backlight setting.

Interestingly, mine is now back to showing 95% and I didn’t change anything. I have SW v8.20.

LASAR doesn’t have any. If you click Add to Cart it shows out of stock.

I did the same with mine when I replaced the engine. I don’t think they seal perfectly - mine didn’t — and mine idles fine. I’d cap the sniffle drain tube and see if that makes a difference. If not, the leak is elsewhere. You could pressurize the intake system with a clean shop vac and spray soapy water around all the joints and look for bubbles.

Are the 40:1 gears a Dukes part or something Mooney designed and manufactured for retrofit.