Good Mooney mechanic in Atlanta area?

[kommers]

I am having an issue with instrument cluster in my 1962 M20C. Am meter was showing backwards and some company in Kansas agreed to repair it. They indeed fixed my am meter,  but  then the oil temp indicator started going into the red zone in just 5 min of the flight time . Ok, we sent it back to KS and they repaired it second time. Oil temp is in green, but guess what? - cyl temp is now in red! I am losing my patience and confidence that my plane is safe and I no longer trust that company. On the top of it, I have something in my Mooney that periodically turns the circuit on by itself, so from time to time I cannot even start my plane until I recharge the battery. I need to find a good mechanic in Metro -Atlanta area or neighboring states who has real expertise in instruments/circuits of Mooney and bring my plane back in working order. Any suggestion is appreciated.

 

thank you

 

Yuri

[N601RX]

It sounds like the entire cluster probably has a loose ground where it connects to the airframe.

[orionflt]

yuri, I have a cluster from my 62 that I wouldn't want to sell as airworthy but would be good for parts, all the gauges worked but I wasn't happy with having to tap it because of oil temp and I never really trusted the fuel gauge readings so I just replaced it with a new engine monitor. if you are interested in it PM me.

 

Brian

[rbuck]

I was based for a while at LaGrange Airport south of Atlanta. The mechanics there, Southside Aviation, are good at what they do, and they know Mooneys well. I will say that they can price a little high, but they are also very good and very honest. They worked on my C model at annual this past year.

(706) 594-7500.

If anyone can get your instrument cluster fixed, I'd bet they could. 

Good luck!

[Bob_Belville]

Yuri it might be time to think about replacing 54 year old instruments...

 

https://www.jpinstruments.com/shop/edm-930-primary/

[tony]

This is better than that 930....

 

http://buy-ei.com/portfolio/mvp-50p-overview/

[rbridges]

Joey Cole is in your area, and he is an MSC.  

[kommers]

Well, an excellent suggestion, but if I decide to  replace all these 52+ years old instruments, I might just as well sell my plane and get a J or K model from 80s. In the end, price tag will be the same

[Bob_Belville]

Well, an excellent suggestion, but if I decide to  replace all these 52+ years old instruments, I might just as well sell my plane and get a J or K model from 80s. In the end, price tag will be the same

Oh dear, as Joan Rivers might say, "Can we talk?" Suppose you spend 75 amu to get an older J/K. At that price it will still have obsolete instruments and avionics. But if you spent half that amount on your C's panel you'll have a well equipped bird that will draw compliments wherever you go that you can fly for years to come. And as a perk you can still park in the vintage parking @ SunNFun or Oshkosh. 

[M20C]

Yuri, What airport are you at?

[kommers]

I am at LZU, Lawrenceville. Now, I have even more issues. On the top of the malfunctioning cluster, I have a stuck passenger seat that simply doesn't move anymore  My wife complains that Johnson bar is now too tight to operate (actually, yes she is right). I guess I need to sell my house to invest another 50K in this dying machine

[Bob_Belville]

I am at LZU, Lawrenceville. Now, I have even more issues. On the top of the malfunctioning cluster, I have a stuck passenger seat that simply doesn't move anymore  My wife complains that Johnson bar is now too tight to operate (actually, yes she is right). I guess I need to sell my house to invest another 50K in this dying machine

Yuri, those should be trivial fixes. Sounds like your plane needs some TLC. Many folks here will tell you that the first year or two of ownership involves a lot of maintenance but that once you get caught up with stuff that the previous owner ignored our old Mooney are not pits.

 

But perhaps you've just got a case of new car fever and the ash trays are dirty, time to trade. 

[carusoam]

that may be the wife telling you it is OK to get that 90's LongBody ...now that you have the airplane ownership experience...

[kommers]

Bob, I got my Mooney 2.5 years ago and at that point it was a decent machine except totally soiled and worn out carpet, plus oil leakage on the passenger site. Carpet has been replaced, leakage fixed, airspeed and suction  indicators replaced and comm system received a face lift with addition of new Garmin radio. Plus, new tires, new mags and other "small things" So, in my first 2 years of ownership my wallet bled some 10K and I thought this would be enough. The actual troubles started after 2 years of the ownership, when we noticed spontaneous battery discharges on the ramp, then this cluster, then... oh, well, I don't want to whine but it seems like my Mooney has one more, invisible part installed that is  called a "money burner" and the door of this burner just got wide open - much wider than before and certainly wider than I expected.

[kommers]

Well, I wouldn't say I fought a tough battle having my wife approve the purchase of 20C in 2012... However, despite her claim that I am a head of the family, I always suspected that my decision making share in the household peaks at  49% in reality. It is not that she will disapprove if I suggest replacing our Mooney with something in 80-100K range, it is her usual words "do what you want to do, it is your decision" that tells me clearly that I better not

[carusoam]

It is good to be the head of the family...

You get to decide which Mooney fits best.

Unfortunately, the finance administrator controls the purse strings...

Lesson learned... don't subject the financial adminstrator to any scary flights...

My C got approved in Y2K... The R took a decade longer...

best regards,

-a-