Cleaned her up and this is how she repays me.....

[ragedracer1977]

Went to go for a flight yesterday.  Just planned on refining power setting for my upcoming instrument check ride.  Pumped the throttle for start and.... I don’t think this is supposed to happen.. Better to happen on the ground, I suppose....

Pushed her back in the hangar and got to work.  If I never have to do that again it will be too soon.

Shipping the cable off to McFarlane this am.

[Yetti]

nope

 

[Bob_Belville]

McFarlane recommends that these cables ought to be considered to have a finite service life approximately that of the engine TBO. (I replaced all 3 of mine though they were not original, the mixture was too stiff when cold, there seemed to be excessive play in the prop control cable. The throttle was 20 years old.)

https://www.mcfarlaneaviation.com/section/services/custom-engine-controls/

[carusoam]

Where is the dropped jaw emoji...?

That's the best accident that never happened!

Can you tell if it broke or fell apart or wore out?

Anything for the next MSer to look out for?

Best regards,

-a-

[Bob_Belville]

1 minute ago, carusoam said:

Where is the dropped jaw emoji...?

That's the best accident that never happened!

Can you tell if it broke or fell apart or wore out?

Anything for the next MSer to look out for?

Best regards,

-a-

I cringe when someone posts a pic of a gorgeous, updated glass panel and the pic includes engine control knobs that indicate they're original to the 40 or 50 year old plane. (I think that @mooneygirl replaced a failed prop cable recently and there have been others here who did not know they had a problem until they had a complete failure.) These cables cost roughly $300-$400 each. 

[carusoam]

We have had a few cables come apart around here.  From 60’s to more recent Long Bodies...

Prop cables are on the list for being replaced with the engine OH.  Not sure about the other two...

All three cables in the O are of the twist for precision variety.

Best regards,

-a-

[TonyK]

I had a friend have the throttle cable come off during his commercial check ride.  Crashed on the top of a building.  Still passed his check ride.  Better to happen on the ground.

[DXB]

55 years out of a throttle cable ain't bad - she gave you her best.  Keeping that ancient cable from snapping until you were on the ground is further evidence of her devotion.  

[xcrmckenna]

That sucks!!!! Do the quadrants have a similar problem? It looks like there are a lot of lever linkage in there and I worry mine will coming apart or the cable having an issue as well. But don’t know how it’s all hooked up.


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[Shadrach]

What was the failure point? Did it give any warning? I’ve never considered cable controls to be time limited items.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Shadrach

[Guest]

I’ve seen pilots twist engine cables before,  on the misunderstanding that they were vernier style cables.  

Clarence

[lotsofgadgets]

Would you like a matching Red knob to complete your collection?

[ragedracer1977]

3 hours ago, M20Doc said:

I’ve seen pilots twist engine cables before,  on the misunderstanding that they were vernier style cables.  

Clarence

Seeing how it works, even if you twisted it, it would just spin.  Shouldn't hurt the cable, but who knows.  No sign of any problem.  Just a clean break of the cable right where it's crimped into the knob.  

[C-GHIJ]

That sucks.  Mine broke at the other end last year.  Wait till you get the price?  

[ragedracer1977]

6 hours ago, C-GHIJ said:

That sucks.  Mine broke at the other end last year.  Wait till you get the price?  

It's fixed.  $417 from Lasar.   I did the work, supervised by an A&P.  It was not the most enjoyable thing I've ever done.  

 

[Immelman]

Do yourself a favor and replace the red one next to it... and I will do myself a favor and replace my throttle cable. Because guess what happened to me? Thankfully, on the ground at engine start....

[Stephen]

BTW, If the throttle cable comes off in the air use mixture as a second, crude throttle.it should allow boosts of power for landing purposes and the engine should relight as long as windmilling

[ragedracer1977]

6 hours ago, Immelman said:

Do yourself a favor and replace the red one next to it... and I will do myself a favor and replace my throttle cable. Because guess what happened to me? Thankfully, on the ground at engine start....

The mixture was replaced in 2011 or thereabouts.  At least according to the label on it.  Same as the prop control.  

[1964-M20E]

1 hour ago, Stephen said:

BTW, If the throttle cable comes off in the air use mixture as a second, crude throttle.it should allow boosts of power for landing purposes and the engine should relight as long as windmilling

you can always go real old school (WWI era) and use the magneto to control power during landing shutting the engine on and off.  Not the best solution but if you are in a bind you do what you have to do.

[Stephen]

13 minutes ago, 1964-M20E said:

you can always go real old school (WWI era) and use the magneto to control power during landing shutting the engine on and off.  Not the best solution but if you are in a bind you do what you have to do.

That was my answer during flight training when instructor said  “throttle is stuck at mid power; cable just fell off the damn thing. How are you going to land!??”  I said short final and switch off. He was like NOPE if you need to restart you can have a buildup of fuel (if mixture not on cutoff) and kaboom. Mixture also can give you somewhat finer pulse control because of ability to lean to rough but not quite cutoff versus binary off/on that starter switch does. Also ergonomically easier to leave start switch on and just fool with one knob for modulated  pulses of power. We tried it and it works pretty well... definitely get you to the runway made position if you were under sufficient power when cable breaks 

[isaacpr7]

I had the same thing happen to me a couple of years ago while cranking. As soon as I punched the part number into Google, a bunch of links popped up with a service bulletin that talks about this happening. The SB calls for the replacement off all three cables, so I did.

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[Guest]

This S/B is applicable to older airframes.

http://www.mooney.com/en/sb/M20-174.pdf

Clarence

[Immelman]

9 hours ago, ragedracer1977 said:

The mixture was replaced in 2011 or thereabouts.  At least according to the label on it.  Same as the prop control.  

excellent! I didn't see it correctly.

[1964-M20E]

Well let's say you are replacing all three controls in an older Mooney.  In the older models the mixture and prop are swapped from most other brands and newer M-20s.

older M-20s T M P vs newer M-20s T P M

Do you rearrange the controls to match the majority of other airplanes or do you leave it the same?

 

 

[Skates97]

51 minutes ago, 1964-M20E said:

Well let's say you are replacing all three controls in an older Mooney.  In the older models the mixture and prop are swapped from most other brands and newer M-20s.

older M-20s T M P vs newer M-20s T P M

Do you rearrange the controls to match the majority of other airplanes or do you leave it the same?

Personally I think I would leave them the same T M P because that is what I am used to in my plane. I can reach for them without looking and I don't see the need to re-learn where they are. Perhaps it affects someone purchasing it if I sold in the future, but I don't think so.