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Feb. 2012 edition of Aviation Consumer has an excellent article on fuel tank leaks and reseals I think Sabremech should read. It explains that Don Maxwell no longer does full tank reseals and then says, "Maxwell does a couple of tank repair a week, but sends reseal work to Paul Beck at Weep No More." So what does that tell you?

Clearly Mike didn't use Weep No More or he would have said so. Weep No More has sealed hundreds of airplanes. Three planes, including a newer Ovation, were in the pipeline being serviced at the same time when I was there. So with all those planes being serviced I'd like to know if anyone on Mooneyspace has used Weep No More in the past ten years and now has any new or unsolved leaks? - My bill at Weep No More came to $7,725. I wanted to do the job before I had the plane painted. - Sabretech wanted to know if the system Weep No More has is exclusive to them so that the same job can't be done in the field. To my knowledge, I've never seen the equipment that Weep No More utilizes being used by any A&P in the field,and it would take a long time for me to share second hand, some of the unusual leak problems I heard about speaking to Paul as well as speaking to two other guys (one in the hangar next to me)who had tried to fix their tanks elsewhere with no final success. I also believe the sealant is definitely an improvement over the original sealant used at the factory. -- So if anyone on this site has used Weep No More in the past ten years but isn't satisfied let's hear it!

If A&P's had no problem sealing fuel tanks on a stupid simple airplane like a Mooney, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Flyby is frustrated because he and his A&P have done everything to fix his tanks and now he's trying to fix the leak from the outside! Of course people use their mechanics and follow the manuals and do what they can to fix leaks, both old and new leaks, and clearly some efforts have success. But sometimes as Flyby has related, the A&P and his best efforts have failed to fix the problem. Others of us would like to rely on the more expensive expert fix. Some people may say "ignorance is bliss" but if I'm ignorant at least my Mooney doesn't leak.

I think Weep No More has equipment that the average A&P does not. I think Paul has more experience at this one task than any A&P I have ever met. Repairing leaks will work until there are more leaks and during the interim sealant deteriorates. Repairing leaks according to the manual works until it doesn't. Sometimes leaks are simple to find and repair, other times where the leak shows up has nothing to do where the leak originates. Like many others, I too had leaks fixed, got sealant crap in a wing drain that didn't clear well, had more leaks develop and got tired of chasing down the problem. I wish I spent the money in the first place at Weep No More. I met two guys at my airport who flew to MN from our airport in Massachusetts and both were glad they did. I say good luck to everyone dealing with this Mooney problem and I'm not trying to offend or insult anyone.

We have three sons in a row and then the princess. Started with a Tomahawk for $8,300. Bought an '83 Beech Sierra with six seat option that worked well for us for many years, then got the J. We live on the island of Martha's Vineyard so the shortest trip to our off-island car saved the boat ride and all kinds of time. Years ago I flew with my three sons from the Vineyard to San Diego and back and they still talk about it. College kids made it to the island in the airplane and two different girls flew here first to meet us and married our two oldest sons. We don't own any of the big boats in the harbor and I don't drive a Porsche, but life has been very good. Been married 35 years and I think if I wanted a different wife the plane would be the first thing to go!

Remember, if the sealant inside the tanks is deteriorating then you have tiny pieces of sealant floating around in your fuel. If you use Weep No More all the sealant that's falling apart will be removed and chemically improved sealant will be in its place. You really shouldn't have little pieces of failed sealant floating around with the fuel headed for your injectors. Also, when you previously tried to seal the tank, did you make sure that the holes for water transfer remained open so that any water will make it down to the sumps? If you didn't then any moisture that condenses in the tanks will add up right at the rib where your leak is showing and will be trapped under the fuel until in a banking turn, water makes it over the rib headed for to fuel pump. - Do you really think the tank sealing was done in the safest professional way? Fuel and spark run the engine. My advice is to see that both arrive clean.

I live on Martha's Vineyard, so you can't get more than 3 miles from the ocean. We have deep fog often in spring and summer. My hangar is less than a mile from the south shore. Everyone I know uses Corrosion X every other year and so far so good. Year 'rounders all have hangers. In summer there are often a hundred planes on the ramp and the grass, but in winter last year I only counted two.

Bodie, I have GAMIjectors on my J model and my GAMI spread is about .3 gallons and I have to say that I do almost exactly what you do, often flying at 8.2 gph and I experience the same temperature spread and higher EGT temps that you do. I've only been flying LOP with GAMI for the past six months or so and I've also been a little nervous since I started, but I'd watch the CHT drop slowly and the engine ran almost as smooth as when I ran it ROP, so I've begun to figure that everything's OK.

We are losing pilots for all GA. Used aircraft sell for less and less. The problem has much more to do with the price of gas than the price of Mooneys. Undoubtedly there are many other reasons we are losing pilots and I believe the reasons are beyond the control of the general aviation community. Even if Mooney never builds new airplanes I hope there are enough in the field to keep us flying and allow us to upgrade as the years go by. These planes could last a very long time.

Mark here, living on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Just passed 4,000 hours but over 10,000 landings as I commuted from the island to work 4 to 6 days a week since 1989. The last 800 hours have been in my '89 J model, an Advanced Trainer. Previously I suffered an engine fire in my '83 Beech Sierra in hard IMC and walked away from the crash on the Hyannisport Golf Course during a celebrity golf tournament. I didn't so much buy the Mooney because of its speed. I thought if I'm going to fly over water so often, but not have two engines, I should have a plane that would glide better than my Sierra. Some things were far better in my Beech, while other things are much better in the Mooney. I loved both planes and love this website.

I think Weep No More LLC in Willmar MN is the best. Unlike WetWingoligists, Paul doesn't scrape the inside walls of your tanks. Instead there's a chemical solvent that will dissolve the sealant without being caustic to the tanks. He uses a sprinkler inside your tanks and the the tanks are shiney and clean before he applies an improved sealant. Patches may seal certain leaks but then the rest of your old sealant deteriorates and tiny pieces float around inside your fuel headed for the injectors. Do you really want that? After all, Mooneys have a higher than average unexplained engine failure rate and we are plagued by leaking fuel tanks. I wouldn't take the chance. When your sealant starts to come apart it's time to do the job right.

On Oct. 15th 2004 I had a serious fire inside my engine compartment in my '83 Beech Sierra. I was in hard IMC and the fire burned the leads to the spark plugs and killed the engine. I also lost both vacuum and back-up vacuum. I had left Cape Cod (Hyannis) and was headed back to Martha's Vineyard my home field. I was over the water and had to make a U-turn to get back to land. I managed to crash on the 6th fairway of the Hyannisport Golf Course during the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Gold Tournament. Live TV from WBZ Boston was there as well as many sports heros and other celebrities. A mechanic who wasn't my regular, fixed a hot mag but failed to reconnect the fuel pressure guage resulting in fuel thinly spraying into the engine bay and when the exhaust manifold was hot enough I felt the flare up in my ears and fire took over with smoke coming up through the defrosters. - - I tell this story because when fire is in the engine you need to focus on flying and landing the aircraft. Know the maximum glide airspeeds for your bird based on weight and determine where you're going to go. If it works out that you have some extra free time and have good control, then maybe spraying stuff in the cockpit will have minimal effect on the other side of the firewall, but I doubt the use of a fire extinguisher in the cabin.

I use Ed Novak at Shoreline Aviation in Marshfield and he's great. I think there's one important distinction you need to understand, no matter who you use. You can maintain your plane according to the FAA requirements for annuals etc. - This standard requires that everything work as intended. The other standard is to maintain the airplane according to the recommendations of the manufacturer and carry out the annual maintenance acoording to Mooney. The former always costs less than the latter. If you have your airplane serviced at a Mooney Service Center that place will follow the recommendations of Mooney and you will have a well maintained bird. Shoreline Aviation will show you everything they check and take apart for maintenance as recommended by Mooney, but many mechanics will charge less and skip a number of small steps and do them only every few years. Some guys find an inexpensive mechanic and bring the plane to a MSC only every few years in order to save money. Talk to your prospective mechanic and when you ask about annual inspections, ask if he follows every recommendation of the manufacturer. It helps to have the entire list of everything that Mooney recommends for your model. If you want to just check that the gear goes up and down, instead of looking to see how worn the jack screw is, you might one day get the gear stuck up, and all the pulling on the emergency cable won't help if there's a burr on the big screw that stops you. Good, honest and reasonably priced maintenance could still cost big money if the recommendations of Mooney are skipped over. Determine the mindset of whomever you pick. (If you want to skip some of Mooney's maintenance recommendations, Ed Novak will have you sign a waiver.) Good luck!

Well N900AT now flies straight!! We checked dangling gear and the right flap and the ailerons and everything seemed to check out. So we put her up on jacks and checked the rudder again. We locked the pedals in neutral and found that the rudder was one degree left, but the book says it should show one degree right. So we made that adjustment and things improved but were not perfect. So I landed and mentioned that someone on Mooneyspace (Dan) had mentioned that we should check to see that the ball is centered when the plane is level, and with no prompting my mechanic got out his level and put it across the seat tracks and once level we could see that the ball was eclipsed by the left line while there was a gap to the right. So after adjusting the instrument the plane flew straight! - Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I thought because right rudder seemed needed in climb but that a little left seemed to be needed in cruise that all was well, but left rudder just made the plane left wing heavy. Also compared to my old Beech Sierra the Mooney doesn't seem "seek" straight flight. I think there's less dihedral in the Mooney wings and the longer body and shorter wings of the Beech contribute to a noticed go-straight quality that has always seemed more vague in the Mooney. Once we removed the ADF antenna and the larger rotating beacon from near the back of the Mooney, the left-wing heavy sensation just got out of hand. Now I can fly at altitude and once things settle down I can put on the autopilot and the plane flies straight with my feet flat on the floor and the ball is centered. Next, I'm going to look into new panel mounts.

I removed the ADF and DME as well as the antennas on my J. The ADF antenna lies under the plane like half a loaf of bread. Maybe I picked up half a knot or so, but I certainly gained 9.5 lbs. of useful load (I also removed the big rotating beacon and had the Mini Red Baron LED light installed). I also had installed an XM satalite radio on the panel with all the wires hidden. The antenna for the XM is about as big as a postage stamp and it is hidden at the bottom center of the windshield. On long trips I listen to comedy radio. GPS does everything. I can hardy imagine that the ADF would be the thing to save me. I have both back up power and a handheld as well.

I called Trey at MAPA and he answered first ring. Sadly, he said he doesn't remember the article at all and is fairly sure that the article has not been published for at least the last ten years. He said if anyone could tell him the month and year - or even just the year, he will track it down and get it to me. So, does anyone have this article or know the date?

The plane was repainted once almost exactly as it came from the factory. (Red & White) I have an appointment to repaint it starting in October. I intend to make some changes and add stripes to cover the cabin, with every other strip painted white as before. But I am going to start with sunset colors on the tail and slowly change from yellow, to orange, the orange-red and finally solid red on the cowling. The colors have already been selected. I also have been struggling with the idea of changing the numbers. I have reserved two different N numbers because 900AT is a mouthful, but I don't know if I have the guts to do it.

I checked the plane since last posting and the ailerons look like they came out of the factory.. no funny rivet patterns or bowing. All of your suggestions are great and I really appreciate them. I will get the article from Trey, will check the gear and the turn coordinator and we will get to the bottom of things. I'll let everyone know the results. If there are any other ideas please post them. - Incidentally, my plane was the cover girl on Jan. 1990 AOPA Magazine. She's the first Advanced Trainer model N900AT. I purchased the plane to upgrade its systems with new autopilot etc. It was a very strange plane with a push to talk switch in the back seat for the CFI and many other unusual features.

KS, I have to say that my mechanic agrees with you that there are a number of other intermediate steps to take. We did not clamp the rudder pedals or the yokes but took a quick look while two mechanics checked to see the yokes were level. We did remove the transponder antenna and moved it well back of the wings and that seemed to help a bit. We will do everything, a tiny bit at a time until the problem has been corrected.

I live on Martha's Vineyard and use Shoreline Aviation in Marshfield MA. Shoreline is qualified to install TKS de-ice equipment on Mooneys and my mechanic-owner has dealt with Mooney many times and nearly became an official Mooney Service Center but had differences with the arrangement with Mooney. My relationship with my mechanic means that we do every recommended service procedure each and every year and I normally spend several times more than others, but I've been there and all the hours and service I believe are worth it. I have over 800 hours of my own time on the plane but it has always been left-wing heavy. Recently we removed the ADF antenna and replaced the original rotating beacon with the Mini Red Baron LED anti-collision light, so I think with a little less drag at the tail, the left-wing heavy situation has gotten worse.

Good suggestion on the gear doors. I'll have that checked.

I don't have any tabs of any kind on any trailing edges. You say "excessive tabbing", does this mean that some tabs on a Mooney's control surfaces are normal? There doesn't appear to be any unusual rivet patterns or bowing, but I will take a trip out to the airport today and take a much closer look.

I have an '89 J model that doesn't fly straight. If I center the ball and put in the required aileron in order to fly straight ahead I will be slightly to the right with the yoke. Then if I let go, the plane will begin banking to the left and would go right over if I let it. My mechanic pulled out the five-foot-long Mooney rigging tools (they look like giant lobster shell crackers) and according to him the rigging is neutral and the only solution is to follow a "bending procedure" with the control surfaces according to the book. - I can make the plane fly with no-hands only if I give enough right rudder to push the ball out of the center. Does anyone else have this problem? The plane has no damage history and everything looks like it should.