Landing Gear Light and Voltage Light issue

[jerrodmonaghan]

Well I have to say that since I purchased my 1976 Mooney M20F Executive over a year ago it has been a struggle. I purchased the plane as my first plane with a whopping 5 hours of flight time in a 172. I knew I wanted a Mooney and found what I thought to be a "hangar find" only to find a perfect example of why 18 years of sitting in a hangar untouched is terrible for a plane. The price was too good to be true and the bill to fix it was also. What started out as a $15,000 quote doubled to $30,000 and of course the time to do it quadrupled but the plane was airborne and I finally have been able to put 20 hours on it. Mainly going back and forth to Florida for repairs to the original mechanic. The major issue I am now having is the voltage light is staying on 100% of the time. The other issue is upon take off after moving the landing gear selector switch to gear up the light stays red and does not go into green until I have to go back down and up a second time. Every time I have done it twice it has worked fine but I would like your opinions on if these two items are related and where to start my diagnostic checks, Thanks in advance! Jerrod 

[Marauder]

Jerrod -- I am assuming that the red light you are referring to is the "gear unsafe" light. If it is, what you are dealing with is a squat switch that isn't getting activated when the rubber donuts expand after the weight of the plane is off of the wheels. I had this issue when even though I had newer donuts. In my case, I was flying out of western NY and the cold weather wouldn't let them expand. If the donuts are less than 10 years old, it may be a switch adjustment. If they are older than 10, your donuts are probably the problem.

You can also install the override switch found on the newer Mooneys. That is what I did. It's the red button in this picture.

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[Marauder]

As for the voltage light, do you see this before you start? And after you start is the ammeter going back to an acceptable range? Your mechanic should be able to verify the voltage is correct.

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[ArtVandelay]

You need to verify the voltage, do you an engine monitor? If not, you need to check the voltage manually with a voltmeter. If you have an ammeter you can also check if its discharging.

[carusoam]

How far have you gotten from your first post a year ago?

Have you been getting up to speed reading MooneySpace over the year?

1) Barn find vs. Pre-purchase Inspection.  PPIs have proven that Barn Finds still have major expenses associated with them.

2) Primary flight training in a Mooney.  Discussions outline what experiences you miss by flying only one plane.

3) AMU = Aviation Monitary Unit.  You are spending gobs of dough.  You may want to cover your tracks using AMU at home...

4) 30AMU is nearly what I paid for my first Mooney in Y2K.

5) how did you get a quote for 15AMU and spend 30AMU?  Did you get what you paid for?

6) Update your Avatar data.  People can help you better, the more they know about you.

7) You are not alone.  We are all in this together.

8) You are going to spend a lot of money flying a great Mooney.  Get the full value out of what you are spending.

9) sending a photo of things that support your questions is easy and is really helpful.

10) No matter how hard you try, somebody will mis-understand what you typed.

11) Last question: Did you get an engine OH because the cam didn't survive the haiatus?

I'm guessing you have seen all these issues.  Unless you haven't been reading MS over the last year.

Best regards,

-a-

[Marauder]

Well I have to say that since I purchased my 1976 Mooney M20F Executive over a year ago it has been a struggle. I purchased the plane as my first plane with a whopping 5 hours of flight time in a 172. I knew I wanted a Mooney and found what I thought to be a "hangar find" only to find a perfect example of why 18 years of sitting in a hangar untouched is terrible for a plane. The price was too good to be true and the bill to fix it was also. What started out as a $15,000 quote doubled to $30,000 and of course the time to do it quadrupled but the plane was airborne and I finally have been able to put 20 hours on it. Mainly going back and forth to Florida for repairs to the original mechanic. The major issue I am now having is the voltage light is staying on 100% of the time. The other issue is upon take off after moving the landing gear selector switch to gear up the light stays red and does not go into green until I have to go back down and up a second time. Every time I have done it twice it has worked fine but I would like your opinions on if these two items are related and where to start my diagnostic checks, Thanks in advance! Jerrod 

Jerrod, one other thought came to mind. If you have the glare shield annunciations like my 1975 F, there is a Molex connector that those indicators connect to. I had intermittent issues with those indicators that was solved by taking apart that Molex connector and cleaning it.

Also, I remember years ago dealing with one of those lights being on and it was a rectifying diode in the line. Not sure if it was the voltage line but when I get to my logs I will see if I can find what was done.

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[Yetti]

Curious where the molex connector is.   I figured there would be one on the glareshield side of things..  So I guess it was down low?

[Marauder]

Curious where the molex connector is.   I figured there would be one on the glareshield side of things..  So I guess it was down low?

As soon as the glare shield is loose, you can follow it. Mine goes toward the co-pilot side.

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[Marauder]

And it's black and a twist connection. Not like the modern flat Molex connectors you see today. Mine had Molex imprinted on it. Doubt it was changed out, looks original.

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[Yetti]

Figured there should be one. This will hasten the pursuit of my leather glare shield project :-)