Joe Larussa Posted October 3, 2015 Report Posted October 3, 2015 Okay so I flew my Cessna 172 for roughly 12 years and always wished I had a little more feedback from my engine other than oil temp and oil pressure. Specially when climbing high on a hot day. So that got boring and I found my way to a Mooney M20J 201. Did a firewall forward and went through it tip to tail. Love the handling and speed for sure. Put 70 hours on it in three months. A good portion of that time was figuring out what the indications on the gauges were telling the truth or a lie. Cylinder head temps, exhaust gas temps, fuel flow and fuel pressure doing funny things. I spend all my spare time flying and reading all the good stuff on this sight and have learned a ton about my new ride. It sure seemed a lot easier however when the engine in my Cessna was running smooth as glass and you just flew. We all have a ton of money invested in these awesome machines and hope these gizmos are helping us get the most out of it and fly safer but I can't help but think they are also making us a little crazy! Just throwing it out there. 3 Quote
cujet Posted October 3, 2015 Report Posted October 3, 2015 I can't help but think the 172 is a bit more forgiving with regard to CHT, EGT and oil press/temp. They are trainers, as such, they are configured to operate at speeds other than cruise speed. I think the price you pay for such trouble free operation is a maximum cruise speed of 101.4 Kts TAS. 1 Quote
aaronk25 Posted October 3, 2015 Report Posted October 3, 2015 I agree with bluehighwayflyer, temps should be very easy to keep in check. Actually at that power setting all gauges are bottom of he green on my J. Do some baffle work if your temps are high, these are older planes and sometimes even perfect baffles need tweaking. Do some searches on this site to learn how to adjust (trim, bend) baffles to lower the hot trouble cylinders. On the 172 you never knew how hot it was cause most don't have cht instrumentation, if you did have it you would find your 172 runs 400-425cht on climb. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote
MyNameIsNobody Posted October 4, 2015 Report Posted October 4, 2015 (edited) How about defining "funny things"? I really value my upgraded gauges giving me precise leaning information, Individual cylinder temps, precise RPM & Manifold pressure in a digital read-out that I can cross-reference with my G3 from my individual gauge pack...Oil Temp/Pressure, Digital fuel flow giving flow/used/remaining as well as volts/amps. I don't understand funny. I have values that become trends that I monitor for change. Edited October 4, 2015 by MyNameIsNobody Quote
Joe Larussa Posted October 4, 2015 Author Report Posted October 4, 2015 I guess where I was going with this is that with all the instruments we have we freak out when one cylinder exhaust temp is 25 degrees off of another or the fuel flow varies .3 per hour and so we or shall I say I beat it to death even though the engine is running like a dream. Obsession for perfection is not a bad thing! Quote
carusoam Posted October 4, 2015 Report Posted October 4, 2015 (edited) Once you hit the complexity of fuel injection, you enjoy the feedback from the eight thermocouples.... One blocked injector would be a nightmare without having a JPI. A loss of cooling by one cylinder can get expensive. Having FF allows you the luxury of being part of the ROP vs. LOP debate. It can help you lean the engine with precision. Not lean til it gets rough. It also smooths over the fear of running out of fuel. So, yes ignorance is bliss... It is a lot like not knowing your cholesterol level as you age. Don't go without instrumentation, unless you have to. Don't do it cause you want to. Consider that everybody's skills may be different. Some people really enjoy the extra data and can make good use of it. There is a company that is called APS. They can educate anyone on the arts of using all that extra data. Joe are you ready to fill in some data on your avatar, or are you staying in the shadows for a reason? Just trying to help, -a- Edited October 4, 2015 by carusoam Quote
ryoder Posted October 4, 2015 Report Posted October 4, 2015 Yes it is. Tell me this. How many of you have gpu monitoring on your video cards for heat and fan speed? How about your primary cpu? Gamers do. Why? Because they are nuts. I have it. Quote
Joe Larussa Posted October 4, 2015 Author Report Posted October 4, 2015 So here is the ignorance word again. What's an Avatar? Saw the movie. Just want to be clear I love all the electronics and gauges in my plane. I only have 70 hours in this 201 and every flight is a learning experience. I understand and fully appreciate the value in everyone of them. Quote
carusoam Posted October 4, 2015 Report Posted October 4, 2015 (edited) The avatar is that picture thingy next to your name. it has spaces for your home drome and the shape and size of your bird. The basic details that help us help you when you have questions. if you had a C, you would not get as much value from an engine monitor as you would a J. Imagine adjusting a little carburetor for each cylinder. Some people really do select different fuel injectors to balance the flow to each cylinder. Can't do that without good instrumentation! some people park their birds outdoors. They may not want too many details regarding what they have and where they park. there is bliss while flying. Nice even cool EGTs matching a set of nice even cool CHTs while covering the ground near 200 knots. This could go on for 2,000 hours without much extraordinary maintenance expense. You seem to fit in here, expect to stay a while. best regards, -a- Edited October 4, 2015 by carusoam 1 Quote
Shadrach Posted October 4, 2015 Report Posted October 4, 2015 (edited) I guess where I was going with this is that with all the instruments we have we freak out when one cylinder exhaust temp is 25 degrees off of another or the fuel flow varies .3 per hour and so we or shall I say I beat it to death even though the engine is running like a dream. Obsession for perfection is not a bad thing! Hi Joe, I too have a lot of C172 time. If I was flying one that I owned, I'd likely still have it fully instrumented. I am now pretty well versed in what my engine is telling me. I don't worry about 25 degrees unless it's out of of charector for what I'm doing. For instance, I can tell if someone has had the cowl off and not faced all of the baffle seals properly within 10 minutes of opening the throttle for take off. The last time I lost a mag, I knew what had happened the exact moment that it happened. Back when I was renting 172s, I didn't know what I didn't know...and that was fine for short recreationl hops in flight school maintained AC. Last year after annual we had a spark plug go TU, but only above 2200 RPM. A standard 1700rpm run up went fine, but on climb out the #1 EGT would break 1600. We could not lean as usual on the #2 cylinder as it would run rough at peak EGT. A high powered mag check pointed to the faulty plug and it was replaced. In a carburetted, uninstumented engine that gets leaned to rough and enriched a little, that defective plug might have gone unknown for 100s of hours. Even if the problem was detected, narrowing it down to a single plug would be a time consuming challenge. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, but more often ignorance is just ignorance...I'll take all the help and information I can get when operating a single engine AC as a travel machine; Complete and accurate engine information increases safety, improves dispatchability and contributes greatly to the trouble shooting process. Edited October 4, 2015 by Shadrach 1 Quote
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