Shiroyuki

I will inspect those nuts again when I’m picking up my plane again. For the previous flights I did not notice any fluid leak at all, and I was actively looking for traces of oil, since the oil leak was just fixed, so if there is, I wouldn’t miss it.

Yes, the ram air was open, it gave me half an inch but that’s still half an inch…. It was a crystal clear day so no moisture whatsoever.

Yeah that’s what the float plane guy told me to do. He use alcohol in fuel all the time since he had an engine failure in a Malibu over Lake Superior once… and now he uses it religiously…

Thank you. I didn’t realize that was you in the comment. I was flying pretty much two days after at my airline, and jumped back in flying it to Toronto myself. Didn’t flew it out of the highway because I was in Montreal for sim. I’m now definitely more hesitant about flying single engine piston in remote area now. But this is where I live, for now, unless I get a twin, this is unavoidable. I guess I just hit some bad luck, cataching the 1 in 5500 hour incident early. Or made a bad decision buying this particular M20. I had proper equipment for the environments, from shelter to fire to saws and heat pack, rations, sat phone etc. But you are absolutely correct that I don’t want to end up in the woods here. What scares me more is during the months of thawing and freezing, before ice is thick enough to land on, if I end up in the water, I’d freeze real quick and trapped in thin ice. Crashing into wood around here, with rocky terrain, doesn’t sounds like a very good idea either… I’m definitely going to keep flying this plane for sure, but now I’m definitely going to exercise I follow roads more closely… I thought this would be my forever plane, as it does everything I want… But now I want two engines… or maybe a parachute…

I did cycle the mixture and tried boost pump on and off, and different throttle setting, and no luck. The mechanic says maybe the extra pressure from boost pump loosend the line more causing more leak. But I don't know how much I buy into this theory. He did mention it was a very significant leak though... I did sump my gascolator via pulling the ring on the floor. But I only sump the gascolator at the begining of a day, not after every refueling like the wing sump... And that was the second flight of the day. To add, the engine have about 120 hours since overhaul. But the engine itself seems find.. I don't think that is related either. A bad installation is likely the culprit.

650nm with a head wind is streching the range. When I arrived I would've only have about 20 gallon left, and closest alternate would've been another hour away. Remember this is not the plain of US with airport every 10 miles, this is in the middle of nowhere deep in the canadian shield. There isn't even a human settlement for at least 100km. I want all my fuel in one tank if i have few left. That has nothing to do with this engine failure, as I took off on left tank, switch to right tank once leveled off in cruise, and switched back to left tank.

This happened quite a while ago but it's only now that I'm willing to bring it up. I was flying my 77 J enroute from CYTZ to my home airport CYXL on Jan.31 2025. It was a 650nm flight over mostly remote part of Northern Ontario. Roughly three and half hour into the flight, about one hour from reaching my destination, in the vicinity of Nipigon Ontario, at a cruising altitude of 5500ft, the engine started to sputter. I immediately turned boost pump on and then my engine quit completely. I acted upon the situation as everyone would, I was lucky that there is a highway right below me, and I quickly turned my plane gliding alone the highway looking for a suitable landing spot. Then I tried to trouble shoot the problem, and declared mayday on both Center frequency (but I'm on the edge of their reception) and 126.7. Oil, fuel pressure were in the green. I had plenty of fuel. Propeller was windmilling, there is no oil spraying everywhere or any catastrophic failure. I even had fuel flow, though only 3-6 gph. But I had no power. Engine monitor show all four cylinder cold on EGT. I tried both mag, didn't switch tank because I already ran one dry, and determined I cannot bring the engine back. The subsequent landing on the highway is uneventful. Clipped two small roadsign during the landing roll, but I'm fine and the plane is now being repair in Toronto, after a temporary repair was carried out in the field and got a ferry permit from TC. The landing happened just before sunset, temperature at landing was -20c. If it would've happened ten minutes prior or later, I would've end up landing on a frozen lake. That was the only highway along my route for almost 300 miles. I think I got lucky here. After landing, I checked the oil, sitting exactly at 6 qts. I spun the prop and noticed smooth movement with no issue, and normal compression in all four cylinder. I then checked my fuel tank and I could see plenty of gas. The only thing abnormal, that I noticed, was when I turn on the boost pump there is a strong smell of fuel. During departure out of CYTZ, when I turn on the fuel point in the takeoff check, I also smelled a whif of gas but I did not thought to much about it. Shortly after, police, fire and ambulance arrived, though I do not require fire and ambulance (luckily I don't need to pay for ambulance). A snow plow came, plowed out a side road and move my plane there, where it sat for two month getting the wing patched up and a ferry permit issued from TC. A local float plane company sent a few mechanics and inspected the engine. They found the fuel line out of the engine driven pump to be loose at the connector, causing a very significant fuel leak. The reason why it is loose, according to the mechanics, is likely because the fuel line with fire sleeve over it was rubbing against the firewall, loosening it over time. Both mags are firing properly and sparks are produced on all 8 plugs. I'm not sure how much I believe this theory. Since during the flight, I ran the right tank dry, and my fuel accumulator read exactly 32 gallon used. The fuel flow transducer is located after the leak, so if there is any leak, I'd ran out of fuel before my fuel accumulator reaches 32. The mechanic in Toronto that usually worked on my plane said it might be due to some kind of icing issue inside the injector servo or controller or something like that, and the float plane mechanic did agree that it's also a possibility. He says I should not loose power completely if I still have fuel flow and green fuel pressure. To add, I did sump my tank in Toronto and noticed no water in fuel, and fuel cap o ring is fairly new. It was noted the boost pump was functioning properly providing proper pressure with no leaks. They removed the fire sleeve on that fuel line, reconnected the hose properly and ran the engine up, and it ran fine. So we eventually flew it out to toronto for permanant repair on the wing with a fueling stop in Thunder bay. Now the plane is sitting in my mechanic hangar in Toronto, I've asked my mechanic to thoroughly inspect the engine again, which I asked him to do last time when I was dealing with the prop governer fuel leak isssue. I'm really not sure how do I trust this plane again. For the past year that I've owned this airplane, I was always on the way of fixing something. The engine was looked into at least twice under my request to make sure the pervious owner's mechanic who installed the engine did not make any more mistake that's not yet discovered. Just sharing my experience here. I guess from now on I will use 1% alcohol added into the fuel to prevent icing. I'd love to hear everyone's thought's on this.

I watched Luvara's 4th video, and it is very concerning. Even more concerning is how GAMI posted everyone's declaration on their website, but not George Braly and Paul Millner's declaration which supports the mandate of G100UL, which happened on Janurary 2025. George claims he does not support mandating G100UL, yet he's eating his own word now. He also again blamed Mooney's wet wing design, can claim such design is inadequte and substandard comparing to industry practise. Everyone should spend a few minutes and read George's declaration. Such conflict of interest... It's not to late to send your GAMI injectos in to get them recalibrated. When GAMI goes out of business because of this, you would want to have a new set of clean gami injectors.......

If I'm remebering correctly, Deltahawks are two stroke diesel aren't they? Then why would it be a surprise that their fuel efficiency sufferes? Pull up the POH of a diamond DA62, that's a 180hp turbocharged diesel with actually diesel efficiency, and look at their numbers. That's a proper modern automotive diesel certified for aircraft and is proven to be fairly reliable and cost effective.

in my 77J, opening the ram air gives and extra half inch of manifold pressure. Can hardly tell if there is any difference in performance

i've had my plane for just under a year now, and from what i can tell in the techlog, the tank has never been patched or resealed. There is a bit of stain under the wing but I don't think it is time for reseal yet.

Just got home from my trip. This morning I did a run up and noticed nothing wrong with the engine. Idle was smooth and stable at 800rpm (100rpm higher but not a bid deal, it has been doing this since i got the plane). During both idle and run up, leaning will have the rpm rise slightly then drop. Mag check shows no roughness and engine monitors say all cylinders are firing correctly. After discussing it with my mechanic I decide to went on my way home, made a stop in winnipeg and got back with not further issue. After both landing of the day, the engine was NOT running as rough as yesterday, but i was definitely rougher then usual. I did notice, if i add full rich mixture and boost pump on, it gets worse immediately, and if i lean it all the way to almost cut off, it will runs smoothly. I suppose it is a mixture issue then. what i do not understand is, how could an mixture setting works fine before departure, with a thoroughly warmed up engine, but will cause it to run overly rich after landing?

I was running pretty lean on descent until very short final, which then I push the mixture known to about one inch from full rich. my idle mixture was just adjusted this summer as well because it was running rich, showing a 200 rise. After my mechanic in Toronto made the adjustment, it’s only a slight rise of about 50 or so.

And are those gasket really that fragile? I had just over 100 hours on this engine and I suppose those gaskets was replaced during engine overhaul?

I was only running rich for a few minutes in climb, and for the past 100 hour or so my plug always looks fine during oil change and annuals. i blocked off about half, maybe a bit less like 40%. I doesn’t want to start with a big block and causes the engine to run too hot. I was cruising at 10000ft at WOT 2600rpm, and peak egt. OAT is -24

I didn’t do a mag check on shut down… I was in a bit of hurry to shut down and run inside to use the washroom… I’m going to do a thorough run up tomorrow morning, add some tcp to fuel, and see how it goes.

So after roughly four hours of cruise, my engine was missfiring after landing if i tried to idle it during row out and taxi. It didn’t die, but was really miss firing, rpm was bouncing around 100rpm, manifold pressure also bouncing around. But if i throttle up a little to 1000rpm it started to run fine. I was leaning the full flight and on the ground properly this time and I’ve never seen something like this before. the engine was idling just fine during run up before departure. I’m suspecting lead fouling, since the CHT for all cylinders never went above 280F, any ideas? @Slick Nick

There isn’t any piston oil available below 15w50 isn’t it? Or is there some brand which I’ve never heard of?

I sincerly apreciate your reply. I used to be a firm supporter of G100UL and really hoped it is a direct drop in replacement. However these issue that emerged in the past weeks, and your deflective answer doesn't inspire any confidence for me as an owner. When we ask if your fuel will damage our paint, you keep saying under normal circustances it won't. But we want to know what about specific circumstances that happens on our plane? To be honest, at this point I will stick with 100LL until G100UL is more widely used, when it is proven by other user.

I saw those picture you posted previously and asked you if it is possible for you to repeat condition shown in Luvara's experiment. I believe @IvanP's M20K also showed paint damage, not only @gabez Are you saying the youtube test made by Luvara is falsified? Since you denied your paint will causes damage, yet his test clearly demonstrated your fuel will strip paint like paint stripper if it is allow to sit and dry. And let's not go into mooney have bad tank design all over again. Mooney tank weeps, that's a fact. But that doesn't change the fact your fuel will damage paint with a weeping leak. If you fuel can't handle then we really shouldn't use it. And let's be honest, damage shown on @gabez and @IvanP's planes are not typical 100LL stain. We all know that. Would you like to say, with a tiny leak, it is impossible for G100UL to cause that kind of damage? And insist G100UL is safe to use in our Mooneys?

So after all these back and forth, do you achknowledge G100UL, under certain condition, will damage aircraft paint? Or do you insist G100UL will not damage airplane paint whatsoever? Are you aware of this issue prior to @gabezmade this thread here?

I have a canopy cover but no wing cover. I find wing cover to be mostly useless because moisture will condense below it and freeze. I'm going to spray the plane with hot type 1 fluid and make sure it is properly clean before departure. My battery was just replaced this summer, and new muffler this spring too... I hope they will last me a long time.

That's a really good analysis of what I should expect for oil temeperature! Good to know. By any chance would you have any idea at what temperature should I expect the vernatherm to open up? 200? I do have a Reiff XP system which including a 200 watt oil pan heater, and four cylinder head heater at 100 watt each. That's the most powerful installed heater I can find. I do have a engine blanket as well. Beside all the, I have a 1500w car heater that can be tucked inside the cowl intake to provide more heat, or used to heat the cabin. I suppose there is really nothing I can do about those grease in the gear or other places, but if someone is flying in -30c, regardless if it previously parked inside a heated hangar or not, these unheated part will become freezing cold real quick.

To add, beside the reiff Xp system, i have another 1500w buddy heater which i stucked under the cowl open to provide additional heat. i do have a digital carbon monoxide detector from aircraft spruce in my plane too. It came factory calibrated and im pretty happy with how well it worked.

Thanks i will tape of half of my cooler and see how well does that work. I’ve mentioned it in previous thread but I’m going to type it again. There is no available GA hanager at my base, only a few airlines with their own big hangar. I’ve talked to all of and trying to see if I can rent a hangar space, and the answer was no. NWO is basically a void for general aviation. No repair faculty unless you’re a float plane, and no hangar space available, no flight club, not Even FBO at many airplane. My company have to park some of our plane outside, companies next door have planes parked all over the apron. Even for the airline here, they don’t have enough hangar space for their own plane.