rissacher

Looks like there were some service bulletins to add it to older Mooneys like this: http://www.mooney.com/en/sb/M20-33.pdf

Yeah, I was excited about that lead. The guy I got almost seemed angry I was asking... not sure if there's more to that story.

Nice

They are basically going to have to rebuild the whole thing from scratch. Even better, there's no guarantee that it will fit. I'm still searching for other options, but seem to be striking out. Thanks for the inputs.

So, Knisley is out. They say they didn't make the original exhaust, or "that was a previous company" whatever that means, but either way they don't have a complete system they can sell me. So on to "repair", I guess the A&P sent it to an aviation exhaust specialist due to a crack. The specialist determined the entire system needs to be replaced/rebuilt. Now my and the A&Ps hands are tied.

>$4k

I already have "repair" estimates and they are very high. I'm trying Knisley thanks.

M20E with an M-20 Turbos system installed. Likely needs the exhaust system replaced. I believe the STC holder is not longer in business, so I'm having difficulty find a system to buy. From my reading its different than the standard exhaust and the rayjay exhaust but potentially the same as the bullet exhaust. Regardless, I'm looking for any advice on options for replacing my exhaust system.

Good thought on the Jet A for flushing. The tanks have been a flushed a few times with the 100LL. Initially it was just a drain and clean, but we discovered it may take a few iterations. My A&P has a large fuel tank with a filter so we don't have to waste too much fuel. My thinking was that its probably best to completely fill the bladders to reach all the surfaces. This may do the trick, as long as something else isn't shedding metal. The fuel caps are a good thought that I haven't considered so I'm checking to see whether they are original equipment or have been replaced. The only surface in the bladder that I found that was attracted to a magnet was the fuel level sender float arm but I don't recall if I checked the cap with a magnet.

That's very interesting... I will have to check on that. The specs aren't "rusty" looking, but I'm up for replacing anything that shouldn't be there (and the gas caps are currently very difficult to open anyway). I don't believe the fuel lines have a sock on them. There's a metal screen, but what you describe sounds like some sort of fabric. Thanks for the advice.

I haven't been able to find any fuel lines that are made of a magnetically attracted substance minus some fittings, but thanks for the thought.

Found some caught in the gascolator screen, but not the servo screen. The debris is definitely bigger than the screens (found in injectors and in bladders). The only thing I could figure is that the debris is getting around the gascolator screen and maybe the servo screen is getting bypassed incorrectly. There may be additional screens that I'm not aware of as well.

So the question now is do we essentially replace the entire fuel system end-to-end (hoses, pumps, servo, spider, etc.) or can someone recommend some troubleshooting tips? On one hand I would say finding the same metal bits attracted to a magnet (i.e. not aluminum) in the injector that's in the bladders means that the source was in the bladders... but on the other, how could even one piece of debris possibly make it through 3 screens to the injector?

Yes, bladders have been opened, and scrubbed. Unfortunately, this got rid of 98% of the debris, but the remaining 2% is still noticeable. Still... Anyone have thoughts on how that crap is getting from bladder through multiple screens to the injectors?

Its not in the fuel we are fueling from. I can say this with confidence because other airplanes use the same fuel pump with no problems, and we have had the same problem fueling at other locations. It may be that at some point before we owned the airplane that someone contaminated the fuel. We have drained and cleaned the bladders, but there looks to be a little bit remaining. Maybe we need to do several iterations of draining, cleaning and refilling (which we can do through a storage tank that has a filter so we don't have to dump the fuel each time). Still, even if there was something in the tanks, how is it getting to the injectors? It has to get through at least 2 screens that I know of.