Freddb34

New to this group. Trying to get my "new to me" Mooney down here by the time of the November meeting.

I was watching him as he flew it. Said it didn't skip a beat the whole time. I will take it up for a test flight of at least an hour before we make our way south with it. Thanks!

Thanks and yes. There was some sediment built up into clumps that once the tank was completely drained and dried out, turned into a silty powder. They got it all out by flushing it several times until it was cleaned. Just happy to have my plane back and bring it south.

Hey all! The AP just completed the flight test and it didn't skip a beat. Now all I have to do is write a fat check! And then I get to bring her home!!

I know a guy who did that! He tool a socket and notched it to fit the selector, then used a 45 socket adapter and 6" extension and ratchet and made it so he wouldn't have to bend forward. I may make something a bit simpler out of PVC as you suggested. Thanks!

1) I did that. The only switch I changed was the electric fuel pump and I turned that back on. 2) That AP that had the issue informed me that he did find some clogging in the #3 fuel injector. He cleaned that injector (and checked the others) and flew it THREE TIMES after that just to be sure. He even flew it that morning to the transfer airport without incident. 3) I always keep the landing light on when I get ready to start a plane so that anyone walking around it knows the plane is powered up and may start at any second. 4) As I stated earlier, this was only my second time in this plane and yes, it was a lessons learned moment by not switching tanks. Incidentally, the emergency checklist clearly states "Switch fuel to fullest tank"; and since I knew both tanks were full, it was on a full tank. Also, since I hadn't just switched them (and inadvertently switched to an empty tank), there was no reason at that second to suspect it was a fuel starvation issue. Also, remember that switching tanks in a Mooney is a bit trickier than in a Piper Cherokee. I didn't want to risk leaning forward and bumping the yoke and costing us altitude and glide time. And I did all that analysis in about 15 seconds while the CFI did his part. Sincerely hope you don't run into the same situation but if you do that you have time to react.

Fuel flow was tested using both the mechanical servo and the electric fuel pump. Both had excellent flow so AP is not concerned. It appears the blockage was confined to the pick up in the left tank itself.

Tanks were resealed in 2003.

An inspection of the fuel tanks revealed a considerable amount of build up in the left tank (right tank was clean). Plan is to remove the top panel and remove all of the debris (it's not metal or sealant...not sure what it is). But once that's cleaned out, the AP/IA will test fly it and hopefully by Wednesday I can pick it up.

It's in the checklist. Oh, those pesky checklists....

Ok, a lot to unpack here. I did go back and ask the FBO if they did checks and was told they check it each morning as part of their pre op checklist. Yes, we did sump the tanks after they filled the tanks and there was no water or abnormal specks in the sumps that I could see. The AP sumped the tanks and that's when he noted the tiny, silvery specks in the sump drains BUT he did have to sump the tanks about 6 times before he saw them. Most pilots don't sit there and sump the tanks more than 2-3 times unless they see something odd. The AP did remove the drain plugs and empty the tanks. They took photos of both tanks and found the right tank clean but there were several large chunks in the left. Chunks that wouldn't come out of the drain sump (which the logs show the seller had done). I'm not 100% sure we were on the left tank, once again, unfamiliarity with the fuel selector BUT I do know for a fact it was not in the OFF position. It was selected on A tank, just not 100% certain it was left or right. I plan to paint the top of the selector (Green towards the tank selected, Red for the tank not selected) so that I have an easy reference as to what tank I'm on. The AP is going to pull the top panel off the tank and clean out the entire tank. He's very confident that this will resolve any fuel pick up problems.

No, we didn't switch tanks...since this was only my second flight, it slipped past me on the "memory items" for the Mooney. Coming from Pipers and their easy access tank selector to the Mooney "floor based", we just didn't have time to make that flip. We were on the ground in about 90 seconds. Lesson learned.

LOL...i was a bit busy with the whole "not dying in a fiery hole in the ground" to look at the gauges during the issue. I do have a JDM and a CGR 30C (not sure if it records or not) but that's a great idea to look.

The AP ran both the manual and electric pump (plugs out, fuel injectors checked, lines in cups) and using both tanks. Good fuel flow every time. They did find that little bit of crap in the servo screen and that's when we looked in the tanks. The AP is pretty convinced that there is some crap in the tanks that just worked its way down to the servo and blocked the line for that brief instance while we were climbing out. When we shut it down and restarted it, it probably fell out of that tiny fuel line and was running fine every since. Maybe rebuilding the fuel servo is now a priority over anything else. But we didn't see any water in the sump and we sumped it quite a few times (gascolator too). And the check list does call for boost pump on for take off, shutting it off once you're up to 500-750 feet (just in case the mechanical pump fails you get to altitude).

They were resealed (according to the seller, who himself had recently purchased it). I want to go thru the logbooks much more closely and see what EXACTLY was done. But yes, it was immediate and acute....the engine went from 2500RPM to 700RPM in about 2 seconds. Then when we got on the ground, it chugged and surged between 600-800RPPM and then I shut it down. About a minute later, it started right back up and appeared to run fine...and then the AP couldn't find anything wrong (except the small particles on the boroscope and in the fuel strainer). And by the way, if we get this all straightened out, I'll be flying down to and staying at KPGD in a few weeks for the winter. Let's try to sync up when I get there.