Aerospace

I dropped the belly today (about five or six 1/4 turn fasteners were missing), and yes, there is a gascolator there; see attached pic of the gascolator after I removed it and pushed it back on for the pic. I will drill a hole in the belly for the drain. I removed the nut and the red can so I could inspect the screen and check for sediment. That went smoothly and all was clean. I followed the M20Doc's advice with the application of penetrating oil and after a good several minutes of twisting and pulling quite hard, I was able to get the plunger to come free. Now I can drain it, but now it won't stop dripping when the plunger is down. Hopefully that will go away after I replace all the appropriate o-rings and stuff that were neglected at annual. I am also going to replace the mechanical pump and inspect the rest of the injection system.

Thank you for the tips.

So my questions from the original post have been answered. No, the factory did not eliminate the gascolator on later J models No, there is no STC for eliminating the gascolator. Elimination of the gascolator is not even heard of on Mooneys. Bonus info: The drain hole on the belly has to be drilled, it doesn't come with the hole when you get a new belly. My "NDH" plane may have a hidden incident that is not in the logs. The weather looks good enough for screwdriver work tomorrow. I will let you know what I find. Thanks for the quick responsive help

Thanks!

Nope, none of those are on the list.

Awesome, I'll look now!

I'm not flying it until this is sorted.

I did not know that they did not come with a hole, thanks for that. I am really curious as to what I find. What you say sounds very plausible. I have read every word in the logs, which are complete, and do not remember seeing any new belly or documented damage history. However, I know that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Yep, thus my question if there is some kind of STC for this and my speculation of a possible contraband modification. I am looking in to this because I can tell it's not right. I have read all of the materials, logs, manuals, schematics, and everything, I have asked several mechanics at multiple shops as well as freelance. I did all of that first before asking. I even used the search function lol.

They do have those don't they! In all seriousness, I don't want to pull any harder without seeing what is under there. I was thinking that is simply stuck from disuse so I put my 2nd smallest Matco prybar through the ring, then used a piece of steel plate to put the tip of the bar on so it wouldn't put too much pressure on the floor (spread it out a bit). I pulled up with more force than I was able to do with my finger in the ring, but was still fairly conservative, not going to do more than that.

I also think that is a possibility. We will see when I drop the belly. It is weird that there is no hole. I pulled really hard on the ring... with a prybar.

"The fact you found the pull ring say there still one in your plane." The fact that I found the pull ring only says that there once was one in my plane and it may or may not still be in there. "There should be a hole in the composite belly panel to allow you to catch the fuel from below..." There is no hole, and the ring can not be pulled. "Your maintainer should have disassembled it as part of the Annual, if not find new maintainer." This is what I am investigating. It seems that the gascolator was deleted at some point, but I have yet to be able to confirm that with my own eyes. I am inquiring here to see if gascolator delete is even heard of. My maintainer may indeed not be up to the task (none ever are but that is a different conversation.)

No.

Serial number is 24-3272.

Bottom line up front: I can't find anything about it when I search, but were gascolators removed from some models from the factory or as part of some STC? My 1992 201 MSE does not have a gascolator drain in the belly, and the pull ring on the floor does not move at all when you pull on it. When I bought the plane, the seller said it was that way when he got it, and so far, no mechanics have any thing to say other than "huh, that's interesting". Plane came out of annual with no issues related to this. Anyway, I'm replacing my mechanical pump due to low and fluctuating pressure, and I am going to take the opportunity to look into this further. Maybe I will find a contraband fuel selector modification. ----------------------------------------------------- EDIT FOR ANSWERED QUESTIONS: No, the factory did not eliminate the gascolator on later J models No, there is no STC for eliminating the gascolator. Elimination of the gascolator is not even heard of on Mooneys. Bonus info: The drain hole on the belly has to be drilled, it doesn't come with the hole when you get a new belly.

Hi Hector, Nice to meet you. Would you be willing to let me come sit in your C? I have only ever been in a J.

Hello MS, Before I start posting up with questions, let me introduce myself. My name is Dan Hillsberry and I am shopping for a Mooney. I figured that joining MS would be a smart decision and so here I am. Me 41 year old aerospace engineer PPL in 2012, TT 85 hrs in PA28-181 Married, empty nester From Boise, ID (all flight time was there) but live in Jacksonville, FL Mooney fan since 2005, been researching and planning since then Cheers!