JayMatt

This is why I do the majority everything myself. I struggled to find anyone that wanted to work on a mooney when I first got it. My current AI lets me take everything apart and get it as close as possible, so he has minimal work to do. I don't mind it tho, because I know my plane inside and out. It also gives me piece of mind. I don't know how some guys don't do anything on their plane and just climb out to 10k feet and head cross country. That's just wild to me not knowing how well everything is done. Some next level trust.

And I'm going to close this out. Went out yesterday and checked on the baffling and found the issue. When I originally checked the baffling with my AI, the cowl was off. He noted all the small gaps and holes all over the place that could be sealed up. I didn't think they were serious but research on here and elsewhere made it seem like every pin hole needed filling so I went to work. That did help with cooling and I could manage 400f but not at full power. Anyway long story short, I looked though the oil door with lights and cameras and found out my baffling doesn't seal against the cowl anywhere. there is a good half inch gap in a lot of places and about a quarter inch gap everywhere. So you live and learn and with proper research you figure it out. So this post is for the next guy that comes along years down the road and wants to know why their plane can't take the hot summer days very well.

I'm going to revive this thread with an update. I messed with some baffling and test flew the plane. The OAT was 97F when we went up and the first flight was interesting. I was so worried about watching the temperatures I forgot to put the gear up...lol. So as I thought I was having issues and the temperature was climbing again, I circled back to land. That's when I realized my gear was down. So I did a touch and go instead and took off again. Next take-off was better, stayed cooler longer. Not as perfect as I would have liked and it did take some tweaking to keep it just right. including having the cowl flaps cracked open. So the Temperature is still slightly higher than I would like it to be and so is the oil temperature. Not nearly as much as originally but not where I want it to be if it can be helped. Tonight I plan on messing with it some more. Check the top baffling that I've seen can be an issue with Mooney's. Previously I just sealed all the gaps and didn't check how well the baffling sealed against the top cowl. That's could be the whole issue but I want to ask a few things and get some opinions. What's the best way to test the vernatherm? How much cooler would the oil cooler run than the oil temp maybe? I don't want to pull and test it just yet but that could be part of the issue. Would a faulty vernatherm cause higher CHT's? If I'm not getting the proper cooling out of my oil cooler that could be a significant part of the issue. I'll get a laser Thermometer tonight and run the plane for a good bit and then test all the cylinders and see if I detect much difference Another thing that may be in my head, maybe not, it seems like the EGT's jump pretty quickly when I start leaning. I never paid attention to all of this stuff as closely as I am now but either way, fast rising EGT while leaning is a possible indication of something else? Keep in mind, absolutely nothing has changed since running great to getting a hot run on a long trip.

Mines also like that, full trim down, once I get up to 7500 it can let off a tad and the higher the better it gets. I fly WOT everywhere tho.

I know it's late but the harbor freight skinny floor jack works just fine. I've used it multiple times

I'm just going to have to save this comment and wrap my head around it when I go back down there.

Quick Update. The Fuel pressure gauge is bad. Sender or receiver I don't know but we put a manual valve on it and ran it, the analog gauge went up and down with RPM and different weird stuff and the Manual inline gauge stayed at a perfect 22psi. So that solves that question and I'll get that fixed. Then there is the heat, I sealed everything off so that the air would flow more correctly over the engine, there were a few spots that could use improvement. The most important thing was that the probe for CHT's was also likely bad as the connection was very loose. Who knows, after 10 hours of flying I guess that's not a crazy thing to happen so I'll be looking for a new probe. If anyone know they best place to get one I appreciate the advice. Add an edit here: I've read a few spots on mooneyspace where guys modified the sheet metal baffle on the right side intake and cut it down about a half inch to improve cooling. Anyone have opinions or experience with that?

closed. I wasn't too sure if the heat was bad or not at the time, It's green and there was nothing in the manual. It wasn't for a long time that it was that high so it's not a big deal, we flew into cooler areas and some rain not long after but I still want to make sure I don't have issues somewhere in the future. I'm taking measures to get the temps down a little more and to get some better equipment to monitor CHT's more closely. The Oil pressure and and Temp were also fine along with the EGT's per everything I've come across. I've heard people say those may have been off but I've seen plenty of source information showing everyone runs right there also regardless where they say they are running. Fuel pressure is likely a faulty ground from further digging around and looking at the engine last night. We'll also have it tested out next week and go from there. Like I said it's time for a JPI so I don't have to worry about the analog sticks.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2021/october/pilot/savvy-maintenance-hot-heads According to this article, running 420f is not unrealistic for a lycoming motor and my A&P confirmed this. It was an extremely hot day when we flew. He also thinks it's mostly likely the pressure gauge that is faulty because I wouldn't have made power or I would have detected engine roughness which I didn't have a problem with either. That being said, we'll test the fuel system anyway and use RTV silicone to make sure we are getting all the airflow that we want. We can mess with the baffling some if need be. I'll tinker with all these things and see if I can get better results in a few test flights. I've never had this issue before but I've never flow cross country on the hottest days of the year in the middle of the day.

I was at 75% power but thank you for the numbers. I was trying to figure out where people were running at normally. I know this was a long flight at roughly 3 hours. It also ran a bit cooler up north in Kentucky. I just suspected it wasn't normally to run hotter in Texas even if it was hot outside. very odd thing to me is the exhaust gas being lower than most everyone else but the cylinder head being higher than most... I wasn't running with cowl flaps open either. Not at level flight. I also wasn't all that lean, not compared to normal. This is why I think something may have been going on with the fuel system. It ran fine to the first airport and cooler but we stopped for a half hour and took off again. If there any tips to stopping and hot start that can prevent issues? Maybe relieve pressure on the fuel system by pushing mixture back in after we have it shut off? Don't really know but I plan to do some test runs and see if I'm getting the same issue. We'll see what mechanic says too.

I don't think it's 475 as that would be the tip of the green but maybe that's 400 to 425? I don't know if that's bad or not? According to Mike Busch you should run at 350 and I at least know I'm over that, but it's near impossible to know with this gauge. And I don't know that I agree with him either on his whole red box lean of peak. I was 75% power anyway so it shouldn't matter. Here is my theory. Maybe not the cleanest gas on my last fill up even though I did sump my tanks. Some dirty injectors leads to uneven rich lean mixtures and that led to the high fuel pressure read out and the warmer operating temperatures? What was it yesterday afternoon, 95 outside? My exhaust gas temperatures were around 700c which I thought were pretty good. Or maybe this is where everyone else runs on temps and I don't know what 6 hours flying does in the middle of a hot summer day.

no, it came back down in decent and landing. It's done something wonky before but when I talked to my mechanic about it I couldn't get it to do it again and thought maybe it was dirty injectors or something to that extent. I'd also done a little research and some people said things to that extent. Just hoping there's some experience on here with weird stuff like that. Oddly enough it jumps up when I cut the throttle most the time and slow down and then it settles back down. I'll be sorting it out with my mechanic again just digging around on here for experience

Flying home yesterday, my fuel gauge decided to ping past max pressure during climb out. Didn't notice any change in the motor and assumed it was the fuel gauge. Motor seemed to be running a little hotter than normal but I've never done long flights in the dead heat of summer so I had no way of knowing one way or the other. I Gauge were in the green and I assumed Mooney made those ranges green for a reason. As far as the fuel pressure goes, I've had it go wonky before and it seems to bounce around. Maybe it's a faulty gauge or dirty injectors? any ideas? Is this hot for summer flying? I does 2600 and 23 or 24mp can't remember but it was book 75% power at 4k. Thought I detected slight roughness but wasn't sure. I think my prop needs an overhaul to be fair. Opinions? These old gauges all that accurate and reliable?

There was a guy with one for a long time at my grandfathers private airport. 2700' and 22' wide. Did just fine. Not sure he did it in the rain ever but he was in and out of there all the time

Anyone fly into Lake Charles to golf and stay the night or anything? Is there a best way to go about doing this? Any special deals for pilots that fly in or anything? I had heard if you fly in and fuel up you could get a free meal at one of the cassinos or something possibly golf or whatever. Just looking for advice from those that have done it.

buy some ethanol free 93 octane at buccee's dump a jar of lead based octane booster in it and be on your way. What's the difference between aviation gas and pump gas aside from the octane rating? PP thoughts only, don't listen to me.

I suggest doing the work on your own annual at least once. 1. it will save you a lot of money. 2. it will help you appreciate the cost you pay for an annual because it sucks lol. 3. you will learn a ton about your airplane and it will really help ease your mind when it comes to what has been checked. I do absolutely every piece my AI will let me do along with hitting everything with tri-flow. I follow the manual and go through every item and he'll go through all the items after me that I'm not allowed to do and verify it all. it's a tedious process but also kind of fun to do. He didn't test fly mine but he did do a startup and warmup. I don't think there is a need to actually fly. Just run it on the ground a good 30 minutes and put it under a load with the prop several times to test it. After that, if there were any issues they should have been caught.

that was fast

Yeah the weather is like 2 weeks of the same weather lol. I don't mind buying a ticket and even buying one last minute if need be, although I hate commercial flying with a passion. I'm just curious when people decide that the weatherman is correct and it's a no go. I'm monitoring tickets and there seems to be plenty of option right now so I'm not concerned. I've given myself a 3-4 day window to get there and a 3 day window to leave. I'll probably make the call Tuesday if I can leave between Tuesday and Friday. I've watched videos of people flying around scattered thunderstorms, Doesn't look all that enjoyable.

When do you make the call to just buy tickets instead of flying as a VFR? I was hoping to fly out the 9th or 10th but right now it's calling scattered thunderstorms all week and I don't know how much faith to put in weather this far out? Is there a rule of thumb? Last time I flew cross country this time a year it predicted clear skies a good ways out and we basically had clear skies so it was a non factor. Just curious peoples thought process on these things. Texas to Kentucky is the trip.

Way cool pictures

to be honest I don't know but I've watched several of his videos lately and I wish they were more direct and to the point. But from what I gathered peak EGT is where the pressure is highest in the cylinder... no? From what Mike says the curves are not parallel and when you are lean of peak EGT you are in peak CHT and you need to lean further to get to 380 CHT. I don't know, I wanted to start another LOP thread even after reading everything I could find on here but I didn't want to get crucified.

*Mike Busch has entered the chat* It was my understanding that peak exhaust gas temperatures stress the engine most.

Very nice. I want one, but I want a lot of things and I'm trying to discipline my spending habits on this airplane.

I had the opportunity to park and my grandfathers neighborhood runway. 22x2700. Practiced and landed there a few times, the wife absolutely hated it. It really limits your crosswind flying imo, as a new pilot. I'm also fairly new and it's windy around here. If I got to the point I felt like that didn't bother me at all I would maybe go in there but I like my big open class D airport with cross wind runways. I can come and go as I please whenever and wind is rarely a factor. That's the freedom I was looking for when I bought the plane.