AndreiC

The reason I asked is that I *think* in my plane there aren't any wires running through there, or at least I did not see them when I opened that access panel. I'll check again this evening. (In fact I've always wondered where the pitot tube heating and the wingtip light wires are routed through...)

@N201MKTurbo I understand now what you mean. Can you please confirm though that if I were to run the wires through the front of the wing, the wire would go behind that inspection panel you were talking about (for the aileron tube)? If so, how do you keep the wire from getting tangled with the aileron tube?

Can you guys please clarify where the factory probe on the J is? I don't think my E came with a factory OAT probe (or if it did it is long gone). A picture would sure help, but right now I was leaning towards the location @Ragsf15e suggested -- in a small panel on the wing, just outside the wing root.

My OAT sensor was installed by a previous owner in the NACA air scoop on the pilot side. Unfortunately warm air from the engine appears to affect it — it usually shows about 10 dF warmer than it should, making it useless for knowing how close to icing I am. I want to move it. I thought I’d move it to an inspection panel on the left wing, but it appears to be complicated to do this (for one, the wire provided by JPI is not long enough and I don’t want to go to the trouble of getting new wire, crimping new pins, etc.) I’ve narrowed it down to two locations. One would be on top of the cabin, where ADF antenna was attached in the past, about 4” in front of the VHF antenna. The advantage of this would be that it is relatively easy to run the wire, and there is already a hole drilled from the ADF. A second option would be to put it either in front or after the battery inspection panel on the left side pf the fuselage. But this involves removing more of the interior to run the wire, and drilling a new hole. Any opinions/suggestions? Thanks.

Interesting experience, I guess (to say the least). Was the engine toast, or did it just need a new cylinder? For the experts out there, is such a valve failure caused by high operating temps, or manufacturer's defect? How many hours were on that cylinder?

I wonder what can cause an engine failure in cruise like this. The plane was flown very regularly. Fuel exhaustion? Some other mechanical failure?

Unless you have a wet vacuum pump (unlikely, from what I know), the dry pumps either work or they don’t. When they fail they fail catastrophically. So if it still shows 4.2” it means the pump is probably still good.

If it was tumbling and spinning like crazy I think it may be more likely the vacuum pump. The AI does not need to go crazy. Easiest to check would be to turn the engine back on, revv it up to 1500-1800 rpm, and look at your vacuum gauge. If it is not showing 5” your pump is toast. I was in your situation not long ago, and chose to replace my DG with a good used one. (In my case it was the DG that was bad, but only in the sense that it had a lot of precession). I paid about $400 for a used one, and compared to the cost to install a G5, especially as a DG to interface with the autopilot, I felt it was a steal. But I am happy to stay with steam gauges for a while, people have been flying with them for decades and planes were not falling put of the sky because of this.

Does this also include 1-800-WX-BRIEF that they plan to decommission? I use that service pretty regularly. It is useful to me when I am in doubt for a go/no-go decision, it is more helpful to have someone else tell you basically "don't go".

Poplar Grove, IL is a well known shop. They do many engines. I have not had engine work done by them, but I've known of themfor over 25 years. They seem to be solid, and their work balancing my prop was very good.

Somewhat unrelated question: I have in my panel the original (1970) 8 day clock that came with the plane. Not sure if it is a Waltham or some other manufacturer (pic attached). It works well, but over 3-4 days it loses about 15-20 minutes, which is a lot. Do you guys know if this can be adjusted relatively easily in the field, or does it need to be taken to a watchmaker?

Hot starts in my IO360 work pretty well with the procedure of leaving the throttle at 1000 rpm and cranking with mixture at ICO. (This is, say, 15 minutes after shutting down on a hot day.) But what I don't understand is why, after the engine starts, it will stumble continuously at low power settings (say, under 1400 rpm). Moreover, if I keep trying to run it at 1000 rpm while it does this, I will almost certainly hear backfires from the muffler, which can't be good. My current procedure is to run it at a high idle (1500 rpm) for a few minutes, while also running the boost pump. That seems to work, but I don't know why it does that. My guess is that there is vapor lock in some of the injector lines, and somehow fuel gets in the cylinders that does not burn and explodes in the muffler. Why? I don't know.

Speed difference is probably not more than 5-10 kts, if even that. E and J are both fuel injected. The big difference for me would be the extra cabin space (maybe important? maybe not? I rarely fly with 3 people, most of the time it's me alone or me + 1). and perhaps the visibility from the bigger windshield of the J.

If all other things were equal (avionics, paint, tank condition, engine SMOH and quality of shop, etc.), how much more should a J be worth versus an E? (Ballpark figures, of course.) Is it 30% over the value of an E? 50%?

Are you looking for the original, factory dimmer electrical diagrams for a 1970 Mooney? I have them (there are two versions) somewhere, I can look them up.