Where to send magnetos for service?

[Htwjr]

I recently saw a thread discussing what shop to use but I am unable to find it now that I need it.  Thanks

[kortopates]

You might get more helpful input if you indicate your location. There are good magneto shops all over.


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[Htwjr]

I sent them to Select Aircraft this morning. Thanks


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[MIm20c]

I'd actually like to know the top three shops for reasonable top quality IRANs. Watched the savvy video on them but don't want to bother him for shop recommendations. 

[peevee]

17 minutes ago, MIm20c said:

I'd actually like to know the top three shops for reasonable top quality IRANs. Watched the savvy video on them but don't want to bother him for shop recommendations. 

I'm curious also, I'd be game to have ours irand

[Danb]

I was one of the lucky ones I pulled my invoice to see who the MSC had do the mags a couple years ago and it was QAA in OK, mine have been fine although the cost was quite high

[Guest]

3 hours ago, nosky2high said:

https://aircraftaccessoriesofok.com is who I recommend. Do not confuse them with Quality Aircraft Accessories also located in OK. They have a poor record for quality even thought it's in their name.

However according to the all knowing mooney space magneto experts, all of my issues with QAA were due to incompetent installation practices.  

Good luck and be careful.

No one gave QAA a free pass on their quality issues as far as I recall. Broken distributor gear teeth are usually caused by installation error and use of a gear locking tool in my experience.

Clarence

[rbridges]

I'd love to hear people's input. Hanks experience has been worrisome. My mags passed 500 hrs a while back but are holding up well.  

[N6758N]

4 hours ago, nosky2high said:

https://aircraftaccessoriesofok.com is who I recommend. Do not confuse them with Quality Aircraft Accessories also located in OK. They have a poor record for quality even thought it's in their name.

However according to the all knowing mooney space magneto experts, all of my issues with QAA were due to incompetent installation practices.  

Good luck and be careful.

+1 for Aircraft accessories of OK. They just overhauled a gear motor for me for a customer's A36. Very knowledgeable and helpful staff.

[Trailboss]

I had my dual-mag overhauled by Aircraft Accessories during the last annual.  Approximately 30 hours later and no complaints...price was 'reasonable' compared to some other shops quoted.

[KSMooniac]

QAA delivered a D2000 mag to the previous owner of my plane instead of the D3000 he exchanged. It was discovered during my first 500 hour inspection. QAA made it right, but I sure wonder about their quality control.

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[LANCECASPER]

35 minutes ago, KSMooniac said:

QAA delivered a D2000 mag to the previous owner of my plane instead of the D3000 he exchanged. It was discovered during my first 500 hour inspection. QAA made it right, but I sure wonder about their quality control.
 

I don't - they have none . . lol.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, nosky2high said:

Clarence, my A&P/IA did not use a gear locking tool during the install of any of my mags. So based on your experience what is the most likely cause of the broken gear?

Your guy may not have, but in its life someone likely has.  It's a fairly rare failure in my experience of 35 years.  The overhauler may not have seen the crack, or it wasn't even visible.

Clarence

[jetdriven]

The best advice I got for mag reliability was to swap the Slicks for Bendix. That alone is a huge improvement. 

[Guest]

This electronic ignition is supposed to be approved soon.  It uses an existing Slick ignition harness and standard spark plugs

https://www.surefly.net

Clarence

[peevee]

50 minutes ago, M20Doc said:

This electronic ignition is supposed to be approved soon.  It uses an existing Slick ignition harness and standard spark plugs

https://www.surefly.net

Clarence

I'd jump on it for less than the cost of a mag overhaul. Hopefully they get it to market.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, peevee said:

I'd jump on it for less than the cost of a mag overhaul. Hopefully they get it to market.

Sadly they don't plan on an eight cylinder version.

Clarence

[carusoam]

The specs are interesting, but there is a temperature range that might be unfriendly to the Canadian winters... -35°F

[Hank]

10 hours ago, rbridges said:

I'd love to hear people's input. Hanks experience has been worrisome. My mags passed 500 hrs a while back but are holding up well.  

I'm re-reinstalling my re-reinspected magneto on Wednesday. Fingers crossed . . . I really don't want to remove it for the third time after the one flight I've been able to make since it was repaired after in-flight failure caused by poor Kelly overhaul . . . Pretty soon the A&P labor for putting it on and timing it will exceed the cost of a new unit . . . I'm getting better at removing it, though, and it's the left one, blocked by the battery.  

[peevee]

15 minutes ago, carusoam said:

The specs are interesting, but there is a temperature range that might be unfriendly to the Canadian winters... -35°F

Sounds like you can only replace one with it and have to keep the other magneto. 

-35 could be a problem for us in the flight levels too

[Hank]

6 minutes ago, peevee said:

Sounds like you can only replace one with it and have to keep the other magneto. 

You don't want to replace both magnetos with an electrical device. I've had a total electrical failure, I just flew home slowly with Takeoff Flaps and gear down (hand cranked the last part to ensure fully down). How well do you trust your alternator(s)? What took my entire electrical system down was an unidentifiable component on a circuit board behind the panel light dimmer knob . . . 

[Bob - S50]

We had our 500 hour inspection done by QAA.  Since then we have flown the plane about 70 hours.  Tuesday, one of my partners was going to fly but when he did the mag check, the right mag was completely dead.  Our mechanic discovered that the condenser (capacitor) was bad, caused arcing of the points, which heated them up so badly that it melted the plastic cam follower.  No point opening, no spark.

To be fair, I called QAA but we elected not to have the repair done under warranty.  The work was done less than 6 months ago so when I called to ask about warranty work they told me to fill out the warranty claim form and mail it in with the magneto.  They would take a look at it and decide if it was covered or not.  They would not commit to fixing it under warranty, only 'we'll look but I don't anticipate a problem that it would be covered'.  With that kind of answer, we were faced with the option of $50 shipping to get the magneto to Tulsa in 4 days, or $175 to get it there overnight.  If it was covered, that would be our total cost.  They said they would ship it back the same way we shipped it to them, but I doubted they would really spend $175 to overnight it back to us.  We anticipated being without a plane for 5 to 15 days.  If they determined it wasn't covered, they would have our magneto as a hostage.  Either pay to have it fixed and pay to ship it back, or pay to have it shipped back.  With that prospect, we passed.

The interesting thing is that the condenser that failed had NO part number stamped or printed on it.  It looked like the other one, but still, having no part number did not give us a warm fuzzy.  If I remember right, the good one had a part number of AB382807.  We couldn't find one of those, but we found a Kelly substitute of something like 10-400544 for $137.50 (including tax) that we could get the next day.

We had the magneto fixed locally and the plane was ready to fly by Saturday evening.

One of my partners plans to write to QAA.  I'll let you know what happens.

[jetdriven]

I'd ask for reimbursement for the new capacitor and points.  It's the least they can do, and you had to save the trip you were on with good reasoning to back it up. 

[LANCECASPER]

2 hours ago, Bob - S50 said:

We had our 500 hour inspection done by QAA.  Since then we have flown the plane about 70 hours.  Tuesday, one of my partners was going to fly but when he did the mag check, the right mag was completely dead.  Our mechanic discovered that the condenser (capacitor) was bad, caused arcing of the points, which heated them up so badly that it melted the plastic cam follower.  No point opening, no spark.

To be fair, I called QAA but we elected not to have the repair done under warranty.  The work was done less than 6 months ago so when I called to ask about warranty work they told me to fill out the warranty claim form and mail it in with the magneto.  They would take a look at it and decide if it was covered or not.  They would not commit to fixing it under warranty, only 'we'll look but I don't anticipate a problem that it would be covered'.  With that kind of answer, we were faced with the option of $50 shipping to get the magneto to Tulsa in 4 days, or $175 to get it there overnight.  If it was covered, that would be our total cost.  They said they would ship it back the same way we shipped it to them, but I doubted they would really spend $175 to overnight it back to us.  We anticipated being without a plane for 5 to 15 days.  If they determined it wasn't covered, they would have our magneto as a hostage.  Either pay to have it fixed and pay to ship it back, or pay to have it shipped back.  With that prospect, we passed.

The interesting thing is that the condenser that failed had NO part number stamped or printed on it.  It looked like the other one, but still, having no part number did not give us a warm fuzzy.  If I remember right, the good one had a part number of AB382807.  We couldn't find one of those, but we found a Kelly substitute of something like 10-400544 for $137.50 (including tax) that we could get the next day.

We had the magneto fixed locally and the plane was ready to fly by Saturday evening.

One of my partners plans to write to QAA.  I'll let you know what happens.

As I've said in another post, based on my experience with them, I wouldn't trust them with parts on my lawn mower, let alone my airplane. Maybe my weedeater, but even that's doubtful. They have been used to holding people hostage for years. They are condescending. They have no idea how bad they are. 

[carusoam]

No part number on a critical magneto part?

1) That sound a little... discomforting.

2) Then having that part fail... less comforting.

3) Finishing with an MSer saying he wouldn't use them for lawnmower service.

4) Customer service that leaves you comfortable, not sending stuff in = lost business opportunity.

5) Customer service that sounds like they will hold your stuff for Ransom = Narco Avionics.

A few, many things sound fishy...

Best regards,

-a-