TWinter

Technique for years..or what works for me since we all have a little variation. Cold start: Everything forward, BP on for 3-5 sec then off, throttle back to about 1/4" +/-, Mixture full aft, crank and slowly move mixture forward after it catches. Six years and counting, so far, so good. Flooded..Throttle full forward, no BP, Mixture full aft, slowly work mixture forward until fires. Usually catches about an inch to inch half forward, as mixture clears pull throttle back from full forward. Again, that's what works for me. Hot start.. Do not touch throttle since after shutdown, usually leaving at 1200 RPM or so, and slowly advance mixture. No BP. -Tom

Fuel dripping steady from the lower cowl immediately after failed start.

Thanks all. We've looked at it. Everything from ignition to vibrator etc appears working correctly. Final diagnosis appears to be Slick Mag 4347. Took a page from D Maxwell's book on the trouble shooting tips. Great info. Going with new and core exchange. Overhauled were back ordered and I feel more confident with the new vs. overhauled. Will post update after the install on Friday. Thanks for all the input. As always, appreciate MS. -Tom

Thanks guys..I embarrassed to say I'm not sure if it has a SOS or Impulse Coupler. I know just enough to be dangerous, but read all about the differences last night before posting this to the forum, so now I know what to look for (or listen for). Even read the Don Maxell article that was posted online a while back. I'm going to the hanger (as well as my MX) to check this morning. I'm thinking it's ICoupler. The cowl is off and I plane to stop by on my way to work. This kind of stuff drives me nuts, I'm a OCD thinker guy and unfortunately let stuff like this bother me until I figure what the problem is. My explanation of events was kind of confusing. I typically use our standard regular start procedure that most of us post and have never had an issue over the last 6 yrs with an occasional hot start flood, but usually can clear it right away, but something is different now. Now when it does not catch and keeps swinging it eventually floods out, then I go full firewall with throttle and slowly move the mixture up hoping to find the sweet spot for them to catch, first few times over the last few weeks it would catch after longer than usual swings or more repeated tries, now I'm finally to the point after repeated tries of any different technique it just cranks showing no life, not even a tease of spit or puff of life and floods to a puddle. -Tom

After having 7741M for 6 yrs now I thought I had a good handle on hot start, cold start or intermediate starts. She finally has shamed me at the pumps the other day and made me look like a first time owner. Flooded out after a few cranks. I had to make the walk of shame to the FBO after it would not start and let it rest for a while. Finally started after about 30 minutes. Cranked up easy last week and taxied to the pumps. Went to start and no, no then flooded badly and finally caught after about 30 minutes break, Had to use the flood start technique. Coughed and spit, but did clear up. Went out the next day for afternoon flight and no go. Crank, Crank, Flood.. went home had dinner and came back about an hour later after dinner and leaving a battery charge on it. Yes. it pulled the year old battery down slightly. I tried several times with no luck and one more time just as I was ready to throw in the towel it gave me a tease and huffed and puffed and then failed. One more flooded try and it finally started using flood technique. Each time after it did finally start the Mag Check and the drops were spot on with no abnormal deviation. The engine ran perfectly during taxi and flight. Got up the third day for out of the town trip and no dice at all. Flood within the first few minutes of cranks and no indication of fire. Same today after a full battery charge. Now getting nothing, not even comes close to catching, just cranks. Started with the logical stuff after talking with my MX. New plugs, still no dice. He suspects the Mag just from phone diagnostics. Only thing that throws me is the few times it did catch after the flooded. Now it gives me nothing, but floods right after the few failed cranks..and by flooded I mean dripping. So yes very flooded. Logs show Mag was overhauled in 2010 about 400 hrs ago. Any thoughts? Mag? We are getting fuel obviously, new plugs. 73 M20E. I know we have a search feature and I have spent some time poking around, but sometimes it's easier to ask. If a mag, go OH or new? Right now it's dead in the hanger. My mechanic will be checking it tomorrow, just tossing this out there to see what the Mooney experts think. Thanks in advance, -Tom

The Good, Bad and the Ugly..

I think model and years seem to depend on Mooney's economic state and ownership.. Mine is a 73, but sat on the line until 74. Delivered as a 74 during the Republic Steel era. Had some new features and some older features. I think the 73-74s were kind of orphans. -Tom

Does it have the XM antenna with it? If so I'll PM an offer if interested. -Tom

Glad all ended well. It's ironic I'm reading this post as I'm watching the news and weather while drinking morning coffee. The weather channel just did a quick news report on a possible upgrade for major airports and their runways. I've never seen this before or thought of it, but they either have been or thinking about putting heating grids under the runways (much like a heated floor in a home). They did a on location report at some airport and took a temp reading on a non grid section of a runway and temp was 27f. They did a temp reading on a runway w/ this heat grid system and the temp was 67f. Interesting concept for the future.. of course it will only be at major airports, but very neat concept. -Tom

I'd be tight for time to get you a ride to Memphis, but could pick you by air or car and bring you to Dyersburg (about 20 miles) from Kennett. We have several car rental places here and they can probably get you fixed up on a rental to Memphis. Just let me know ASAP so I can plan my work week. I planned on going over there one day next week anyway. Just had not picked a day. Tom PM me if you need my help and I'll give you my contact info.

Just a follow-up since I originally posted and had the loss of power event. I received the order from Amazon and even ordered some Prist from Spruce. After a sudden power loss and you have had time to reflect you are willing to try any and ALL suggestions. To say I over ordered and took everyone's advice is a understatement. Neil is fairly local and gave me a call the day I posted this and gave me his reasoning and background about the water in the fuel theory. I bought some of the ISO-HEET the next day and put a bottle in each tank. I also did a very thorough pre-flight fuel test and drain..much more than I normally do. Everything appeared good. I'm happy to report I've had about five separate 1/2 hour to a full hour of flights with no engine issues and all gauges are reading correct. Hopefully that was a once a lifetime event, but at least I now know what that type of situation feels like and I feel slightly more confident knowing under a minor emergency I remembered procedure...for the most part anyway. The landing leaved a lot to be desired. I was just glad to be on the ground. Thanks for all the info and input. -Tom

SOLD----------Finally got the Rosen's installed and removed my others this weekend. Came out of my E model. Left them at the hanger, but will put better pics out. Just wanted to put these out there. Looking for $200 shipped. Includes all hardware. Here is a pic installed in my plane just to give an idea of the mount points. Not sure if all older Mooney are same or not? Second pic was after the panel update. -Tom

I do it once in a while for various reasons. Sometimes just to post to social media, you would be surprised how much it sparks an interest in my flying when someone sees a flight I might share on social media. Encourages people to support your local GA (including your local airport). I also video once in awhile just to evaluate my own performance..How's my landings looking, high, low or am I dialed in are all over the place. Lots of reasons. The checklist you mention is probably someone's personal list and they are avid about the video of their flights.. I appreciate people that video. I even watched some as part of my "pre-flight" to upcoming airport I might be scheduled to fly to. Gets me a great idea of what to expect..for that I thank the video flyers. I think it's a great learning tool. -Tom

This is interesting. When I went to top off at the FBO the supply tanks had a malfunctioning pump so they had to fuel me from the fuel truck. The had fueled the truck early this morning from the big tanks before the pump broke..Could have been many variables since the truck is parked inside sometimes and outside. Maybe water in the fuel truck tank, maybe the fuel in the truck was affected by the cold temps..idk. I do know it made for a interesting couple of minutes. -Tom

Ordered some this morning off of Amazon after reading over this thread. I actually did a search on MS last night looking for anything related and came across this thread. -Tom

First flight of 2018..It has been cold here in TN. I wanted to do my traditional New Year's Day flight. Pulled the plane out and it was 12F outside. Taxi to the FBO tanks and topped off, took 29 gal. My last flight was about two weeks ago to and from Jack Edwards. Here is the kicker..Not a great way to start the New Year. Did my usual pre-flight etc..Took off and flew about an hour staying below 3000' along the Mississippi River. Thought I'd do a few practice GPS approaches at Blytheville, AR (about 20 miles from my base). Did the approaches from 2500' down to approaches and flew the missed. Did this about three times and decided to head home. Now is when it gets interesting... I'm headed home and decide to do one more practice GPS approach at my home field. Did the approach and just over the flew the runway. Start to climb out and turn crosswind for downwind. My final pattern before I call it a night. As I start to set up the engine loses all power and goes to idle. I do a quick scan and gauges look okay other than everything was where it would be as if I was sitting idle on the ramp. I push everything to the firewall, check the fuel gauges, turn mag left to right (no change). Scoping my landing position for a glide-in and starting to set up for no power landing. Gear down, another scan across the gauges and flip the boost pump on. All of a sudden the engine comes to life. I get reconfigured for a landing and all ends well. After I land and am taxing I switch Boost pump back off and everything is fine, engine stays alive and is running perfect. Taxi back to the ramp, shut down and get my thoughts together. Decide to fire it back up and do some high speed passes on the taxi-way. They all check-out fine. All pressures are good. Fuel pressure is stable. Boost pump increases FP as it should. Since everything looked good I decide to make another loop in the pattern staying tight and see what happens (staying in the pattern and within glide). I take off and level out and shut boost pump off. Everything is perfect and reading correctly. I'm wondering if there might have been some frozen water in the fuel and since all my maneuvers were low altitude at 12F temp and less as it was late in the day and getting colder..Maybe some frozen debris or water blocking the fuel flow? and when I bumped the BPump it cleared. The last test flight was 15-30 minutes around the pattern after it cleared and all were normal. No visible water in the sumps, but still think it was related to low altitude maneuvers and extreme temps. Thoughts? I have a JPI and plan to have my guy pull the data and see what was going on in that what seemed like forever, but in reality was couple of minutes. Interesting start to 2018. -Tom

Pull ring is the tab for the fuel sump drain. Set left and pull and set right and pull. Some people just pull it once. "Pulling once is necessary, pulling twice is for pleasure"..opps, that what the military says. My bad. -Tom

Not for the plane itself, but my personal is to get the IFR ticket, I've been working on the home study part off and on for a while. Ready for CFI time. Would also like to start working toward Commercial..IFR is a must. A good start or possibly finish the Commercial by the very end of the year would be great!!

So in simple terms. We will fly the approach and procedure turns with the Aspen in GPSS. At the IAP since we don't have a "approach mode" on the Stec30 we go to Track Hi or Track Low. I would also think you could leave it set on heading and use the heading bug on the inbound course and adjust if necessary? The Hi mode is supposed to be the preferred setting for ILS and Track Low preferred for VOR. Keep us "me' posted on the results. -Tom

Wow..Can't believe this question has come up..and so timely. I too have been trying to figure out the same scenario. I've looked at every Youtube video, re-watched my Aspen training CD, re-read the STec 30 manual several times and even went back through the GTN 750 videos and guides. Finally after exhausting all those resources I asked my avionics shop last week what was I was doing wrong. When I was trying to set up for the approaches I was leaving it set on GPSS mode. Problem was over flying the fixes and usually ended up parallel to where I expected the pick up the GS. Long story short.. My shop explained it as Chris and others have. I continue with GPSS until getting close to fix points or the GS. Then we go from GPSS mode on the STec 30 to heading bug mode, or Hi/Lo track and make adjustment from there to intercept. I've spent gallons upon gallons of Avgas trying to figure out why we kept missing the fixes. I have not tried it yet since the weather had been poor, but at least we have the answers or at least steered in the right direction. Great question.. Glad I was not the only trying to understand the proper sequence. -Tom

Santa delivered good this year... Finally got the Rosen Sunvisors I've been eyeballing the last few years.. Even if I did have to help her order them. Can't wait to get them installed. Obviously not these, but too early to take a picture of actual etc..you get the idea. Can't wait to fly with them.

Just had a tire replaced and had my GTN750 updated. My 750 was two updates behind. It took all of about 15 minutes to update. No charge (but they had done all my avionics prior so I'm sure they've made it back over the years). -Tom

This past week our FBO Manager sent a morning email notifying all of the local pilots that our local CFI was involved in a fatal single car accident. He was the CFI that got me back in the saddle 8 years ago after a long 20+ year layoff from flying. Duane Patterson was 78 years old and kept most everyone in the local area up to speed and current. He was going to be my "go to" CFI to start my IFR right after the upcoming holidays. His health had been going down hill over the past few years and was limited to flight review currency check rides or working with guys that already had PPL. It appears he had a heart-attack or seizure of some sort while driving and veered off the road resulting in a severe head injury ending in a fatality. While it saddens our local pilot community, we can only look at the other side and be thankful that it did not occur while he was in the air and the end result being much more tragic. I have really been working on my IFR ground prep and ready to start air work after the first of the year..He would have been my CFI for my next venture in flying. Duane had been a CFI in west Tn for a long time. I think there may have been a few guys on MS that knew him.. Just thought I pass on the information. He was a character...One of those old crusty, grouchy CFIs that you learned to like only after you got to know him.. I remember just shortly after I met him and while getting my Mooney dual with him we were landing one time. I was in transition and still learning the feel for the landings. I landed pretty hard and for some reason I let the pressure off the nose early and we kind of "plopped" down hard on the runway. After I got stopped he tipped his head down and looked at me eye to eye over his old man glasses and in a grouchy old tone with a seriously agitated voice said, "What hell did you do that for?" , I thought who is this guy yelling at me. I wanted to say...get the heck out my airplane..lol As time moved on he became a good friend and my CFI. Some people you just need time to get to know..He was one of those folks. RIP Duane. -Tom

I have the Fly Q app. I had to call about some billing the other day and they gave me a new heads-up about new stuff coming out in Jan/Feb and it will be included in the Fly Q subscription. Not sure if this is more useful or novelty, but looks pretty cool. FlyQ Insight. Fire-up FlyQ InSight on your iPhone or iPad and point it outside the window. Turn left, turn right. No matter where you aim, InSight shows the airports in that area. Blue airports have towers, magenta airports don't. The distance to each airport is shown below the ident. If the the airport is fairly close, a 'stick' extends from the marker showing to more clearly show where it is. If further away, InSight shows just the ident. Airports even further away, begin to fade out. Tap the shutter button (circle in the middle of the screen), to take a quick picture. Use the Photos tab to browse your photos and, with a click, post to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Tap an airport marker and see the details including runways, diagrams, weather, and fuel prices.

Bought one last year.. Still have not used it, but nice knowing it's there and ready.