Mooney13

So.....It turned out to be a wire from the back of the alternator...I am not sure which one, but it had broke loose from the connector. So they cut it and added a new connector and I'm back in business.... For once it was good news (kind of) ... I guess that makes the winner of the dilemma the ALTERNATOR! Thanks as always for the advice from all!

I was flying today and noticed my JPI flashing a warning "Battery 11.7".......then looked at my Ammeter reading "- 30"....and eventually the stock low/high volts in the panel flashed.. I flew for about 25 more minutes back to my home airport. My gear did seem a little sluggish coming down, but did come down. I am wondering if this might be likely the battery or alternator or both.......or if there is something I can to to eliminate one or the other? Thank you in advance for any advice!

Did the same thing last December. If I rememeber right, I ran mineral for for around 15 hours or so, then went to 100. My oil consumption was still a bit higher than I was expecting for another 30+ hours, then it started stabilizing. When it started stabilizing, the improvement was very rapid... Now it burns very little oil and compression is great on last annual (2 months ago)... Good Luck!

Looks great!! Can't wait to see her in person...might fly over there today if I can get away for a bit.. Either way, I look forward to seeing her soon!

Thanks for the info. I am going to try to change the bulb, then go from there.. My annual was just 3 weeks ago and gear was working good and seems to be now. Sure wish that bulb was a little easier to get to and it would have happened when we had the skins off... thanks again!

My indicator light on the floor betwen the front seats is no longer lighting up. However the gear light on the annunciator panel is working fine. I am wondering if it is legal to fly with just one indicator light (obviously until i get it fixed) and my second question is if I have to take a belly skin off to get to the light and change it. I took the plastic off inside and see nowhere to change a bulb...I am assuming it is the light as the other one works, but I could be wrong. Thanks for any advice!

Good Idea Jeff... I ended up in a "pinch" yesturday. I had to get my plane to the avionics shop...it has been cold as ^$&# here the last couple of days and ice was everywhere. So I bought a weed sprayer...filled it with winsheild defroster...purple... Bryan And it actually worked pretty good. I did check the ingredients to make sure there was no salt in this mix......worked out well..Probably not as ideal as TKS or other options, but 2 bucks a bottle .... thanks for all the ideas ! I will probably try TKS and that RV stuff too (once I check what's in them) ...Happy Holidays..

Play a game of chicken with them... kidding... I would talk to them and see if they mind working with you to allow you to land the way you are comfortable. Maybe the guy doing touch and go's can do a 360 orbit for spacing and let you come in on 36, and the guy on the ground could certainly holding short while you land...

I was thinking a gallon of the tks fluid might also work well with a spray bottle......just a thought...

Good Idea...didn't think about that. I had to just move it around to get some sun on all areas and wait. Then wipe all the water/ice off as I could with a towel (last Saturday morning, Bryan).....works ok, just took forever....thanks for the responses guys

Does anyone have any recommendations on general aircraft de-icing (on the ground) prior to flying on those "frosty" days? For guys like me, not blessed with a hangar I am just curious if there is anything out there safe to use on the Mooney that is not too expensive... Thanks!

Hello, I went from a Cherokee 140 (great planes) to a 1978 M20J (the best plane! ....heater is great...mine will roast you right out if you let it. I flew the it from IL through NE, WY, CO and on up to Seattle in the dead of winter and was plenty warm the entire time...too warm sometimes... Good luck, you will not look back...!

I can only speak for myself, but I understand and no worries here. I hope that things pick up for you soon. As a fellow businees owner I understand and while I am blessed with not being hit too hard with these slow economic times (so far)....I know it could all change real quick and I have been there before. I hope there are some matches and someone can get a great deal and you can keep paying those bills... Good Luck!

I agree with the special "Vendor" area for advertising. I personally am not bothered by a guy offering a very good deal on a paint job. Obviously business is slow at that price and I hate to see quality general aviation sources disapear...but I do understand that spam could get out of control. How about that "Vendor" section. Sounds like a great idea.

I bought my plane last year and the oild turned black (like coffee) within an hour or two of being changed.. then after a flight of about 6 hours with the previous owner to bring it home, we stopped for the night, next day on pre-flight we were missing 3.5 + qts...he said that the oil had been turning black soon after changing for quite some time, but the consumption was not so normal... We decided to take it to a lycoming engine shop in the area and they determined that the rings were shot (or at least one or more was). They did them all and now the oil never gets as black like it did before (even at oil change time) and the consumption is way down...Right after the top end consumption was a bit high while the rings broke in, but now (120 hours later) I would guess it to be around 1qt every 5-6 hours dependig on the type of flying I am doing... I/he paid about 4.5K ish for the ring and honing of all 4 and a few other things we did while everyhing was off....so maybe 2-3K would be more realistic..? Also, like yours there were no real "signs" engine seemed to be running fine and no temp issues... Good Luck!

I have flown many warriors and they are great stable airplanes....BUT..you will not regret your switch to a Mooney! 150-155kts @ 10GPH.....How's that for a cross country plane I am still amazed a year later everytime I go on a 200KM or longer trip...I went from a Cherokee 140 to the M20J and there is not a single regret to speak of, nothing at all against the Cherokee (great planes).... I am just sold on the Mooney Good luck!

Yes, with my tank directly below the filler cap empty, as I look inward there is at least 5 gallons,looks more like 10+. I was told there is approximetely 1/3 tank (12 gallons). However, I will still need to empty them and start from zero at the pumps to feel comfortable moving forward.. thanks

Thanks for all the advice / opinions. I am certainly going to work on my own fuel dipstick for the future. It's tough to start off because I see the fuel in the inner part of the tank, yet my dipstick would read "no gas" if I put it in the filler hole. I guess I will need to empty my tanks completely to have a base to start with...That way i will know how much is in the inner part of the tanks...Doing that in flight does not sound like a good time I hear of people running a tank dry, but have no experience doing it and would hope that it would strt right up again..something I would rather do alone in the plane.... Thanks again!

Second try at posting this I'll shorten it in case the original appears... I have a flight coming up that will be close to gross weight.. So I want to be sure I am calculating weight corretly. Has anyone created a fuel dipstick to fugure levels on an M20J (mine is '78, but maybe they are all the same) Also, as soon as the outer portion of my tanks are empty, my gauge reads "1/2"...I thought this was an error, but looking in the filler hole towards the inner portion of the tanks, there is certainly a good amount of fuel in there. I am just not certain if it "half of the tank" or not ??........Does anyone know if this is correct? (I guess that dipstick would not do me any good if this is the case once my tank was below 1/2 ) This would mean that right at the point the outer portion is empty, you have 1/2 a tank...and my gauge would be correct.. I just have a hard time trusting an airplane gauge from 1978 Thanks for any advice / help as always

I second the suggestion of Jim Bergman. I just met him yesterday and spent a couple hours talkaing with him about Mooneys. All I have ever heard around there is good things about him and that he is the guy you want to bring your Mooney (or any other airplane) to. I am bringing mine to him moving forward. He is also a very nice guy. In fact I just talked to him about the one you are looking at yesterday. I looked a that plane last week when I was down at KPLU and it seems to be pretty nice on the exterior...the interior is going to need some panels (interier), but that should not take much. I would ask them to show you some additional pictures of the interiorso you can decide for yourself on the panels...I remember the left front side interior panel being pretty beat up. It would not stop me from buying it if that was all, but I have flown a long way (twice) to look at Mooneys only to end up going home mad that I wasted time and money because they were not honest about something. Good Luck! Overall it sure seems like a good deal

I found the information on the airspeed safety switch so I wanted to follow up. It is mounted behind the airspeed indicator. according to my manual it seems as though an A/P mechanic will have to adjust this..

Any idea where this switch is located? Is this an outside landing gear area location or behind the panel?Is there a way to test it or check the setting or do Ineed an A/P for that? I have the Mooney service manual and looking through the Cd for it, but have not found it yet Thanks as always for all the info.

I started out looking for a good F model, I figured they basically looked like the J if you just added a few mods....then I started pricing mods and realized I was creeping into J price ranges. So I did the math and factored in a few other things like instrumnet panel being a little nicer on the J (at least ones I looked at), landing gear speed a little faster and oil cooler location, etc. I found a good deal on a J and decided I would pay just a little more and not have to deal with any down time on the mods, etc. My useful is 985lbs, which works fine for me and I cruise around 150-155@ 9.5-10.5 GPH I also looked at a couple K's but the couple I looked at had too low of useful for me 750ish..if I remember right..Sure would love that turbo though! Bottom line....if it's any Mooney, no matter which one it is ..it's COOL!

I just installed an (NL) I beklieve the model is. Was having issues with it and had to send it back after a week, but I am not convinced it was the starter. They said they found nothing wrong at Skytec, but the shop said it had to be the starter...so who knows, but over all they do crank much harder relative to the stock starters and are certainly light... Everyone told me to go that route..

My gear unsafe horn is going off durring takeoffs on a regular basis all the sudden. And will not stop and the gear is not coming up until I hit the bypass button...I am not too familiar with this, but get the feelign I better become familiar. I have had the beep and light happen on a rare occasion, but it is now doing it on a regular basis. Does anyone know where I nee to start first? thank you in advance