252 performance not up to spec.

[agpilot]

Goodday gentlemen (and ladies)

This is my first post on this forum. I live in South Africa and I think if I am not the only one, then I am one of few in this country who are fortunate to own a 252.

I have however had more than my share of bad experience with bad maintenance- I wonder if one can use these two words together in one sentence. 

Recently I discovered that the mags that was inspected a year and a half ago, was not. That lead to all sorts of problems and extra costs as you can imagine. The oil temp went past its normal indication and I suspected that the engine had a degree of detonation.

I had the magneto repaired and it runs now but still shows a drop of 150 rpm at run-up test whilst the other drops only 50 prm.

 

The aircraft does not perform the same anymore, I use to see an indicated airspeed of 140-143 kts between level 75 and 95. Now it struggles to do 135. Powersettings and indications did not change. Is this possible ?

I plan to have the cylinders pressure tested as soon as I can.

Any advice would be welcome.

 

I enjoy the forum and find it extremely informative.

Regards,

Danie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pieterdev]

Hi Danie. We have a M20j and have been having problems with mags recently. Turns out the problem was with one of the condensers. A couple of years ago the one failed, and now more recently the other one. If it is a condenser problem, it is better to replace them both at the same time.

I would advise you to have your 252 checked out by Stewart King at Parys airfield. His is not the best AMO in general, but very good at optimising engine performance.

Good luck!

Regards

Pieter

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[Hank]

Lood may be able to recommend a good shop there in RSA, too. He flies an F, if my memory is correct.

[Lood]

Danie, sorry to hear that you're having still more snags with the 252. I'll give you a call later today.

 

@ Hank, Danie and myself have had a conversation or two in the past, wrt a few issues since he bought the 252 and coincidentally, he also sprayed our wheat last year. There's actually not much if any that he doesn't already know. He's been around aviation a long time, but it's really bad to have a perfectly sound airplane turn into a lemon (sort of) after maintenance.

[Piloto]

If it makes you feel better. For the same power setting and altitude IAS indicates higher in winter than in summer even in Florida. Also make sure the static system alternate air is closed.

 

José