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I never do .. but I think the mechanics do when they did the run up after annual

Thanks for our help! i should have realized others have had this problem before and looked it up more. Hopefully its just flushing the system or replacing seals then re-coining the ball behind the flow screw and go from there. I have 4 hours on the airplane since the hydraulic cylinder and brakes were worked on (for a leaking parking break) before the problem with the flaps started. I bet my flap retract cable is as old as the airplane... 1968. Thanks a again for the advice.

Fair enough, sorry

Wondered if anyone has some insights on this: yesterday I put my flaps down to take off, when I applied power, the air pressure on the flaps caused them to retract as I was on take off roll / just becoming airborne. I made it around the pattern and put the flaps down on short final, had to pump them continuously to keep them down, fortunately the breaks worked... I did have some hydraulic work done a few flight hours ago because the parking break was leaking fluid. My mechanic replaced the seals to the parking break and hydraulic cylinder. He also said he added a easier method to fill cylinder from the cowl (some sort of pipe) instead of having to go behind the firewall. Anyone with thoughts about what might be wrong?

Yes, I’m basing that off the poh. Here is my performance at 5000. My Cis a 1968. The key number isn’t listed in my poh but makes a lot of sense.

Question for you all, sounds like some of you are leaning at mixture settings above 75% BHP? ie "Full throttle at 2500 rpm up to 9500 at most and a little over 10 gph" I always thought settings above 23 x23 I had to keep the mixture in full on an o360 bellow 10,000 msl to stay below 75% bhp. Or, was that because my poh was written pre-engine monitoring technology?

Got an annual from a new mechanic, my second year of airplane ownership. He said the plane is good to go and signed off on it but mentioned he usually test flies every aircraft he annuals, however, he didn't have time to test fly or test run my airplane. Should I fly it without him test running it? should I let him fly my airplane at all? I am a little hesitant about that, could insist he ground runs it only before I fly. nothing major on the annual, adjusted the timing on the magnetos, fixed breaks, oil change, etc. What do other mechanics do when completing annual?

congratulations on the beautiful airplane! I have a poor interior on my 68C. Looked at many options to repair the plastics, From what I hear its better to repair the old ones with fiberglass and repaint then buy new. A few people have told me it took them about 40 hours of work to do.. You can also have a company do it if you have the funds, A few companies I looked at were SCS ( https://scs-interiors.com/ ) Jaeger ( https://www.jaegeraviation.com/ ) Areocomfort ( https://aerocomfort.com/ ) and Airtex (https://www.airtexinteriors.com/index.php) to name a few. In the end I have neither the time nor money for something that doesn't make the airplane fly any better so holding off for now. Enjoy the new plane! congratulations. it looks awesome!

I sent back the Areo-lites and ordered the G3 on your advice. Thanks very much! Surprising at how hard it is to get any facts about these led landing lights, even those from within the same company.

how about the G3 compared to the parmetheus pro par 46? Maybe i should return my Areo-lites then... either way probably an improvement form my traditional bulb.. Very poor runway lighting and no papi where I've been flying into lately so figure i should get something good. Thank you!

thank you! PAr 46 it is

I know LEDs have been discussed a lot... but I cant figure out if I have a par 36 or par 46 landing light and cant get to the plane to measure... Mooney m20c 1968. Anyone used these? https://www.aero-lites.com/product-page/ultra-g2-spot before? seems better than a whelen parmetheus plus and half the price 9no STC) Hard to tell if they would be easy to install of if I would need some sort of adapter. Thanks...

Thinking about dry leasing my m20c to a friend. Anyone have any reference for what I should charge per hour? It's IFR with a garmin 175 gps, adsb in and out, stec autopilot etc etc. All the previous posts on this topic were circa 2016. Not trying to earn a profit off of a friend, just find a fair number we can both afford and pay some fixed costs which are about 900$/month (hangar, annual, insurance). Anyone have a sample contract for a dry lease I could use?

Nice! that would work, didnt realize a cord like that existed - thank you! I have a Bendix / king 24h intercom.

I want my passengers to listen to my music when we fly... anyone have a magic cord / know how to plug an iphone into the input side of the intercom to play some music?

Here's the fuel tank dip stick I made a few weeks ago, pumped out the tanks and added back 5gal at a time. Hopefully this will be helpful to some of you. It is for a 1968 mooney M20c 54 gal fuel bladders (27 gal /side). There are approximately 5gal in the tanks when the dip stick registers 0.

All makes a lot of sense. Seems like if I can cheaply overhaul the current senders I'll just do that unless I could get the CIES gauges for less than 1AMU which doesn't seem possible. Maybe go for the CIES when more disposable income. I currently have a JPI with fuel flow which I use to verify my fuel burn. Only things I can't account for is if my tank were to leak without me knowing or if the FBO is careless about how full they get my tanks. I recently almost took off with 12 gal less than expected because the FBO was carless about filling my tanks all the way up. I always look in the tank before going, it didn't look full. I asked them come back and fill the rest of the way up, added 12 gal to my 54 gal tanks before departing on a 370mi cross country.... Next free day I had I emptied a tank and filled it back up 5 gal at a time and marked out a dip stick. Emptying the tank is also what confirmed my factory gauges were bad. Next time I'm at the hangar, I can take a picture of my fuel stick next to a ruler if anyone wants to try to replicate it without having to empty a tank. Really appreciate the opinions.

Getting factory fuel gauges checked possibly overhauled in my m20c as the first step in finding out why they are not even close to accurate. Looking for opinions on anyone who has replaced senders with the CIES senders (if it turns out not to be a gauge problem). Did you keep your factory gauges or buy the digital gauge? if so, would love to get some ballpark on how much time it takes a mechanic to replace the factory gauge with the digital one? Seems like I can get the factory gauges and senders overhauled for a few hundred dollars. Wondering if there is an reason to get the CIES senders without upgrading from the factory gauge. As usual, the bottom line comes down to cost. Thanks for any advice.

Thanks so much for the advice, seems like it is doable yourself! beautiful pictures @Carlton. I might just go the do-it my-self route.

Seems like this topic has about a million threads on it, and I have read them all but still haven't quite figured out what to do... What's the best way to revitalize my m20C interior plastics? Looking to do the headliner, window plastic and side panels (not the seats for now) and what does it realistically cost if I don't do it myself? I was hoping to find something around 3-4 AMU that I could purchase and have a mechanic install quickly and easily during annual this winter in 1-2 weeks while replacing the old insulation (SB 208). I have looked at airtex, Jaeger, Areo comfort, plane plastics. So far seems like Areo comfort is the only option that might fit my goals but guessing the airplane would be down for a while waiting for the work to be done. Can't tell if they would do my headliner and window plastics and I'm unsure how the shipping large sections of cracked brittle plastic to TX would work. Anyone's experience to set me on the right track with some cost estimates or before and after pictures would be really appreciated. Maybe this is unrealistic and I shouldn’t mess with a good flying airplane but I do need to replace the insulation anyways.

@Alan Fox great! thank you. I need to talk to my mechanic. I will DM you when I have a plan. Need to decide between a cosmetic repair vs replacement flap.

Thank you, serial number on my aircraft is 680093

Ugh, sucks. It was a mistake someone moving my plane while I was there, no one to blame. At least there is a flap for sale... https://www.ebay.com/itm/353320237058 will have to see what the mechanic thinks, but seems like it's going to be a few AMUs then. Thanks for the info

Wanted to see if anyone on here could give me some advice on some damage that happened to my flap tonight. Mooney m20c. I have a mechanic coming to look at it when he has time, not sure how long it will take. Cheaply repairable or will I need a new flap? Really sucks. Thank you

Thanks a lot for your advice. I really didn’t think about an ignition issue. This was during cruise flight with a leaned out engine at 5000 feet or so. I’ll look around for a mechanic to help me pull the plugs and check them out. Much appreciated!