M016576 Posted January 4, 2014 Report Posted January 4, 2014 I had a "new one" happen to me today. I was flying from KSUN back to KLMT. 35 kts of headwind at 8500 feet were making for some slow going. Higher, the headwinds were only worse, so I opted for the low route. I had been running LOP, as usual, and noticed that my fuel flow kept creeping back on me, and the motor would stumble, so I'd richen back up to 13 or so GPH. About half way between The Rome VOR and Lakeview, i knew something was amiss, so I run the mixture knob full rich, and I was only showing 14.5 gph. Oh no. I looked at my fuel pressure: wagging between 6-10 psi. Allow me to interject here: this is a new plane to me, so I haven't established what it's "norms" are... But I do know that 8 psi is the minimum, and I'm running at 6 psi, only making 14.5GPH AT FULL RICH (should be seeing well over 20). Over some very desolate terrain. I turned on the boost pump. That netted me 1-2 psi more and approx 1GPH more. I turned off the boost pump and the motor near quite as the fuel psi dropped to 3psi and stabilized back up at 6psi. 20 minutes and 50nm to lakeview, about the same back to Rome. And the fuel flow was dropping off .1GPH at a time. I tried switching tanks, no joy. What to do..,, What to do... In a last ditch effort, I thought to myself, perhaps I've got a fuel blockage in the gascolator... I pulled the ring for a second and reset it. Bingo! The fuel flow / fuel pressure dropped way off as the fuel (and obstruction) was vented overboard, then stabilized back up at 20+gph and 28PSI (normal readings for the missile). Solid as a rock for the rest of the uneventful flight. Went from thinking I would be surviving out in eastern Oregon with my 1 year old, 3 year old and very scared wife, to an uneventful last 30 minutes. Don't forget to strain those gascolators, folks.... 1
carqwik Posted January 4, 2014 Report Posted January 4, 2014 Did you drain the gascolater before the flight? Perhaps a chunk of ice? I am assuming the OATs were below freezing in those latitudes...
N601RX Posted January 4, 2014 Report Posted January 4, 2014 I don't think it would dump fuel out with the engine running at a higher power. It would probably be sucking air in.
aaronk25 Posted January 4, 2014 Report Posted January 4, 2014 Some water in the fuel? Maybe you dumped it out when you pulled the pin?
N201MKTurbo Posted January 4, 2014 Report Posted January 4, 2014 It is possible that there were ice crystals in the fuel that had collected in the gascolator and were blocking the fuel flow. When you drained the gascolator you flushed the ice out.
M016576 Posted January 4, 2014 Author Report Posted January 4, 2014 It is possible that there were ice crystals in the fuel that had collected in the gascolator and were blocking the fuel flow. When you drained the gascolator you flushed the ice out. Based on the rain / snow storms and then subsequent cold weather, I'm thinking the same thing. The plane had been out on the ramp for a couple weeks with only a short ferry flight in between: nothing unusual in the sumped fuel prior to takeoff, but I just might not have been seeing it.
Seth Posted January 4, 2014 Report Posted January 4, 2014 Glad you stayed calm and worked your way out of the situation. Also, glad the Missile is runnign well I had an issue with debris in the fuel injectors twice in my former 1967 F model and the MSC I go to could not stress how important it was to give a good five second pull for each side on the gascolator (what I call the gasocolector for some reason) during the preflight - evidently a lot of gunk really does work it's way down there over time through the fuel system. I'm curious if it was debris or ice crstals, but I'm glad you troubleshot the issue and that you and your family arrvied at your destinations safely. -Seth 1
Bob_Belville Posted January 4, 2014 Report Posted January 4, 2014 Thanks for sharing this. You just might save someone else's neck. you never know.
M016576 Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Posted January 5, 2014 Thanks for sharing this. You just might save someone else's neck. you never know. I thought about just "keeping this one for myself", but figured if anyone else ever finds themselves where I was, they'd want to know a way out that didn't involve a forced landing....
Marauder Posted January 5, 2014 Report Posted January 5, 2014 I thought about just "keeping this one for myself", but figured if anyone else ever finds themselves where I was, they'd want to know a way out that didn't involve a forced landing.... It's good that you shared it. I pull the drain before every flight and catch the findings. I have seen stuff in it over the years.
Bob_Belville Posted January 5, 2014 Report Posted January 5, 2014 It's good that you shared it. I pull the drain before every flight and catch the findings. I have seen stuff in it over the years. You have a technique to do that w/o an assistant? Sounds like a good idea. Living in a dry hanger with full tanks I never see anything in the tank drains and get cavalier about checking the floor ring drains every flight.
Marauder Posted January 5, 2014 Report Posted January 5, 2014 You have a technique to do that w/o an assistant? Sounds like a good idea. Living in a dry hanger with full tanks I never see anything in the tank drains and get cavalier about checking the floor ring drains every flight. I use a clear bucket to catch the "droppings". It took me a little bit of practice to master the alignment. Here is another little tidbit that I found out last year from another Mooney owner. The gascolator drain (I think that is the official name for it, right?) on our Mooneys (at least on my vintage) is actually a sump drain! I owned her for 22 years at that point and never knew this. I tried using that for a bit and catching it in a Gatts Jar, but they kept breaking because it was stiffer than the wing sump drains. So, I reverted back to the bucket for the first flight of the day. 3
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